McCain Urged to Leave Office Now

'Retire immediately so a healthy successor can be chosen in 2018 elections'

Only days after a poll found that many voters believe Sen. John McCain should leave office now so a successor can be chosen by voters this fall, a political action committee called for him to resign.

The Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) says the longtime senator and former presidential candidate should leave “instead of trying to hang on to his power and influence from his deathbed when it is clear he is no longer of sound mind and body.”

“The citizens of Arizona, and all of America, deserve to have capable representatives who are of sound mind and body and able to focus their time and energy on matters of national importance,” said William Gheen, the president of ALIPAC. “Sen. McCain is doing his constituents and legacy a great disservice by refusing to gracefully retire from the Senate. We hope Sen. McCain will put the best interest of Americans ahead of his personal desire to hang on to power, and retire immediately so a healthy successor can be chosen by voters in the 2018 elections.”

WND reported a Rasmussen Reports survey last week that found 62 percent of likely Republican voters believe McCain, who is terminally ill with cancer, should resign from the Senate.

If he leaves before May 30, Arizona voters can elect a replacement in the November elections. Any move made after that would require a special election, because of the time required to arrange a vote.

The poll showed only about one in four, 27 percent, of the voters in his own party think he should hang on past May 30. Eleven percent are undecided.

With a resignation, Arizona’s Republican governor, Doug Ducey, would name an interim senator to fill McCain’s seat.

“McCain, who has been in the Senate for 33 years, has been a consistent critic of both candidate and President Donald Trump, but Republican voters continue to identify more with the president than with the senator. Sixty-nine percent of GOP voters say the Republican Party should be more like Trump; only 23 percent say it should be more like McCain,” Rasmussen said.

The polling organization said 43 percent have a favorable opinion of McCain, and that includes only 18 percent with a “very favorable” one. Fifty-two percent view the longtime senator unfavorably, with 25 percent regarding him very unfavorably, the organization said.

McCain is a six-term senator who has been diagnosed with brain cancer. He’s not been in Washington since December.

ALIPAC’s own internal assessment found 99 percent of its 50,000 supporters believe McCain should leave.

ALIPAC long has been a critic of McCain for his support of amnesty for illegal aliens.

“If McCain does not officially retire soon, he will be remembered as a man who clung to power until his last moments in life instead of doing the right thing for his constituents and the nation,” ALIPAC said.