Pennsylvania’s Former GOP Senator Reveals Why He Won’t Vote for Trump
September 4, 2024
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Former Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican, said he won’t vote for Donald Trump in November because of his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Talking with CNBC host Joe Kernen on Tuesday for Squawk Box, Toomey said: “I voted for Donald Trump twice, in 2016 and 2020, but when you lose an election and you try to overturn the result so that you can stay in power, you lose. You lose me at that point.”
Grilled by Kernen about whether that meant he would then vote for Kamala Harris in November, Toomey denied that not supporting Trump would mean backing the Democratic nominee.
“Okay. Then, then… So, you would prefer Kamala Harris,” Kernen said. “Hold on,” Toomey replied. “I acknowledge that the outcome is a binary situation, but my choice is not.”
Pat Toomey speaks at a press conference on August 3, 2022, in Washington, D.C. Toomey said he won’t be voting for Trump or Harris in November. Pat Toomey speaks at a press conference on August 3, 2022, in Washington, D.C. Toomey said he won’t be voting for Trump or Harris in November. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Asked who he would support if the race came down to one vote and that was his vote, Toomey said: “It is an acceptable position for me to say that neither of these candidates would be my choice for president.” Instead, Toomey said that Republicans should focus on controlling the Senate.
“That is absolutely essential,” he said, adding that he thinks the GOP will be able to achieve such a result. “If the other side runs the table, then they will repeal the filibuster and they will be dragged by their left wing, which is clearly in charge now.”
Toomey served on the Senate banking and finance committees during his time in office. He represented the state of Pennsylvania for 12 years in the Senate, before retiring from politics in 2020—delivering a blow to the GOP in the state.
In 2022, Democrat John Fetterman beat Republican surgeon Mehmet Oz, better known as Dr. Oz, in the race to replace Toomey. It was the only U.S. Senate seat to flip parties in the 2022 midterms.
Toomey’s public rejection of Trump is yet another blow for the former president and Republican nominee, who’s found his own former officials to be among his most vocal detractors. On Monday, 200 Republicans who worked for former President George W. Bush and former presidential candidates Senators Mitt Romney and John McCain published an open letter supporting Harris in her bid for the presidency.
“Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable,” the letter reads.
“At home, another four years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions. Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardized as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies. We can’t let that happen.”
Newsweek contacted Trump’s 2024 campaign team for comment by email on Wednesday morning, outside of standard working hours.
Pennsylvania is one of the key battleground states that Harris and Trump are fighting for. According to polling compiled by FiveThirtyEight, Harris is currently ahead with 46.2 percent, while Trump trails the former president with 45.1 percent of the vote.
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