Sen. John McCain dies after long battle with cancer

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) died in his home state of Arizona after a long battle with brain cancer. McCain was 81 when he passed away.

A statement from the McCain family read, “Senator John Sidney McCain III died at 4:28pm on August 25, 2018. With the Senator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family. At his death, he had served the United States of America faithfully for sixty years.”

Born in 1936, McCain spent most of his adult life in service to the United States of America. He joined the Naval Academy in 1954 and went on to become a naval aviator.

In 1967, McCain volunteered for combat duty during the Vietnam War. On one mission, his plane was hit and he was eventually captured. He spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war at the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison, enduring years of torture before finally being released in 1973.

McCain remained in the Navy until 1981, and then entered politics in Arizona. He was elected to the House of Representatives, and then won a U.S. Senate seat in 1986, which he held for more than 30 years.

After an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, McCain became the GOP’s standard-bearer in 2008. He lost that election to President Barack Obama and resumed his post as a U.S. senator.

In July 2017, McCain had surgery on a blood clot behind his eye. After the surgery, doctors discovered McCain had a malignant form of brain cancer.

Weeks after the brain surgery, McCain returned to the Senate. In a vote that would later be mocked by Trump, McCain joined a united Democratic bloc in voting against the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act helping to defeat the measure.

McCain has been undergoing treatment for the cancer since the diagnosis, and has not been in Washington, D.C., since December 2017.

On Aug. 24, 2018, McCain’s family released a statement saying he would no longer continue medical treatment.

McCain is survived by his wife, Cindy, and seven children.

As for his Senate seat, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey will appoint someone to serve until the state’s next general election in November 2020.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.