Cindy McCain, Wife of Late Sen. John McCain, Endorses Joe Biden

Cindy McCain, wife of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) stands on the sidelines before the game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Washington Redskins at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Sept. 9, 2018. Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Cindy McCain, the widow of late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), announced her endorsement for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday.

“Joe and I don’t always agree on the issues,” she wrote in a string of Twitter posts. “But he is a good and honest man. He will lead us with dignity.”

“He will be a commander in chief that the finest fighting force in the history of the world can depend on, because he knows what it is like to send a child off to fight,” she continued.

John McCain’s son and Biden’s eldest son served overseas.

McCain’s son, Jack McCain, was a Navy helicopter pilot and was deployed to Afghanistan between 2018 and 2019. Biden’s eldest son, Beau Biden, was deployed to Iraq in 2009 when he was a major in the Delaware Army National Guard. Beau Biden died from cancer in 2015.

The widow of the late senator said she is still a Republican, but an American foremost.

Cindy McCain appears to have changed her stance on the November election. In April 2019, she said in a statement that she has “no intention of getting involved in presidential politics.”

Biden told reporters earlier Tuesday that Cindy McCain would endorse him.

Presidential candidate and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) waves as he stands with his wife Cindy at the Nashua Crowne Plaza in Nashua, N.H., on Jan. 8, 2008 Mario Tama/Getty Images

“Maybe I shouldn’t say it but I’m about to go on one of these Zooms with John McCain’s wife, who is first time ever is endorsing me because of what he [Trump] talks about with my son and John’s who are heroes, who served their country,” the former vice president told reporters, referring to a recent anonymously sourced report by The Atlantic that claimed that President Donald Trump made disparaging remarks about Americans who died in wars.

Trump vehemently denied the report, calling it a “disgrace” and “fake news.”

“If they really exist, if people really exist that would have said that, they’re low lives and they’re liars. And I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes,” Trump said. “There is nobody that respects them more.”

The report was also widely contradicted by dozens of Trump administration officials and former officials including Trump’s allies and fouls.

John Bolton, the former national security adviser who has feuded with Trump after he was fired by the president, also refuted the Atlantic story as “simply false.”

“I don’t know who told the author that, but that was false,“ he said during an interview with Fox News’ ”The Story.”

Biden and McCain were long-time colleagues in the Senate and the Bidens and the McCains have been family friends for years. Cindy McCain’s backing could give Biden a boost in Arizona, a state that McCain represented in Congress for 35 years.

Trump said Wednesday in a response on Twitter: “I hardly know Cindy McCain other than having put her on a Committee at her husband’s request. Joe Biden was John McCain’s lapdog. So many BAD decisions on Endless Wars & the V.A., which I brought from a horror show to HIGH APPROVAL. Never a fan of John. Cindy can have Sleepy Joe!”

McCain, who ran for president in 2008, and Trump have had a tense relationship during and after the 2016 election.

John McCain didn’t support Trump in the 2016 presidential election, citing his comments about women, and he cast a critical vote to overthrow Trump’s efforts to repeal former President Barrack Obama’s health care law.

Trump wasn’t invited to John McCain’s funeral in 2018.

Isabel van Brugen, Zachary Stieber, and The Associated Press contributed to the report.