McCain, Kirkpatrick split on minimum-wage proposition

U.S. Senate candidate Ann Kirkpatrick has officially endorsed Proposition 206, the statewide ballot measure that would increase the hourly minimum wage from the current $8.05 to $12 by 2020.

“No one who works 40 hours a week should have to live in poverty and decide between buying groceries, medicine or paying the bills,” Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., said in a written statement announcing her support. “Raising the minimum wage offers hardworking families the opportunity to put food on the table, care for their children, and creates a better future for our state. That’s why I fully support Prop. 206, and encourage every voter to stand with Arizona families.”

Incumbent U.S. Sen. John McCain, RAriz., opposes the question, which appears to be popular with Arizona voters, particularly Democrats and those with a high-school diploma or less.

In an August Arizona Republic/Morrison/Cronkite News poll, 61 percent of registered voters surveyed said they would agree to the minimum-wage proposal, while 31 percent were against it and another 8 percent was undecided.

While McCain says he supports the will of the voters, he joins Prop. 206 opponents such as the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which argues that the wage hike is a job-killer.

There has been some speculation that the minimum-wage measure and Proposition 205, which would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Arizona, could give a lift to Kirkpatrick and other Democratic candidates by increasing Democrat-friendly turnout in the Nov. 8 general election.

McCain, who also opposes the marijuana question, didn’t seem fazed by the possibility that the two propositions could hurt his chances.

“I think it (Prop. 205) could have an effect on younger-voter turnout, but I’m doing well with them, too,” McCain told The Arizona Republic. “I’ve made it very clear that I don’t support this initiative and that’s just the way it is. But that doesn’t seem to be, at least in our polling data, a reason for younger people to not support me.”

Likewise, the minimum-wage proposal “seems to be a separate issue, at least in our polling,” McCain said. In other developments:

McCain disclosed that he spoke briefly to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on the night of his Republican primary victory over former state Sen. Kelli Ward and “tea party” activist Clair Van Steenwyk.

The McCain-Trump phone conversation was reported on Twitter by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who attributed it to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

“What happened was that Giuliani called me, who I’ve been friends with for years, and we chatted for a few minutes,” McCain said. “Then he put Trump on for about 30 seconds. And Trump said, ‘Congratulations on your win.’ And I said thanks very much. That was the gist of the conversation.”

The McCain-Trump relationship is one of the most uneasy in politics. The two last year got into a high-profile feud in which, among other things, Trump disparaged McCain’s Vietnam War record.

McCain’s triumph over his Republican rivals in Arizona’s Aug. 30 primary may not have put his intra-party woes entirely to rest.

Rob Haney, a longtime Arizona Republican critic of McCain’s and a former Maricopa County GOP chairman, announced via a YouTube video a new “Never McCain” effort to oppose McCain in the general election. McCain in the past has been censured by Arizona GOP activists as too liberal on issues such as immigration reform.

“We urge other Republicans and especially the large number of independents to demonstrate their revulsion with McCain in the 2016 Senate vote by pulling those ‘Never McCain’ levers,” Haney says in the video.

McCain’s campaign declined to comment on Haney’s project.

Nowicki is The Republic’s national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @dannowicki and on his official Facebook page.