Quarter of Top Elected Republicans Won’t Endorse Trump

A USA Today survey found that a full 26 percent of top elected Republican officials won’t endorse Donald Trump in his presidential bid. According to the news outlet, 87 officials said they refuse to back him for elected office. Out of 31 Republican governors, 54 Republican senators, and 246 members of the House, that’s about a quarter of all top GOP elected officials. The number comes following a day-long meltdown in Trump’s campaign, after House Speaker Paul Ryan announced he refused to defend the real-estate mogul for the rest of the 2016 election cycle. Trump sent out a series of tweets, essentially going to war with his party, specifically slamming Ryan and Sen. John McCain for their lack of support. Several officials have rescinded their endorsements of the candidate following the video leak Friday that showed him bragging about unwanted sexual contact with women in vulgar terms. According to USA Today, “There is no precedent in modern American political history for elected officials of either party to refuse en masse to support their presidential nominee.” Notably, Ryan did not rescind his endorsement. Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Chris Christie, and Sen. Ted Cruz all said Tuesday that they remain supportive of the GOP nominee.