Cindy McCain Might Take Her Husband’s Place In Senate With a “Widow’s Succession”
The 81-year-old Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been fighting brain cancer since July he lost that battle today and died just a few days before his 82 birthday. Rumors began to spread about who is going to succeed his Senate seat.
A Republican likely named by Gov. Doug Ducey, will hold McCain’s seat until the next elections in 2020.
The governor has remained silent on who he has in mind out of respect for McCain and his family. By Arizona state law, he must tap someone of the same party as McCain.
But reports are suggesting that his wife is about to take his place in the Senate!
A handful of names have been reported as being contenders, including former Arizona senator Jon Kyl; former Arizona House members John Shadegg and Matt Salmon; the governor’s chief of staff, Kirk Adams; former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Barbara Barrett; and Cindy McCain — John McCain’s wife for the past 38 years.
If Cindy McCain, 64, is appointed, she will join the ranks of 47 women before her who have taken up their late husbands’ seats in Congress in a tradition known as “widow’s succession,” a practice that dates back to the 1920s in the United States.
Via Newsmax: “As Arizonans prepare for their final salute to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Republicans and political pundits in the state privately tell Newsmax they expect the appointment of his wife, Cindy, to succeed him in the Senate.
Of course, no one in the Grand Canyon State who spoke to us wants to go on record discussing what will happen when the ailing McCain no longer holds his seat. But those who did, agree almost unanimously, Cindy McCain following John in the Senate through appointment by Gov. Doug Ducey, R-Ariz., is a near certainty.
“I’ve always assumed that was the arrangement,” said a friend of the McCain family since John’s 1973 return from captivity in Vietnam.
A former Republican senator who served with McCain agreed:
“I don’t know if this [succession] has been formalized, but that’s what people who know John tell me.”
(Both of those who spoke to Newsmax did so under the promise of anonymity).
One source close to the McCain family said supporters of the senator have quietly let Gov. Ducey know Cindy is the choice of “Team McCain.”
What is a “widow’s succession”?
Also called the “widow’s mandate,” the term “widow’s succession” refers to a woman taking the place of her husband in a governmental body following his death. Historically, these women have either been appointed or have won a special election. The first woman in the U.S. to take her late husband’s place in Congress was Mae Ella Nolan, who joined the House in 1923 as a representative from California.
Filling a vacant Senate seat should be about representing the people, not about emotions or honoring a late senator. The Senator should be elected by the people not anointed to the McCain family. McCain has been in Congress way too long and it’s time AZ gets a conservative rather than another self-absorbed McCain acolyte. The idea of Cindy McCain being appointed is the exact problem with the entitled congress.
Time the people of AZ start their protests against this! What do you think?
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Alex D is a conservative journalist, who covers all issues of importance for conservatives. He writes for Conservative US, Red State Nation, Defiant America, and Supreme Insider. He brings attention and insight from what happens in the White House to the streets of American towns, because it all has an impact on our future, and the country left for our children. Exposing the truth is his ultimate goal, mixed with wit where it’s appropriate, and feels that journalism shouldn’t be censored. Join him & let’s spread the good word!
