John McCain asked for 74 new Twitter followers to help him reach 3 million and immediately lost thousands

Thomson Reuters

Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

• Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona asked for 74 more Twitter followers to reach the three-million mark.
• Thousands of people promptly unfollowed him.

The number of Twitter followers may have some intrinsic value in politics, and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona seems to be no exception to this rule.

McCain tweeted Monday morning asking for assistance in gathering more followers to become one of the few sitting senators with at least three million followers.

"We're only 74 Twitter followers away from 3M - spread the word & help us reach this big milestone!," McCain's tweet said.

McCain's tweet seemed to have the opposite effect - he began steadily losing followers. As of this writing, McCain has 2,989,328, a big deficit from the 74 he originally requested. 

Twitter users replied to McCain's tweet, lamenting that he voted in favor of the GOP's controversial tax bill Friday. Critics alleged that McCain, who stressed the importance of regular order in the Senate, flip-flopped on his position and approved of the bill, which included major revisions during the final hours of negotiation late Friday and early Saturday morning.

"Unfollowed... should have reconsidered that tax scam vote," one user said.

"Judging by the responses to this thread you're gonna need more than 74. I just unfollowed you since you voted to throw 98% of Americans under the bus on Friday, but will be happy to follow again if you vote no on the final #GOPTaxScam," wrote another user.

Amongst lawmakers on Capitol Hill, McCain reportedly ruled Twitter in 2014, with 1.9 million followers, followed by Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey who had around 1.5 million at the time. Since then, Booker has surpassed McCain with 3.56 followers, but trails behind other sitting senators, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont with 8.6 million followers.