Meghan McCain Isn't Ruling Out Running for Office One Day: 'Intriguing to Me'

Meghan McCain has spent years either talking about politics on TV and following along on the campaign trail. So what's next?

Maybe, just maybe, the commentator and conservative personality will run for office herself — though she's realistic about how that might be received.

"I feel like I've done it all," McCain, two months removed from her nearly four-year co-hosting stint on The View, tells PEOPLE in an interview for this week's issue. "What else can I do? I don't want to be Tucker Carlson."

McCain, whose audio memoir Bad Republican debuted Thursday on Audible, says she hasn't ruled out entering the political arena.

"At some point, maybe," the 37-year-old says. "My tone keeps shifting because, quite frankly, the bench in Arizona is not great, but it's very Trump-y. The woman running for governor right now, Kari Lake, was endorsed by President Trump and is more than likely going to win. But it's still an interesting state filled with really interesting people. [Sen.] Kyrsten Sinema, obviously, is a total independent in so many different ways."

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Still, McCain muses, launching a campaign sounds more intriguing than, say, working on cable news.

"I'm definitely not in that phase, but it's more likely that I would run for office than host a show. That's much more intriguing to me," she says, adding: "What's more likely, are you going to host a show on Fox or run for office? At this point in my life, moving home to Arizona and running for office sounds way more interesting."

She continues: "I'm not running for office ... but I'm just saying if there was a metric of placing bets: Yes. If someone has a gun to your head [and says,] 'Pick one or the other ... ' "

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Then she imagines how that all might play out, with the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain on the ballot.

"People hate children of politicians. People hate it," Meghan wryly notes. "So I would probably lose."

She's in no rush to figure out her next big move.

"I'm trying to get through this book tour," she says. "I really like writing this column [for the U.K.'s Daily Mail] and then I just want to let it unfold, as cheesy as that sounds."

"So much of my life, I knew what it was going to look like for so long. And I'm honestly just happy that, honestly, people like you are still interested, which is nice," she continues. "I haven't spiraled into irrelevance quite yet. I just want to wait and see."

If she doesn't become a candidate, maybe Meghan will go behind the scenes, she says.

"I really miss politics, and not that running for office— I have a friend who does political consulting for pretty high-level politicians, and I was thinking like maybe doing something like that in the future," Meghan says. "I feel very at home among political people. I feel very understood. We're all interested in the same things. And I feel really respected in a way that I don't necessarily feel in TV media, for whatever that's worth."

During her final season, Meghan co-hosted The View with Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, Sara Haines and moderator Whoopi Goldberg.

Elsewhere in her conversation with PEOPLE, she said she "loved debating politics" on the show but didn't always feel that her voice was welcome.

"I think they liked not having me," she says of her time off for maternity leave, before and after welcoming daughter Liberty in September 2020. "I think they liked not having someone who would fight with them or give an unpopular opinion. I was very insecure about not being missed on maternity leave. I felt it. I felt like they didn't miss me."

In a statement, a spokesperson for The View told PEOPLE: "For 25 years, The View has been a platform on air and behind the scenes for strong women. Live television and different perspectives can often lead to surprising moments, but the team is collaborative and supportive — focused on delivering an informative daily talk show to our loyal viewers."