It is being reported that US Rep. Richard Hanna of New York has become the first sitting GOP member of Congress to publicly state that he will vote for Hillary Clinton this November, saying that Trump is unfit to serve. He represents the 22nd district (R+3), which is smack in the middle of NY and is not seeking re-election. Since first elected in 2010 he has been known as a bit of a maverick, notably with his vocal support for marriage equality according to the linked article. I can only wonder if there are others, especially in marginal districts, who might decide this is either the politically smart or morally correct option.
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Hanna is a voter in a safe state, and his vote will not determine the next president. He, like most of us, have the luxury of voting for whomever we want, rather than the least bad choice. So I find it interesting that he stated he will vote for Clinton and not Libertarian Gary Johnson.
I know Senator Mark Kirk has said he won’t “support” Trump, but not for whom he’s voting, that I can find. I wouldn’t be surprised to see almost every endangered R in a swing district back away from Trump. Not sure we can expect to see many affirmatively voting for Clinton.
I agree. Many will distance themselves and not do a thing to help him, but endorsing Clinton will be too much for almost all of them. Related: I thought McCain’s statement yesterday was pathetic. Basically, “This guy is awful and dangerous but only God can judge me for not fully repudiating him.”
Trump is further calling out McCain and saying he hasn’t done enough for the vets and won’t yet support McCain’s reelection.
And Ryan. And Ayotte.
They absolutely deserve to lose their jobs if they don’t take this assclown on.
The later two are in suburban Philly and in the tightest raves this cycle. The former is in the north suburbs of Chicago. These are districts that will be at least carried 60-40 by Clinton, if not more so. Their survival will likely spend on rejecting Trump.
We might imagine Trump going off the rails so much that Pence drops off the ticket.
She endorsed Clinton this morning. One wonders if Romney follows suit since she is awfully close to him.
Humpty Trumpty had a great fall
All the kings horses and all the kings men
Couldn’t put Trumpty together again.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
but I don’t think we’ll see a deluge. And, it’s hard to separate how many fall away this year versus past years. Clearly more, but every election cycle we see a few people trotted out mavericking their party’s candidate.
It seems to me that the most important GOP “gets” for HRC are (a) GOPers with big fundraising levers who can put cash now into HRC’s campaign (there’s not that much time left to spend it wisely), and (b) GOPers with followers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Iowa. Three of those states “should” go for HRC, and locking them up takes opportunities off Trump’s board and helps save money. Ohio, of course, is the big one. Kasich not supporting Trump helps; if HRC could land a few Ohio GOP pols or even have more Ohio GOP pols talk smack about Trump, it will help her quite a bit.
The flip side, of course, is that the more GOP candidates for House and Senate (and state house and senate) who throw in with Trump, the better chance the Dems have of flipping some legislatures come election day.
I’m surprised more haven’t started coming out and saying “I can’t with this effing guy but I also can’t support Clinton.” It seems that backing Johnson might be the best way forward for Senators and Reps looking to hold their seats (and help hold the Senate and a decent margin in the House). It makes them look independent, which everyone likes, and they aren’t betraying their purported values in a way to piss off a large amount of conservative voters.
Patton Oswalt wrote, months ago, that Trump wants out. Lately he seems like it.
…for McCain to be one to jump ship. It would probably help him politically and nobody would blame him having been the target of one of Trump’s earliest campaign insults. (“I prefer soldiers who weren’t captured.”)
We need someone to play Alexander Hamilton from the 1800 election – a high-ranking statesman and guru of one party to publicly switch. As the founder of the Federalist Party Hamilton detested everything Thomas Jefferson, founder of the Democratic-Republican Party, stood for politically. However, the other option, Aaron Burr, whose political sympathies were closer to Federalists in many respects, was seen by Hamilton and others as a dangerous demogogue with potentially treasonous ambitions (sound familiar?). Hamilton put country first (Hear that, John McCain?) and threw his support behind Jefferson which shifted the deadlocked House of Representatives. (There was no EC majority that year.) Luckily, we won’t have to settle for Trump as VP in this case thanks to the 12th amendment (adopted to avoid precisely this problem again) and dueling is no longer acceptable.
He has two credible right wing primary opponents and also needs to hold every Republican to head back his general election challenger. But he also can’t lose Latinos 70/30 like Trump will. It’s a real tough place for him, but part of me thinks at 81 just say fuck it and run as the real McCain.