Senator John McCain, Arizona’s senior senator and one of the most moderate Republicans in Congress, is going to turn 80 this year, but still insists on running for reelection. This despite polls showing he will lose the general election to his Democrat challenger, Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick. Arizona is a fairly red state and there is no reason why Republicans should lose either of its Senate seats — as long as Republicans don’t run John McCain again.

Kirkpatrick raised a formidable $1.8 million in 2015, more than any other Senate Democratic candidate in Arizona history. McCain raised far more, $5.6 million last year, but it’s not helping. Despite his greater funding and name recognition, a recent Merrill poll showed the two in a dead heat, with McCain at 41 percent and Kirkpatrick at 40 percent. As one member of Congress told me, the only incumbents who poll this poorly against a lesser-known challenger several months before an election are ones embroiled in serious, career-threatening scandals, who end up losing.

Equally telling, Public Policy Polling released a poll this month showing McCain with only a 26 percent approval rating and a 63 percent disapproval rating. Candidates that unpopular rarely get re-elected.

It doesn’t help him that Donald Trump may very well be the Republican presidential candidate at the top of the ticket. Trump inspires people who don’t usually vote to come out to the polls, people who dislike the Washington establishment and want to crack down on illegal immigration — the opposite of McCain. McCain has been derogatory toward Trump and his supporters, telling the New Yorker that Trump “fired up the crazies.” If he’s the nominee, the “crazies” will vote him out of office.

He’s not popular with movement conservatives either. He has a low 82 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, because he frequently votes against conservative positions. The Senate Conservatives Fund has not endorsed McCain. “There are few Republicans who have betrayed our conservative principles more than John McCain,” said Ken Cuccinelli, president of the organization.

Conservatives in Arizona are fed up with being threatened and called names by McCain. (I’ve been personally threatened three times by him or his campaign.) Some big name Republicans told me off the record that they would not challenge McCain because they did not want their families subjected to the inevitable smear campaign.

The Republican Alternative

There is a conservative alternative for Republicans. Kelli Ward, a 46-year-old doctor of osteopathic medicine from Lake Havasu City, a small city on the border with California, is challenging McCain in the primary. Almost one-third of Arizona state senators have endorsed Ward. She raised an impressive half-million dollars during her first quarter of fundraising last year, and in a recent poll from Gravis Marketing is easily beating McCain, 45 percent to 36 percent.

At some point, politicians need to check their egos and retire. They become susceptible to the lobbyists and insiders in Washington after they have been in office for too long, no longer adequately representing the interests of their constituents. Kelli Ward likely will beat him in the primary on August 30th. John McCain may want to consider doing the magnanimous thing for Ward and the GOP: dropping out now and giving her five more months to raise money and campaign against the Democrat.