WI: John McCain as a Democrat

Bomster

Banned
IOTL, John McCain was respected for his independent views from the Republican Party, as well as his ability to cross the aisle and work with Democrats, earning him the nickname “maverick”. However, what if McCain became a Democrat instead of a Republican? How would that impact his career, and could he one day become President?
 

SsgtC

Banned
John McCain was respected for his independent views from the Democratic Party, as well as his ability to cross the aisle and work with Republicans, earning him the nickname “maverick”.
Basically how I edited your post. As far as being President, depends when he runs. If he runs in 04, it's 60/40 he wins. In 08 as IOTL, 75/25 he wins after 8 years of Jr. Of course, he could also decide to run in 92 challenging Bush Sr. And wouldn't that be interesting...
 

RousseauX

Donor
IOTL, John McCain was respected for his independent views from the Republican Party, as well as his ability to cross the aisle and work with Democrats, earning him the nickname “maverick”. However, what if McCain became a Democrat instead of a Republican? How would that impact his career, and could he one day become President?
it depends on if you think he's as hawkish as otl
 
How does his political career get off the ground if he chooses to be a Democrat? He first gained election to Congress in 1982 for AZ's 1st Congressional district, which was drawn extremely Republican at the time.

Moreover his earliest political connections stemmed from his father-in-law Jim Hensley, one of the most prominent businessmen in Arizona, including Charles Keating and future governor Fife Symington. I don't think they'd support a Democrat during the Reagan years.
 
How does his political career get off the ground if he chooses to be a Democrat? He first gained election to Congress in 1982 for AZ's 1st Congressional district, which was drawn extremely Republican at the time.

Moreover his earliest political connections stemmed from his father-in-law Jim Hensley, one of the most prominent businessmen in Arizona, including Charles Keating and future governor Fife Symington. I don't think they'd support a Democrat during the Reagan years.

Also McCain just wasn't a Democrat. He was consistently conservative on economic and social issues, not to mention more hawkish than Bush on foreign policy. Sure, he was willing to break ranks on certain issues like taxes for example. But that's a sign of personal character and independence, not ideology. It's also worth noting that the Republican Presidents he most notably opposed on policy - Bush 43 and Trump - were people who smeared his reputation or insulted him personally. (In Bush's case it was his racist and dishonest attack campaign against McCain's adopted daughter and war record in 2000, DJT needs no explanation). I doubt personal animosity didn't have something to do with that.

He'd have to base his career in a different state.

in 1976 McCain wanted to run for a House seat in Florida, but backed off when he decided he couldn't win. So he could run there as a moderate to conservative Democrat. He could become Clinton's running mate in 1992 and then become President in 2000.
 
Might have been interesting if he had, but that would make a run at the White House almost impossible.
Maybe not. Even if he's only caucusing with the Democrats to begin with, I could see him going through an "evolution" of his views, where he eventually joins them formally. Even a Republican McCain said he "had no problems" with the Democratic Party as late as 2004! Alternatively, he could pull a Sanders twelve years early and run in the Democratic primaries despite being a formal independent— I presume this is still possible.
 
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