Washington (CNN) Cindy McCain, the widow of the late Sen. John McCain, said on a podcast released Wednesday that the Republican Party is "excluding people for the wrong reasons" and is no longer "the party that my husband and I belonged to."

When McCain was asked if Democrats have a chance to win Arizona in 2020, she said she "really can" see the southwestern state going blue.

"We have, on my side of the aisle, on the Republican side, we see a local party in Arizona that's not functioning well. And it's excluding people. And it's excluding people for the wrong reasons," McCain said in an interview for Politico's "Women Rule" podcast

"If you're not walking the line, then you're out. That's just not right. That's not the party that my husband and I belonged to."

John McCain, whose career in Washington spanned decades, cultivated a reputation for occasionally opposing Republicans. In the last years of his life, he was a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, particularly over foreign policy, and Trump occasionally criticized the late Arizona senator, even after his passing.

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