Grant Woods, former attorney general for Arizona, died unexpectedly Saturday at the age of 67, according to Phoenix media reports. The cause was a heart attack, The Arizona Republic reported.
Woods served as attorney general from 1991 to 1999.
He also previously served as congressional chief of staff to John McCain, and spoke at the senator's memorial service in Phoenix in 2018.
Gov. Doug Ducey issued this written statement:
“My deepest sympathies go out to the family and loved ones of Grant Woods. He was well-known in the Arizona community for decades, including serving as Attorney General and a chief of staff to John McCain before moving on to private practice. Arizona honors his life and years of public service. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Marlene and five children.”
Cindy McCain, the senator's widow, told The Republic: “Grant Woods was a great public servant, tremendous family man and a dear friend of my husband and our entire family. My sorrow at his untimely passing is only diminished by my knowledge that Grant and John are together again cracking jokes and worrying about the Diamondbacks.”
Woods, a longtime Republican, had weighed running for McCain's seat in 2020 — as a Democrat.
“What changed for me is the passing of John McCain,” he said at the time. He said that caused him to reflect on McCain’s role as someone willing to speak out. It also made him concerned, he said, about what McCain's absence would mean for politics in Arizona and nationally, particularly in the age of then-President Donald Trump, whom Woods called “the least qualified ever.”
Woods ultimately decided not to run, but continued to be prominent in Arizona political issues.
Long willing to stray from party lines, he picked and chose among Republicans, including former Gov. Jan Brewer in 2010, and Democrats, including Hillary Clinton in 2016, to endorse and campaign for, The Republic noted.
In recent months, Woods, an outspoken critic of the Arizona Senate's review of the 2020 presidential election, appeared several times as a guest on CNN.
