Arizona Republican committee is debating a proposal to censure Cindy McCain, wife of the late GOP Sen. John McCain

• The Republican committee in Arizona’s most populous county considered censuring Cindy McCain, the widow of the late GOP Sen. John McCain, according to The Arizona Republic.
• The Maricopa County Republican Committee floated a proposal on Saturday that would have censured McCain, but the measure did not move forward.
• The state party confirmed via Twitter that they would vote on a resolution to censure McCain on Jan. 23.
• Cindy McCain was a prominent Republican supporter of President-elect Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign against President Donald Trump.
• “I am a proud lifelong Republican and will continue to support candidates who put country over party and stand for the rule of law,” she tweeted on Jan. 9.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The Republican committee in Arizona’s most populous county considered censuring Cindy McCain, the widow of the late GOP Sen. John McCain, according to The Arizona Republic.

The Maricopa County Republican Committee discussed a proposal on Saturday that would have censured McCain, but the measure did not move forward, according to an acting secretary at the event.

However, the state party confirmed on Twitter that they would vote on a resolution to censure McCain on Jan. 23.

Taking such an action would be a radical departure from her longstanding position of influence within the Arizona Republican Party. McCain’s late husband, Sen. McCain, represented the state in the US Senate from 1987 until his death in 2018, and was the GOP presidential nominee in 2008.

However, the Maricopa GOP did censure former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who served in the House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013 and the Senate from 2013 to 2019 and endorsed President-elect Joe Biden over President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

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In response to the proposed censure, McCain reaffirmed her Republican bona fides.

“I am a proud lifelong Republican and will continue to support candidates who put country over party and stand for the rule of law,” she wrote on Twitter.

Cindy McCain, who has endured repeated insults aimed at her late husband from Trump, was a prominent Republican surrogate for President-elect Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign.

Biden, who served in the US Senate for 36 years, most of them alongside Sen. McCain, has been close with the McCain family for years. 

The president-elect was the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Arizona since 1996, capturing the fast-growing Southwestern state by more than 10,000 votes.

During the 2020 Democratic National Convention, McCain had a prime speaking slot, where she fondly recalled the relationship between Biden and her late husband.

Cindy McCain has never held elective office, but in November, she was reportedly being considered to become Biden’s US Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

On Jan. 2, her daughter, Meghan McCain, took to Twitter to blast the Arizona GOP after they sent out a disparaging tweet blasting Sen. McCain.

“As the sun sets on 2020, remember that we’re never going back to the party of [Mitt] Romney, Flake, and McCain,” the Arizona GOP’s official Twitter account said. “The Republican Party is now, and forever will be, one for the working man and woman! God bless.”

Meghan McCain replied that whoever was running the account could “go to hell.”