McCain said she would start ‘spilling tea’ if Harris invokes her father’s name again

Meghan McCain, the daughter of late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, called out Vice President Kamala Harris Friday after the Democratic presidential nominee shared an anecdote about an interaction she reportedly had with the six-term senator.

Harris was stumping at a Republicans for Harris event in Scottsdale, Arizona, Friday afternoon when she claimed John McCain, who represented the Grand Canyon State in the U.S. Senate until his death in 2018, once praised her.

Harris said the exchange happened after she and McCain were “going after each other” at a committee hearing. The Republican approached her later that day, she said.

“I step onto the floor of the well of the Senate later that day — we had votes — and I passed by John McCain, and he looks at me, and he says, ‘Kid, come over here. You’re going to make a great senator,’” Harris recalled. “True story. True story.”

John and Meghan McCain smiling next to Harris talking

Meghan McCain called out Vice President Kamala Harris over an anecdote she shared at a campaign rally. (Getty Images)

While speaking to the crowd, Harris then commended the late Arizona senator and called him an “incredible American hero.” But Meghan McCain found the story dubious and publicly addressed it on X Friday night.

“Now, I know democrats want to reinvent history and turn my Dad into any illusion you guys need him to be depending on the political moment you need to bastardize his memory for… But please don’t make me start sharing what I remember him ACTUALLY saying about Kamala Harris,” McCain wrote.

“And consider this my final warning shot, I will start spilling tea.”

On Saturday, McCain called her critics “lunatics” in response to the backlash.

“A lot of really triggered democrats in my timeline who claim they know more about my dad than well…. his daughter,” she wrote. “Get a grip on reality, you lunatics.”

Meghan and mother smiling

Meghan McCain and Cindy McCain attend the 2023 Time100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Time)

Democrats have been actively targeting moderate Republicans in Arizona this campaign season, and the swing state is predicted to have a significant impact on the presidential election in November.

Some GOP officials in the state have evoked McCain’s name to signal their support for Harris because John McCain had an icy relationship with former President Trump.

Speaking at a Harris rally in August, Rep. Gregory Stanton, D-Ariz., called on “John McCain Republicans” to support the Harris-Walz ticket. Mesa’s Republican mayor echoed that sentiment.

Harris at podium

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, speaks at a Republicans for Harris event in Scottsdale, Ariz., Friday. (Rebecca Noble/AFP via Getty Images)

“In the spirit of the great Sen. John McCain, please join me in putting country over party and stopping Donald Trump and protecting the rule of law, protecting our Constitution and protecting the democracy of our great country,” Mesa Mayor John Giles said.