This label was adopted by Republican candidate John McCain (and subsequently his running mate, Sarah Palin) in the Campaign of 2008. Particularly in the general election, McCain argued that he was not a typical Republican candidate. He emphasized occasions in the past where he departed from the majority of his party in Congress, such as his authorship of campaign finance reform legislation, his cosponsorship (with Democratic senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts) of a “patient’s bill of rights,” his support for a legal path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and his initial opposition to the 2001 tax cuts proposed by President George W. Bush. In a word, Sen. McCain promoted his unconventional sensibilities, claiming that this was the basis for his willingness to strike out on his own without concern for party conformity and in the spirit of a pragmatic approach to politics that is effectively bipartisan or in some sense nonpartisan. As political scientist Stanley Renshon has observed, the senator’s “cross party appeal,” which is the result of his appearance as a maverick, is “more deeply rooted in his psychology than in his rhetoric or persona,” and yet Sen. McCain nonetheless benefits from this image, for according to Prof. Renshon, he “has clearly derived political mileage from his maverick image, and he knows it.” In 2008, this strategy enabled him to distance himself from the then unpopular Republican incumbent.
The addition of Alaska governor Sarah Palin to the McCain ticket was used to enhance this imagery. The McCain camp portrayed Palin, then in her first term as governor of Alaska, as a maverick in her own right. They touted her willingness to buck the big oil companies and the leadership of her own party during her tenure in office. These themes were also emphasized in campaign ads such as “Original Mavericks.” Gov. Palin’s campaign rhetoric drew upon their mutual identification with the maverick label.
Sen. McCain’s critics have challenged his purported maverick credentials. For example, as demonstrated by political scientist Benjamin Lauderdale, Sen. McCain’s reputation as a maverick is not necessarily consistent with his actual voting record, particularly in the latter years of his political career. According to the conclusions that can be drawn from the data gathered by Lauderdale, Sen. McCain’s “maverick score” (or what could awkwardly be identified as “maverickness”) peaked in 2001–2002, when he did in fact appear to be more of a maverick when compared to most members of Congress. Since then, his “maverick score” declined steadily, dipping to a point scarcely above the average score for members of Congress in 2007–2008 (as he was running for president in part on the reputation of being a maverick) and in 2011 standing noticeably below the average score. More to the point, Sen. McCain himself repudiates his maverick reputation. In an interview for Newsweek in April, 2010, Sen. McCain admitted, “I never considered myself a maverick . . . I consider myself a person who serves the people of Arizona to the best of his abilities.” Nevertheless, owing largely in part to his reputation as a maverick (amplified by his brief but memorable alliance with Gov. Palin), Sen. McCain’s reputation in the popular imagination remains that of a political maverick.
Lauderdale, Benjamin E. “Unpredictable Voters in Ideal Point Estimation.” Political Analysis, 18 (2010): 151–171.
Linkins, John. “John McCain Not a Maverick: Proven with Math!” Huffington Post. May 25, 2011. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/06/john-mccain-not-a-maveric_n_566374.html. Accessed October 1, 2015.
Page, Susan. “Which Hopeful Is the New Face of the GOP?” USA Today, January 24, 2008.
Renshon, Stanley A. “Psychological Reflections on Barack Obama and John McCain: Assessing the Contours of a New Presidential Administration.” Political Science Quarterly 123, no. 3 (Fall 2008): 391–433.