Can You Envision Arizona With Not One, But TWO Democratic Senators?

McCain and Woods

Unless you live in Arizona, you probably never heard of Grant Woods, who was Attorney General there from 1991 'til 1999. A mainstream conservative, he won his first race with 80% of the vote. Earlier, he had served as McCain's chief of staff when McCain was a congressman in the 1980s. He remained very close with McCain for the decades that followed. Grant is also a member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, made up of the top 500 trial lawyers in the world. In 2016 he publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton, writing that "Hillary Clinton is one of the most qualified nominees to ever run for president. Donald Trump is the least qualified ever. The stakes are too high to stand on the sideline. I stand with Hillary Clinton for president." Within days of McCain's passing, Chuck Schumer started the process of recruiting Woods, still a Republican, to run for his seat, as a "Democrat."

When McCain died, Gov. Doug Ducey appointed ultra-conservative former Senator Jon Kyl to the seat but he has indicated he isn't interested in running in the 2020 special election to fill the rest of McCain's term. Woods is. Sunday he penned an OpEd for the Arizona Republic, Why John McCain's death may convince me to run for Senate (just not as a Republican).

Woods sees McCain as a hero, whose public life could be summed up as "Duty. Honor. Country." and wrote that "the giant hole left by his death has caused me to re-evaluate my own life."

I was 28 when I went to work for John. I stood by his side for a long time. When I was 34, I looked at running for Arizona attorney general against a three-term incumbent in our own party. I wanted to run on a consumer protection, environmental enforcement and civil rights platform.

I was a former public defender who had never prosecuted. It would be an uphill battle. John McCain didn’t hesitate. He said, “Let’s go win this thing.”

I served two terms, finished with high numbers, but never ran for office again. There are many fascinating things to do in the world, and politics is only one of them. So, I’ve been on the sidelines for 20 years. But is that acceptable anymore, especially in a time of national crisis?

I believe that lasting damage has been done by leaders who regularly degrade our American institutions with their words and their conduct.

Congress was never meant to be a rubber stamp, but is instead a co-equal branch and a check on executive overreach. Our judiciary may be flawed, but I know from experience that it strives to meet its goals of impartiality and fairness. And a free press is a lynchpin for all of our freedoms. Those who urge distrust and disrespect to these institutions are themselves disrespecting and hurting America.

If I believe that our country is in perilous times, what is my responsibility as a citizen to do something about it? I have to do more, that much is clear.

But does that mean I have to run for office again, this time for my mentor John McCain’s seat in the United States Senate? Maybe it does. I am trying to figure that out by reaching out and listening to as many people across the state and nation that I can.

I will have to decide soon.

Why not stay in the Republican Party and try to change it from within? It’s reasonable to consider, but I don’t think it is possible.

Barry Goldwater couldn’t win a Republican primary today. A principled conservative like Jeff Flake decided that he couldn’t either.

The Republican Party has abandoned its tethering philosophy and surrendered its moral authority because it wanted to stay in power. I want no part of it. The party of limited government has sold its soul to enjoy the power of government. History has never been kind to those who made such a treacherous bargain.

I have the option of running as an independent. Frankly, it suits me and would be a lot of fun.

I believe that the right person could win statewide in Arizona because our state and its people have always been a little anti-establishment and contrary. But a U.S. Senate race is very expensive, and it would be foolish to enter such a battle unarmed. So I have to decide if running as an independent is possible or only for the rich.

If I don’t run as an independent, then I will switch to a Democrat. I have many good friends in the Senate who are Democrats, and the prospect of working closely again with them is exciting. We didn’t care about party or the odds against us when we sued Big Tobacco or any of the other fights we undertook together as attorneys general.

We did what we thought was right. Period. It would be exciting to put the old band back together again.

I will not change my views or the things that I have fought for all my life to run for office. I am who I am. Fortunately, my views are in line with the mainstream of the Democratic Party. I can’t check any of the boxes associated with identity politics, and if that is required, then it won’t happen. But I have fought the good fight in hostile territory for all of my life. That should count for something.

For now, we need to support people who will stand up to the autocratic megalomaniacal behavior of the president.

We need to fight against immoral policies like the separation of children from their parents at our Arizona border or the deportation of those brought here as children. We have to preserve the beautiful natural resources of our state and nation. We have to fight for the dignity and values of the working man and woman.

I do believe that America is worth fighting for in 2020, just as it was in 1776. I don’t believe we need to make it great again; it is already great. I don’t believe that its institutions and values are corrupted or outdated.

Actually, it’s quite the contrary.

This country of ours was always an aspirational experiment. We said what few had ever said: that all people are created equal, and every one of them has a God-given right to be free.

But it has been a long struggle to achieve that goal. The civil rights we guaranteed in our declarations and our Constitution were unavailable to so many for much of our history. But we have never stopped fighting to achieve those lofty goals.

We have to realize now that it is our duty to keep the fight alive and to never surrender to those who are ignorant of the perils of history or the glory of what we seek to achieve.

I have always been unashamed to say how much I love Arizona. We have produced great leaders before, and I know we can do it again.

Each of us, though, needs to take a step back at this critical time and ask what is required of us now as Americans. I do not know what this will mean for me in the months ahead. But I know that John McCain never took the easy way out. He was always in the arena. He saw no honor on the sidelines.

In his eulogy to our friend, Henry Kissinger said that “honor is an intangible quality. It has no code. It reflects an inward compulsion, free of self-interest. It fulfills a cause, not a personal ambition. It represents what a society lives for beyond the necessity of the moment.”

Duty. Honor. Country. This meant everything to John McCain. It has to mean more to each of us, especially in times like this. It’s up to us now.

Kyrsten Sinema, a putative Democrat, is probably going to win the other Arizona seat in November. She has the single most anti-progressive voting record in the House and she chairs the right-wing Blue Dog Caucus. Schumer didn't recruit her despite that; he recruited her because of it. Meanwhile Republicans are campaigning against her as if she was so far left that she's basically a communist. On many matters she's to the right of Woods. Over the weekend, AP ran a piece about how Tennessee ex-Governor Phil Bredesen (D) is running for Senate by edging away from the party. "Phil Bredesen is a Democrat," wrote Julie Pace. "But he’d rather you not mention that." Bredesen told her that he needs "to make clear to everybody my independence from all of the national Democratic stuff." Pace: "He says Democrats wouldn’t be able to reliably count on his vote in the Senate, and foresees playing a role like that of Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who has broken with the GOP on several high-profile issues. 'I think you can be influential being in that swing position,' Bredesen said during an interview. Influential? Sure, if he's elected, he'll be another Democrap watering down key legislation to make it meaningless, the way Lieberman used to do. I would imagine Woods will be worse than either Sinema or Bredesen.

How is he on women's Choice? Would he be voting to confirm Kavanaugh? Where does he stand on immigration reform? The military/industrial complex of which his hero was so in love him? I'd like to know his vision of America's foreign policy. I mean, it's nice that he saw the danger of Trump early and endorsed Hillary. But Schumer deciding to endorse him doesn't make him a Democrat, let alone a progressive. I'd love to talk about Medicare-for-All with him, Job Guarantee and free state college. I'd like to sit him down with Stephanie Kelton for a little chit-chat and see if he can understand MMT. And if he decides to run... I'll give it a try.