John McCain Dead at 81

Senator John McCain died Saturday, over a year after he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was 81.

A statement from McCain’s family said that he died at 4:28 p.m.

McCain’s family confirmed the news:

McCain’s colleagues shared their condolences on Twitter:

There were signs over the past few months that McCain was near the end of his life. A stream of friends and family members had been visiting the longtime Arizona senator to pay their last respects. On Friday, citing “the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age,” McCain’s family announced he had chosen to discontinue treatment for his cancer.

McCain was a decorated Vietnam veteran who first rose to prominence after surviving torture in a Vietnamese POW camp. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, and served there for two terms before his election to the Senate in 1987, where he spent the rest of his life. During his time in office, McCain capitalized on a reputation as a “maverick” Republican that was formed during his doomed 2000 presidential campaign. This was despite his ultra-hawkish foreign policy stance and a record that—with a couple of notable exceptions—overwhelmingly adhered to GOP orthodoxy. He was the Republican presidential nominee in 2008—where, among other things, he introduced Sarah Palin to the world, thus hastening the forces that brought Donald Trump to power eight years later—but lost to Barack Obama.

After announcing his cancer diagnosis in July, McCain made a dramatic return to the Senate floor to oppose the Republican effort to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature healthcare bill. That decision cemented an irreconcilable rift between Trump and McCain (despite the latter’s supporting the president’s agenda more than 80 percent of the time) which culminated with McCain’s stated wish that the president not attend his funeral. (McCain later backed Trump’s tax cut program.)

McCain is survived by his wife Cindy, and seven children, including The View co-host Meghan McCain.

This is a developing story and is being updated.

Correction, 8/26, 9:31 a.m.: This story initially said that McCain died at 4:28 p.m. Pacific time. The current time zone in Sedona, AZ, where he died, is Mountain Standard Time.