President Joe Biden is preparing to name Cindy McCain the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations World Food Program, according to Politico.
Two sources told the news outlet that McCain, wife of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is being prepped to be Biden’s first Republican appointee.
She is currently undergoing a background check, the sources said.
The Biden administration plans to announce her appointment when he announces the rest of his ambassador appointments.
Cindy McCain previously worked with the U.N. World Food Program and has a history of working on other programs to combat food insecurity.
She endorsed Biden in the 2020 presidential election, as did former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who was also being considered for an ambassadorship.
Flake said earlier this year he had been in touch with the Biden administration but noted no final decisions about his nomination had been made.
“All I’ve said is I would have an interest in making sure that President Biden’s foreign policy is bipartisan,” he said.
“You know, we used to say that partisanship stops at the water’s edge,” he continued. “That needs to happen—and I think it can happen, but there’s been no specific talks.”
Both Flake and Cindy McCain were censured by the Arizona GOP for endorsing Biden and vocally opposing former president Donald Trump.
The state party’s chairwoman, Kelli Ward, said the censure was necessary because the future of the GOP is Trump’s base.
“Yes, I will be radical about those things because those are the things that keep this country great,” Ward said.
“The people who are complaining are the people who actually put us in this spot where we are in Arizona, people who have been mamby pamby, lie down and allow the Democrats to walk all over them,” she added.
