Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Thursday from Arizona that he doesn’t think former Sen. John McCain would support Vice President Kamala Harris if he were alive and saw the southern border today.
Vance made his remarks after the late senator’s son endorsed Harris earlier this week.
“I don’t think for a second that if John McCain were alive today and he saw what’s happening on America’s southern border, he would support Kamala Harris and all the destruction she’s caused,” Vance said at a rally in Phoenix. “I really don’t believe that.”
McCain, one of Arizona’s most beloved senators and the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, died in 2018 of aggressive brain cancer. McCain harshly criticized Donald Trump and even asked that the former president not be allowed to attend his funeral. Trump, then president, did not issue the usual eulogy after the late senator’s death.
McCain’s son, Jimmy McCain, said earlier this week that he had registered as a Democrat and would vote for Harris in November. Jimmy McCain told CNN, which first reported his endorsement of Harris, that he spoke out after a Trump campaign staffer was accused of shoving a military employee at Arlington National Cemetery. An army employee reportedly tried to prevent the former president’s campaign from campaigning at the cemetery. Trump has denied the incident took place after the military said a cemetery worker was “suddenly pushed aside.”
When a reporter asked Vance about the stance, he replied, “Who cares what someone’s family thinks about the presidential election?” He added that he only cares about what the people of Arizona think about the presidential election.
“John McCain died what, five, six, seven years ago? And the media is turning into a story about what John McCain’s family is saying about Donald Trump,” Vance said. “I don’t know if anyone noticed, but almost every member of Tim Walz’s family came out and supported Donald Trump. Is that a bigger story than what John McCain’s son said? I think so.”
The Ohio senator was also asked about his thoughts on McCain’s legacy. Vance said he never met McCain, but said he suspected he would have liked that McCain “didn’t let their personal grievances get in the way” of serving the country — something the senator said he loved about Trump.
Trump previously mocked McCain, who was captured in the Vietnam War, saying he liked “people who weren’t captured.” He also said that he “has never been a fan of John McCain” and never will be.
Vance reiterated his focus on voters: “Whatever John McCain’s family thinks, what John McCain would have ultimately thought about Kamala Harris’ politics, my goal is to get every person in this room and every person in this state of Arizona that their lives will be better if they elect Donald J . Trump’s.
Wes Gullett, John McCain’s former state director, said on behalf of the Harris campaign that “John McCain worked for a solution to the border, not just politicized it.”
Gullett said McCain would have thought Trump killed the latest border bill as a “hoax.” He added that McCain’s name and legacy matter in Arizona, and that includes Jimmy McCain.
Vance also said school shootings are a “fact of life” and the United States needs to beef up security after a 14-year-old was arrested this week and charged with shooting and killing four people at a high school in Georgia.
