Cindy McCain to Officially Endorse Joe Biden
When Cindy McCain appeared on the Democratic National Convention via a pre-taped video that was part of a tribute to her late husband, Senator John McCain, she made it clear she wasn’t making any kind of official endorsement for Biden’s presidential campaign.
Then came the late-breaking news on Tuesday afternoon: Cindy McCain is making it official.
Biden made the announcement during a fundraiser. Cindy McCain will be appearing on all three of the major network morning shows Wednesday to make her formal endorsement, but she praised Joe Biden with a Twitter thread Tuesday evening.
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
Joe and I don't always agree on the issues, and I know he and John certainly had some passionate arguments, but he is a good and honest man. He will lead us with dignity.
— Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) September 22, 2020
He 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.
— Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) September 22, 2020
Cindy McCain’s endorsement matters not just because she is crossing party lines–“We’re Americans first”, as she tweeted–but because it gives even more gravitas to Biden’s campaign in the wake of the multiple military scandals that have plagued Donald Trump since his infamous quip in 2015 regarding her husband. During a Q & A before a live audience, Trump caused controversy by saying the former prisoner of war wasn’t a hero “because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
McCain later angered Trump with his dramatic thumbs-down vote against repealing Obamacare law. Before McCain died of cancer in August 2018, reports suggested he made an explicit request that Trump not be invited to his funeral.
Conversely, Joe Biden honored his old friend when he famously consoled McCain’s daughter Meghan McCain during an appearance on “The View” after her father was diagnosed withthe brain cancer that eventually took his life. She has said Biden often reaches out to her to offer support, after losing his own son Beau to the same cancer in 2015.