Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is facing perhaps the toughest reelection race of his career, will skip the Republican presidential nominating convention in Cleveland in July.

{mosads}McCain says he will be focusing instead on his own race against Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick. He also has to worry about a late primary, which is scheduled for Aug. 30.

“I have to campaign for reelection, and I have always done that when I’m up,” he said. “We have a late primary in Arizona.” 

Recent polls show McCain and Kirkpatrick deadlocked, despite McCain’s nearly 30 years of service in the upper chamber and his close to 100-percent name identification.

McCain acknowledged that it’s possible the party’s eventual presidential nominee could drag down GOP candidates down ballot such as himself.

“That’s always a concern,” he said.

But he reiterated that he will support the party’s eventual nominee, whomever it turns out to be.  

This will be the first time McCain has not spoken at a GOP convention since 1984, just a year after he was first elected to Congress.