John McCain's Widow Cindy Endorses Joe Biden for President

Cindy McCain on Tuesday endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for president. McCain, the widow of 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain and a prominent voice in the swing state of Arizona, made the endorsement on Twitter, issuing a stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump.

In a series of tweets, McCain reflected on her late husband, who died in 2018 has often been the target of Trump's attacks. In the first of three tweets, McCain wrote, "My husband John lived by a code: country first. We are Republicans, yes, but Americans foremost." She said that "there's only one candidate in this race who stands up for our values as a nation, and that is Joe Biden."

My husband John lived by a code: country first. We are Republicans, yes, but Americans foremost. There's only one candidate in this race who stands up for our values as a nation, and that is @JoeBiden.

— Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) September 22, 2020

McCain went on to acknowledge that "Joe and I don't always agree on the issues, and I know he and John certainly had some passionate arguments," though she said that Biden "is a good and honest man" who will "lead us with dignity." She concluded by stating that Biden "will be a commander in chief that the finest fighting force in the history of the world can depend on because he knows what it is like to send a child off to fight."

McCain's endorsement of Biden doesn't necessarily come as a surprise. Shortly after her husband died in August of 2018 following a battle with brain cancer, Trump made several attacks against him, including a comment on how the McCain family did not thank him for "approving" the senator's funeral. Her daughter, Meghan McCain, who revealed earlier this year that she intended to vote blue, revealed that the Trumps are "always making my mom cry."

According to McCain, while the president's comments regarding her late husband certainly prompted her decision, it was a report published in The Atlantic in August that was "pretty much" the last straw. That report, citing four people with firsthand knowledge, alleged that the president mocked American soldiers killed in combat as "losers" and "suckers" during a 2018 trip to Paris. He also reportedly called John McCain, a Vietnam War hero, a "f—ing loser."

Discussing her endorsement Wednesday on the Today show, McCain said that "it's a combination of things, but I do believe that our men and women that serve in the military are not losers and certainly the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice are not losers." She added that in her opinion, "Joe Biden is the better man who will make the better president."