Bernie Sanders: John McCain is missed in Senate, Democrats wish him 'very, very best'

Bernie Sanders expressed well wishes for Arizona's ailing senior senator, John McCain, ahead of his Sunday rally in downtown Phoenix.

"I will tell you this: John McCain's political views are very different than mine, but John McCain, I consider to be a friend, somebody I've worked with on veterans' issues," Sanders told The Arizona Republic.

"And I think John does have a unique place in the Senate right now where he is widely respected," Sanders continued. "Not only for his personal life and his role as a prisoner of war, but for his courage."

Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who unsuccessfully sought the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, is headlining a noon political event at the Orpheum Theatre in McCain's hometown of Phoenix.

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McCain, a six-term Arizona Republican, is battling an aggressive form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma at his family's cabin near Sedona. In December, McCain, 81, was hospitalized near Washington, D.C., for a viral infection and for side effects to his ongoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment. He returned to Arizona on Dec. 17 and has not been back to the Senate.

Sanders said McCain exhibited bravery by voting in July against a Senate GOP effort to undo former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and for his past efforts on behalf of campaign-finance reform.

The two worked together on VA reform in 2014 after a nationwide scandal about the manipulated wait-time records of veterans seeking health care.

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"I can tell you that many Democrats who disagree with him are very, very fond of him personally and we all wish him the very, very best in his battle against this terrible illness," Sanders said.

On Thursday, Cindy McCain, his wife, and Meghan McCain, his daughter, shot down a dubious online report that suggested McCain would be resigning from the Senate. The story had gained some traction on social media.

Cindy McCain wrote on Twitter that her husband "is doing fine and has no intention of resigning."

Meghan McCain, a co-host of ABC's "The View," tweeted that the report was "FAKE NEWS."

Sanders will be joined Sunday at the Orpheum Theatre, 203 W. Adams St., Phoenix, by Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Ruben Gallego, both Arizona Democrats.

Dan Nowicki is The Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter, @dannowicki.

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