--- title: Jeff Flake Reflects on John McCain's Impact on Politics description: Sen. Jeff Flake reflected on John McCain's career, highlighting his "maverick" reputation and saying he was proud of his healthcare vote canonical: https://time.com/5378482/jeff-flake-john-mccain-tribute/ author: Alix Langone article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-26T15:48:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:15:41.446Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeff Flake Says 'It's Tough To Imagine Politics' Without John McCain og:description: He said he was proud of the way McCain voted against the GOP health care bill og:url: https://time.com/5378482/jeff-flake-john-mccain-tribute/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969375823721b385/698938b6457a524702d5f340/john-mccain-jeff-flake.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3596 og:image:height: 2023 og:image:alt: Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Syria og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeff Flake Says 'It's Tough To Imagine Politics' Without John McCain twitter:description: He said he was proud of the way McCain voted against the GOP health care bill twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969375823721b385/698938b6457a524702d5f340/john-mccain-jeff-flake.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeff Flake Says 'It's Tough To Imagine Politics' Without John McCain > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. 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 [Alix Langone](https://time.com/author/alix-langone/) ## Alix Langone Aug 26, 2018 3:48 PM UTC  Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., talk before the start of the Senate Foreign Relations hearing to debate the authorization for use of military force in Syria on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., talk before the start of the Senate Foreign Relations hearing to debate the authorization for use of military force in Syria on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013. Bill Clark - CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images by [Alix Langone](https://time.com/author/alix-langone/) ## Alix Langone Aug 26, 2018 3:48 PM UTC Arizona Sen. [Jeff Flake](http://time.com/5289380/jeff-flake-harvard-commencement-address-president-trump/) said he can’t imagine politics or the Senate without his fellow Senator [John McCain](http://time.com/5378442/hillary-clinton-john-mccain-legacy/), who represented the state for more than three decades. Appearing on CNN’s _State of the Union_ Sunday morning, Flake said he has been a longtime fan of McCain. “I’m going to miss him,” Flake said. “I have admired him my entire life. It’s tough to imagine a Senate without him. It’s tough to imagine politics without John McCain. But we need to go on.” > [](https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1033708170827522049) McCain passed away on Saturday after fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer for more than year. He was 81 years old. Flake also said he was proud of the way McCain voted against the GOP health care bill last year. Referring to him by his longtime nickname “maverick” — which he earned for often making decisions independent of his party — Flake said McCain’s vote against the bill “was John, through and through.” “He was a huge institutionalist and loved the Senate because the Senate forces individuals and parties to come together and he wasn’t seeing that,” Flake said. Flake served with McCain in the Senate for almost half a decade. He wrote about how McCain “taught the country the value of standing alone to do what is right” in a [tribute in the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-am-grateful-for-john-mccain/2018/08/25/2c77572c-a8c8-11e8-a656-943eefab5daf%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.ce6c0ad117f5). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5378482/jeff-flake-john-mccain-tribute/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5378482/jeff-flake-john-mccain-tribute/"},"headline":"Jeff Flake Says 'It's Tough To Imagine Politics' Without John McCain","datePublished":"2018-08-26T15:48:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:15:41.446Z","description":"He said he was proud of the way McCain voted against the GOP health care bill","url":"https://time.com/5378482/jeff-flake-john-mccain-tribute/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969375823721b385/698938b6457a524702d5f340/john-mccain-jeff-flake.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alix Langone","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alix-langone/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969375823721b385/698938b6457a524702d5f340/john-mccain-jeff-flake.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 Syria","caption":"Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Syria","creditText":"Bill Clark - CQ-Roll Call,Inc./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/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5378482/jeff-flake-john-mccain-tribute/","name":"Jeff Flake Says 'It's Tough To Imagine Politics' Without John McCain"}}]}] ```