Cindy McCain joins board of Biden’s presidential transition team

Cindy McCain, the widow of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), has joined the advisory board of Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s presidential transition team, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The news came a week after McCain endorsed Biden, calling the former vice president a “good and honest man.” 

Other members of the unpaid advisory board include New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D). McCain is the second Republican to join the advisory board, after Bob McDonald, who served as secretary of Veterans Affairs during the Obama Administration.

Presidential transition teams have historically emphasized filling national security roles, as the transition period is considered uniquely vulnerable to terrorist attacks. However, with the coronavirus pandemic ongoing, the Biden transition team is focusing on equipping a potential Biden administration to address public health and economic policy first and foremost.

John McCain was a friend of Biden’s, while President Trump has frequently attacked the late Arizona senator, including after his death in 2018. Discussing her endorsement last week, Cindy McCain said a report that the president called American war dead “losers” was “pretty much” the final straw.

“It’s a culmination of things, but I do believe that our men and women that serve in the military are not losers,” she said.

Biden, in announcing the endorsement, also invoked the alleged comments, first reported by The Atlantic. Cindy McCain, he said, “is endorsing me because of what he talks about with my son and John’s who are heroes, who served their country, you know he said they’re losers, they’re suckers.” Trump has denied making the remarks.