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Former Attorney General May Run For Empty Senate Seat As A Democrat

While Arizona still mourns the death of Senator John McCain, the question of who will run for his seat is as yet unanswered. One contender, former Republican Attorney General Grant Woods is considering running, but this time as a Democrat instead of as a Republican. Grant served as McCain’s chief of staff during the 1980s.

On Thursday, August 30th, Woods gave a tribute at McCain’s memorial service. Later, a friend of McCain shared the information that while Grant has considered running for the open senate seat, he will do so as either a Democrat or an Independent.

In the meantime, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey chose Senator Jon Kyl to fill the vacant seat for the rest of 2018. The seat will be voted on in the 2020 special election, and the candidate who wins well serve on the senate until the end of 2022.


Woods was the Attorney General for the state of Arizona for most of the 1990s. At that time the Arizona governors were first Fyfe Symington, then Jane Hull.

In an opinion piece published by the Arizona Republic, EJ Montini urges Woods to run for the seat. In his opinion, Governor Ducey should have picked Woods to fill the empty seat in the first place out of respect for Senator McCain. Since he didn’t, Montini encourages Woods to “go get it.”

In the meantime, Woods has mentioned his plans to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a democrat from New York. Woods re-tweeted an article about the meeting on his unofficial Twitter page. If he does choose to run, his supporters will need to wait until 2020 for the opportunity to vote for him.