Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainAnalysis: Biden victory, Democratic sweep would bring biggest boost to economy The Memo: Trump's strengths complicate election picture Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' MORE’s (R-Ariz.) former senior adviser Steve Duprey said Sunday that McCain had no regrets about losing his bid for the presidency in 2008.

After he lost the presidential election in 2008, Duprey said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” McCain “spent a few days taking calls from friends, licking his wounds. Then he bounced right back up and went to work in the Senate, and I think, frankly, had even more effectiveness and more stature in the Senate because of that example," he continued.

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"When we would talk about it, he never really wanted to look back,” Duprey recalled. “He said, 'I did the best I could. It was a time for change.' ”

“But he really had no regrets," the former aide concluded. "And he didn't spend time in remorse about it.”

Duprey lauded the senator’s graciousness throughout his campaign and after his loss to eventual President-elect Obama.

“John McCain really wanted to be president,” Duprey said. “And I think he would have been a terrific president, but he didn’t want it so badly that he would do things that would undermine or give people pause about their faith in the goodness of this country and its leaders.”

Duprey continued, “And I think we'd all do well to try and hearken back to that example going forward.”

McCain, long seen as a giant of the Senate and a maverick within his party, was widely respected on and off Capitol Hill by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

He died Saturday at age 81 after battling an aggressive form of brain cancer.