USA TODAY International Edition
Who could be appointed to fill McCain’s seat?
Ariz. governor has stayed quiet about possibilities
PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is required by law to fill vacancies in the state’s U.S. Senate delegation. But in the year since Sen. John McCain was diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer, Ducey has avoided discussing the topic, saying he wants to respect McCain and his family.
With the McCain family announcement Friday that the Republican senator will no longer seek medical treatment, Arizonans are naturally asking whom Ducey might appoint to replace McCain. The governor has only said he will not appoint himself.
But does Ducey want a temporary caretaker to hold the office only until the 2020 election? Or someone he hopes would seek re-election?
Ducey, who has often highlighted Arizona’s “women role models,” could appoint the first woman to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.
Ducey’s thinking on these questions is unknown, but here are some names that have been floated:
Cindy McCain
Cindy McCain, 64, philanthropist, businesswoman, spouse, military mom and grandmother, would be an obvious choice to fill her husband’s seat. The senator’s wife of 37 years, she has been at his side at their home in northern Arizona as he’s battled brain cancer.
In the Senate, she could represent her husband’s legacy while pursuing her own priorities.
In recent years, Cindy McCain has been an outspoken advocate against human trafficking. She also is a former chairwoman of HALO USA, a humanitarian organization focused on clearing war-torn communities of land mines and other unexploded bombs and devices.
She is chairwoman and majority owner of her family’s beer-distributor business, the Hensley Beverage Co.
Kirk Adams
Ducey chief of staff Kirk Adams is the governor’s point man on state and national issues, putting him at the forefront of Ducey’s conversations with the White House and Congress on issues ranging from health care to tax reform.
Adams, 45, a former state lawmaker and speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2012.
Adams has had close relationships
Jon Kyl
with the influential, right-leaning Koch political network that has spent millions of dollars to influence races across the United States.
With Ducey gearing up for a general-election race for re-election, an appointment of his chief of staff could be politically risky.
Barbara Barrett
Barbara Barrett, 67, is the first Republican woman to run for governor in Arizona.
She is known for her business accomplishments and service on various corporate and philanthropic boards, including Raytheon, the Mayo Clinic and the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents. More recently, she was chairwoman of the Aerospace Corp.’s board of trustees from 2013 to December 2017. A news release from the corporation issued Dec.19 said she “elected to step down as chairman.”
She has never held elected office.
Former U.S. Senate Republican whip Jon Kyl, who did not seek re-election in 2012 after 26 years in Congress, is close to the governor and his team.
Ducey has referred to Kyl, 76, as a mentor and leaned on him during his transition from state treasurer to governor. Most recently, the governor enlisted Kyl, a onetime practicing attorney specializing in water law, to help with negotiations to reshape state water policy.
After leaving the Senate, Kyl joined the high-powered Washington, D.C., law firm Covington & Burling. That job and his age make it unlikely Kyl would accept an appointment that lasts years.
In 2006, Time magazine named Kyl one of America’s 10 best senators; it’s a job he could easily return to if necessary.
Karrin Taylor Robson
As founder and president of a landuse strategy and real estate development company, Karrin Taylor Robson would bring an economic-development background to the seat.
Ducey named her to the Arizona Board of Regents last year, noting her “well-respected voice” in the state’s business and political arenas.
John Shadegg
Former Rep. John Shadegg was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as part of the “Republican Revolution” in which the GOP took control for the first time in 42 years.
Shadegg, a fiscal conservative who was respected within the House Republican caucus, gained national attention for his outspoken criticism of the Obama administration’s health care plan.