Cindy McCain Responds to Being Censured by Arizona GOP for Supporting Biden Over Trump

Dominic Valente/Getty Images Cindy McCain

Cindy McCain is speaking out after being censured by Arizona state Republicans for supporting President Joe Biden over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

"It is a high honor to be included in a group of Arizonans who have served our state and our nation so well … and who, like my late husband John, have been censured by the AZGOP. I'll wear this as a badge of honor," the 66-year-old widow of late Republican Senator John McCain wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Along with the McCains, former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who also endorsed Biden, 78, ahead of the election in November, and current Governor Doug Ducey, who opposed Trump's efforts to overturn Biden's presidential victory, were censured by the Arizona GOP.

According to AZCentral.com, the mother of Meghan McCain was censured because she "has supported globalist policies and candidates" and "condemned President Trump for his criticism of her husband and erroneously placed behaviors over actual presidential results."

Flake, 58, "condemned the Republican Party, rejected populism, and rejected the interests of the American people over globalist interests," the Arizona GOP reportedly said regarding its decision to censur the former senator.

Ducey, 56, restricted "personal liberties" and forced "compliance to unconstitutional edicts" when he imposed emergency rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, the AZCentral reported.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call Cindy McCain

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McCain previously addressed the likelihood of being censured by Arizona Republicans during an episode of The View on Jan. 14, when her daughter Meghan, who said she believed she was also included in the censuring, asked her mom about being added to the censurship with Flake and Ducey.

"It's about doing what's right for the country, and certainly Senator Flake and Governor Ducey have made some very tough decisions lately and in the past, but it was for the good of our state and the country," she said.

"I'm in good company, your dad was censured by them," she told Meghan, 36. "I think I'm going to make T-shirts for everyone and wear them."

She went on to tell her daughter that the Arizona GOP "did take the family part out, so you're no longer included in being censured with the rest of us."

"No, they should include me," Meghan said. "If they censur you they should censur all of us."

Cindy also addressed the current state of the Republican Party, telling Meghan and her co-hosts, "I think what we have seen here is when I began in the Republican Party officially, the Republican Party was the party of inclusion. It was the party of generosity, it was the party of country first. We have lost our way and it's time we get back on track because we have always been the party that cared deeply, that loved what our country did and what it stood for."

The mother of four added, "We have lost our way and I truly hope as things progress on and we get further away from this mess that occurred that we can do just that and get back on track and remind people that we are here for the country and not the party."

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Andreas Gebert/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images Joe Biden and Cindy McCain in 2018

McCain endorsed Biden for president in September 2020, writing on Twitter at the time that that she's putting "country first" in her decision to cross party lines.

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

"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," McCain continued, adding: "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."

Biden went on to receive more votes than Trump, 74, did in Arizona in the election, marking the first time in 24 years that the battleground state voted in favor of the Democratic candidate for president.