Jimmy McCain, the son of the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, announced in an interview on Tuesday that he has switched his party affiliation to Democratic and will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the fall.
“I feel that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz embody a group of people that will help make this country better, that will take us forward,” McCain told CNN of the Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominees. “And that's really what matters at the end of the day, is voting with your heart, voting how you feel going forward.”
During Tuesday’s interview, McCain also blasted former President Donald Trump's recent appearance at Arlington National Cemetery, which included an altercation between members of his campaign and a staffer at the hallowed cemetery, as a "violation."
“It just blows me away," McCain, who enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17 in 2006, told the outlet. "These men and women that are laying in the ground there have no choice" about being part of a political statement or event.
“It was a violation,” he added. “That mother, that sister, those families, see that — and it’s a painful experience.”
"Arlington National Cemetery is a very sacred place for not only veterans, but for their families," he said, adding: "It’s very hallowed, sacred ground, and it should be left that way."
The younger McCain told the outlet that he has left the Republican Party -- the party his father belonged to for 35 years, including serving as its 2008 nominee for president -- in favor of the Democrats, and "would get involved in any way I could" to help Harris’ campaign.
“As much as I stayed as an independent, I decided that it was time to move on and do what I believe in,” he said, adding that his father put “country first.”
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and John McCain served in the Senate together for years and were close friends. Biden delivered a eulogy at the late senator’s funeral and last year announced federal funding to help create a library in McCain’s honor in Arizona.
The senator’s wife, Cindy McCain, endorsed Biden over Trump in 2020 and even served in his administration, but has remained a Republican.
Jimmy McCain’s sister, Meghan McCain, a former co-host on "The View," has been critical of Trump, but referred to herself on social media recently as "a life long, generational conservative."
The Harris campaign on Tuesday touted the backing of the younger McCain, casting it as another successful development in its bid to reach independent and moderate Republican voters who are turned off by Trump.
The vice president’s team launched an effort called “Republicans for Harris” to organize outreach and last week, it raked in the endorsements of more than 200 staffers who worked for McCain, former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and Sen. Mitt Romney.
Several Republicans who are backing Harris were given speaking slots at the Democratic National Convention last month, including two former Trump White House officials, Stephanie Grisham, his one-time press secretary, and Olivia Troye, a national security staffer who also worked with Vice President Mike Pence. Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who served on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as well as former Georgia Lt. Gov Geoff Duncan, and the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona, John Giles also spoke in support of the vice president.
Last week, Harris furthered the outreach to such voters herself when she told CNN in an interview that she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet should she win the White House.
"I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion," she said. "I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican."
Spectrum News' Ryan Chatelain contributed to this report.