PHOENIX — An Arizona political icon got an unexpected shout-out during the 2024 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Harris referred to “the late, great John McCain, who you trashed” while criticizing her Republican opponent during a conversation about health care.

“You didn’t like him, you said then, because he got caught. He was an American hero,” Harris, a Democrat, said of McCain, a Republican.

She was referring to comments Trump made during his first campaign in 2016. Trump had said that McCain, a former prisoner of war who served in the Arizona Senate for 30 years, was not a war hero because he had been captured.

In what context was John McCain mentioned?

Harris brought up McCain while discussing Trump’s various efforts to repeal Obamacare.

She recalled the Senate vote on a bill to repeal Obamacare in July 2017. McCain was the key vote on the repeal. After the vote began, he left the Senate floor for a while.

Finally, McCain walked back inside and held his hand up for a few seconds before giving a thumbs down, confirming that he had voted “no.”

“The late, great John McCain — I’ll never forget that night — walked out onto the Senate floor and said, ‘No, you’re not doing that,’” Harris recalled. “‘No, you’re not doing that. No, you’re not repealing the Affordable Care Act. You don’t have a plan.’”

In September 2017, Trump called McCain’s vote against the bill “a huge slap in the face to the Republican Party.”

Trump calls McCain out against Harris during 2024 presidential debate

Trump did not respond to Harris’ comment about his well-documented dislike of McCain.

However, he did respond to her comment referencing McCain’s vote to save the Affordable Care Act.

“She made a mistake,” Trump said of Harris. “First of all, John McCain fought against Obamacare for 10 years. But it wasn’t just him.”

He then turned around and said his health care policy would be “much better than Obamacare.” He didn’t give details about what that policy would look like. Instead, he criticized Harris’s policies.

The brief mention of McCain prompted an enthusiastic tweet from the late senator’s daughter.

Kudos to McCain!! #Debate2024

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) September 11, 2024

Meghan McCain, a political commentator, said KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show Last week she saw Harris and Trump as “garbage candidates” in a “garbage election.”

More campaign stops in Arizona after 2024 presidential debate

Trump is expected to deliver a speech at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall in Tucson on Thursday around 2 p.m.

That same day, Harris’ husband, the second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, will campaign for his wife in Tucson, but it is not yet clear where and when exactly he will speak.