Cindy McCain blasted the Arizona Republican Party in a podcast interview published Wednesday, saying the "local" GOP is no longer "the party my husband and I belonged to."

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

Cindy McCain also said she "really can" see a Democrat carrying the traditionally red-state Arizona in the 2020 presidential election. A Democratic presidential candidate has not won Arizona since President Bill Clinton in 1996. Clinton was the first to do so since President Harry Truman in 1948.

Her husband, the late Sen. John McCain, was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and was elected to six Senate terms in Arizona. He died on Aug. 25, 2018.

John McCain's "maverick" reputation of sometimes reaching across the aisle to work with Democrats often found him at odds with grass-roots Republican activists in Arizona. He was censured by the state Republican Party in 2014 as too liberal. McCain's high-profile feud with President Donald Trump also split Republicans in the state.

The state Republican chairwoman is now Kelli Ward, a former state senator who unsuccessfully challenged McCain from the right in Arizona's 2016 GOP Senate primary. Ward represents the far right of the party and earlier this year defeated a moderate McCain ally to win the party post.

A party spokesman did not immediately respond to The Arizona Republic's request for comment on Cindy McCain's remarks.

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On the Politico podcast, Cindy McCain talked up her late husband's civility and ability to get along with his Senate colleagues. Today, there is an "inability to even discuss issues" without resorting to name-calling and Twitter attacks, she said.

"Certainly, the bipartisan efforts that John made and his willingness to certainly debate across the aisle, and never shy away from that, but reminding all of us that it was never personal," Cindy McCain said. "It was about the issues, and two differing opinions, and those kinds of things.

"He was never one to hold a grudge, or be negative," she added. "I mean, he had his moments. But for the most part, he really believed in being bipartisan."

Americans need to remain civil to each other and remember that "we are all on the same team, you know, Team U.S.A. here," she said.