Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kelli Ward accuses John McCain of distracting from her campaign

Arizona Republican Kelli Ward, who is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake (R), claimed Saturday that John McCain's family released the statement about discontinuing his medical treatment on Friday to hurt her campaign.

McCain passed away several hours after Ward's remarks.

What happened?

Ward wrote on Facebook that she believed McCain's family sought to assemble a "negative narrative" about her. She was responding to one of her campaign staffers, who questioned if it was "just a coincidence" that McCain's family released the statement the same day Ward kicked off a bus tour ahead of Tuesday's GOP primary.

After KPNX-TV reporter Brahm Resnik tweeted about Ward's comment, she deleted it. In a subsequent comment, Ward claimed the media "loves a narrative."

"The media loves a narrative. I’ve said again and again to pray for Senator McCain & his family. These decisions are terrible to have to make. I feel compassion for him and his family as they go through this," she said.

"It’s not the McCains creating a narrative — it’s the media making something out of nothing. The media, the left, and the Establishment have the agenda. They’ve been attacking me over fake stories for a year on this issue. I ran against Mr. McCain. I don’t agree with his voting record and rhetoric. I pray for him as a man who is suffering," she added.

That comment also appears to have since been deleted.

@kelliwardaz deleted that comment on the FB thread. She has now posted this comment, blaming the media. pic.twitter.com/EYozlaLRzT

— BrahmResnik (@brahmresnik) August 25, 2018

Indeed, just hours after McCain's family announced McCain had discontinued medical treatment for brain cancer, Ward continued to attack the longtime Arizona senator, Politico reported.

What was the reaction?

While Ward was overwhelmingly condemned for her remarks, Aaron Borders, a former Maricopa County Republican official, had a scathing response for Ward.

"It's wildly inappropriate. It's classless. It's not decent ... it's very narcissistic. It's a narcissist comment to sit there and think that the McCain family made this decision to interfere with your bus tour," he told the Arizona Republic.

(H/T: Raw Story)