--- title: Senator Suggests McCain Brain Tumor Explains Obamacare Vote description: Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson suggested John McCain's brain tumor might have affected his decision to vote against the GOP health care bill canonical: https://time.com/4893541/mccain-obamacare-tumor-ron-johnson/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-09T16:30:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T04:54:39.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senator Suggests McCain Voted 'No' Because of His Tumor og:description: Sen. McCain unexpectedly helped defeat a Republican effort to repeal Obamacare og:url: https://time.com/4893541/mccain-obamacare-tumor-ron-johnson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt040789fa378402bf/6988d9068fd2eefa7f358592/ron-johnson-john-mccain-cancer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing On Ending Modern Slavery og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senator Suggests McCain Voted 'No' Because of His Tumor twitter:description: Sen. McCain unexpectedly helped defeat a Republican effort to repeal Obamacare twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt040789fa378402bf/6988d9068fd2eefa7f358592/ron-johnson-john-mccain-cancer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senator Suggests McCain Voted Against Obamacare Repeal Because of His Brain Tumor > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:54 AM UTCPublished: Aug 9, 2017 4:30 PM UTC  Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and Arizona Sen. John McCain talk during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Ending Modern Slavery: Building on Success on Feb. 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and Arizona Sen. John McCain talk during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Ending Modern Slavery: Building on Success on Feb. 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Paul Morigi—WireImage/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:54 AM UTCPublished: Aug 9, 2017 4:30 PM UTC Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican, suggested Tuesday that [John McCain’s](http://time.com/4877901/john-mccain-skinny-repeal-vote/) brain cancer [diagnosis](http://time.com/4865791/john-mccain-daughter-meghan-mccain-cancer/) might have affected his [decision to vote against](http://time.com/4878038/john-mccain-vote-video/) GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. “Again, I’m not going to speak for John McCain. You know, he has a brain tumor right now, that vote occurred at 1:30 in the morning — some of that might have factored in,” Johnson said in an interview Tuesday on [AM560 Chicago’s Morning Answer,](http://morninganswerchicago.com/2017/08/08/wisconsin-senator-ron-johnson/) which was [published by CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/09/politics/kfile-ron-johnson-john-mccain/index.html) on Wednesday. Pressed on whether he thought McCain’s brain tumor affected his judgment, Johnson continued: “Again, I don’t know exactly what — we really thought — and again I don’t want speak for any Senator. I really thought John was going to vote yes to send that to conference at 10:30 at night. By about 1, 1:30, he voted no. So you have talk to John in terms of what was on his mind.” McCain’s office announced last month that he had been [diagnosed](http://time.com/4865791/john-mccain-daughter-meghan-mccain-cancer/) with an aggressive form of brain cancer after doctors discovered a [glioblastoma tumor](http://time.com/4865922/glioblastoma-john-mccain-brain-tumor/). He returned to Washington, D.C. to cast one of three [deciding Republican votes](http://time.com/4877901/john-mccain-skinny-repeal-vote/) against the GOP health care bill, arguing it “fell short” and would not improve Americans’ health care. He has since [returned to Arizona](http://time.com/4878862/john-mccain-chemotherapy-arizona/) to begin radiation and chemotherapy treatment. “It is bizarre and deeply unfortunate that Senator Johnson would question the judgment of a colleague and friend,” a spokesperson for McCain said in a statement. “Senator McCain has been very open and clear about the reasons for his vote.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4893541/mccain-obamacare-tumor-ron-johnson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4893541/mccain-obamacare-tumor-ron-johnson/"},"headline":"Senator Suggests McCain Voted Against Obamacare Repeal Because of His Brain Tumor","datePublished":"2017-08-09T16:30:14.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T04:54:39.000Z","description":"\"You know, he has a brain tumor right now, that vote occurred at 1:30 in the morning — some of that might have factored in\"","url":"https://time.com/4893541/mccain-obamacare-tumor-ron-johnson/","keywords":["Senate","Health Care","Congress","John McCain","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt040789fa378402bf/6988d9068fd2eefa7f358592/ron-johnson-john-mccain-cancer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt040789fa378402bf/6988d9068fd2eefa7f358592/ron-johnson-john-mccain-cancer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing On Ending Modern Slavery","caption":"Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing On Ending Modern Slavery","creditText":"Paul Morigi—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/senate/","name":"Senate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4893541/mccain-obamacare-tumor-ron-johnson/","name":"Senator Suggests McCain Voted Against Obamacare Repeal Because of His Brain Tumor"}}]}] ```