A growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill are lining up behind former President Donald Trump as he marches toward the GOP presidential nomination.
But some corners of the party – including Senate leaders, vulnerable Republicans and rank-and-file members – are still uneasy about the prospect of Trump being at the top of the ticket, and privately hoping he somehow stumbles between now and the nominating convention.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said, “I’ve always been worried” about Trump’s viability as a general election candidate.
“General elections are won in the middle of the electorate,” Thune told CNN. “All that has repercussions for Senate races, too. If we want to get the majority, we need a strong showing at the top of the ticket that translates into some down-ballot success.”
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who has wanted to move the party past Trump, would not comment Tuesday when asked if he is resigned to the fact that Trump will likely be their nominee.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas – who, like Thune, is seen as a potential successor to McConnell one day – said the race is not over yet.
“If the primaries were all held today, Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee. But it’s not over yet,” he told CNN. “We’ll see how it all unfolds.”
Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican and member of the GOP leadership team, would not say whether she would endorse Trump after he won the Iowa caucuses Monday night by a wide margin.
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that President Joe Biden does not occupy the White House,” she told CNN on Tuesday.
When asked about Trump’s viability given the criminal charges against him, she said: “You know he did pretty darn well in Iowa. And I think you might see that continue. So, here we go….
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