Just 24 Hours After Cancer Diagnosis, John McCain’s Primary Opponent Is Calling for Him to Step Aside

When someone you know receives devastating news, the typical response is sympathy — even if you don’t particularly care for the person.

And when Senator John McCain (R-AZ) received a heartbreaking diagnosis — an aggressive brain cancer — hundreds put politics aside to wish him a speedy recovery.

However, McCain’s 2016 primary opponent Kelli Ward didn’t see it that way. During a radio interview, just the day after McCain’s diagnosis was publicly announced, she suggested that he should step aside and clear the way … for her, probably.

McCain’s primary challenger asks him to step aside one day after cancer diagnosis https://t.co/Gt3iKNDv3w pic.twitter.com/vDbD1Qvj3G

— The Hill (@thehill) July 22, 2017

The Hill reported:

“Senator McCain has an aggressive brain cancer that is both devastating and debilitating. When the time comes that Senator McCain can no longer perform his duties in the Senate at full capacity, he owes it to the people of Arizona to step aside,” Ward said in an interview with an Indiana radio station this week.

Ward continued, saying that if McCain does leave office, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey would be required to appoint a replacement senator to serve until the 2018 midterm election. When asked if her name was being considered as a replacement, Ward responded: “I certainly hope so.”

“Because, you know, I have a proven track record from years in the state Senate of being extremely effective and of listening to the voice of the people that I represent,” she said.

During her 2016 campaign to unseat Senator McCain, Ward had called the veteran senator “too old,” and suggested that he would “probably die in office anyway.”