Cindy McCain, John McCain's widow, says it's a 'badge of honor' to be censured by the Arizona GOP for not backing Trump

Cindy McCain, husband of the late Sen. John McCain, was censured by the Arizona GOP Saturday.
The party censured her for "globalist" beliefs and speaking out against President Trump's attacks on her late husband.
Splits between Trump loyalists and Republican critics threaten the party.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Cindy McCain, the widow of Arizona Sen. John McCain, said that it was a "high honor" to be censured by the Arizona Republican Party for refusing to support President Donald Trump during the election.

The state's branch of the GOP announced on Saturday that it was censuring three high profile Arizona Republicans: McCain, former Sen. Jeff Flake, and Gov. Doug Ducey.

The party, reported Azcentral, claimed McCain has "has supported globalist policies and candidates" and had "condemned President Trump for his criticism of her husband and erroneously placed behaviors over actual presidential results."

—Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) January 24, 2021

McCain's late husband was one of Trump's staunchest critics in the Republican Party, and before his death in 2018 had famously ended Trump's bid to end Obamacare with a thumb-down vote on the Senate floor.

Trump continued to insult and attack McCain for months after his death. Last October Cindy McCain said she was backing Trump's rival, Joe Biden,in the presidential race. Biden went on to win the state, the first Democratic candidate since 1992 to do so.

mccain biden — Then Vice President Joe Biden administers a ceremonial Senate oath during a mock swearing-in ceremony to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, accompanied by his wife Cindy, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011, in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

McCain took the censure of the state GOP in her stride Saturday, tweeting: "It is a high honor to be included in a group of Arizonans who have served our state and our nation so well...and who, like my late husband John, have been censured by the AZGOP. I'll wear this as a badge of honor."

The decision by the Arizona GOP to censure three of its most high profile figures highlights a growing split in the party between Republicans who have publicly rejected Trump over the Capitol riots and attempts to subvert the election and the millions of grassroots Republicans who revere the former president.

Kelli Ward, who aided Trump's bid to overturn the election result in Arizona, won reelection as the state Republican party chairwoman on Saturday.

Gov. Ducey had refused to back Trump's bid to subvert the election, famously ignoring a call from the president while he was certifying Biden's win in November.

Read the original article on Business Insider