Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainGOP lobbyists worry Trump lags in K Street fundraising Mark Kelly kicks off Senate bid: ‘A mission to lift up hardworking Arizonans’ Gabbard hits back at Meghan McCain after fight over Assad MORE (R-Ariz.) on Thursday slammed Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE for saying he may not accept the outcome of the presidential election.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I don’t know who’s going to win the presidential election. I do know that in every previous election, the loser congratulates the winner and calls them 'my president,' " McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, said in a statement.

"That’s not just the Republican way or the Democratic way. It’s the American way," he said, adding that Americans should "respect the decision of the majority even when we disagree with it. Especially when we disagree with it."

McCain didn't mention Trump by name in the statement. But it comes one day after the 2016 GOP nominee refused to say during the third presidential debate that he would accept the results of the election.

"I will look at it at the time. I'm not looking at anything now," Trump said at the Las Vegas debate.

- Updated at 12:59 p.m.