Cindy McCain has emerged among candidates to occupy the Arizona senate seat left vacant after her husband John died from brain cancer on Saturday.
While McCain’s term runs until 2023, state law requires anyone taking the seat now to run for election themselves immediately after the 2020 presidential race.
That leaves Republicans with the option of appointing a ‘caretaker’ to occupy the seat while they decide who best to field in two years’ time.
Cindy McCain, the wife of late John McCain, could occupy his Senate seat in a ‘caretaker’ role until 2020, when a new senator would need to be elected
Cindy, 64, was married to John for 38 years, is the chairwoman of a beer distributor founded by her father, and has been active in fighting human trafficking.
Other contenders include Jon Kyl, who served with McCain in the Senate before and was Republican whip for a time, and Barbara Barrett, a former US ambassador to Finland who unsuccessfully ran for Arizona governor in 1994.
Republican Governor Doug Ducey will make the appointment and has said he will wait until after McCain’s funeral on Sunday to publicize his choice.
Who the Republicans select to run in 2020 could hinge upon the results of November’s mid-terms.
McCain and Arizona’s junior U.S. senator, Republican Jeff Flake, who is retiring at the end of this year, were both outspoken critics of President Donald Trump, a dynamic that put Arizona at the forefront of deep divisions within the Republican Party.
Cindy was married to John for 38 years, was by his side during his 2008 presidential run (pictured), is chairwoman of a beer distributor, and is active in fighting human trafficking
Trump tweeted his support on Monday for Ducey’s re-election bid. The governor was expected to easily win his party’s nomination for a second term in Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary.
Other contenders for McCain’s seat include Kirk Adams, 45, the governor’s chief of staff and a one-time candidate for Congress; Arizona state Treasurer Eileen Klein who oversaw the state’s university system; and former U.S. Representative John Shadegg, 68, who served 16 years as a member of Congress from northern Phoenix.
Also in the mix are Matt Salmon, 60, who served two terms in the Arizona state Senate before two stints in the U.S. House of Representatives; and Karrin Taylor Robson, a business leader and lawyer who founded her own land-use company. Ducey appointed her to the state Board of Regents in June 2017.