#NeverTrump GOP endorsements LATEST: Graham and Lee voted McMullin

[Mr. Morden]

Former Rep. Ray LaHood (IL) won't vote for Trump:

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20160526/NEWS/160529638

[Indy Texas]

Former Rep. Ray LaHood (IL) won't vote for Trump:

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20160526/NEWS/160529638

Moderate Republican and of Middle Eastern descent and very bipartisan - basically he has too many reasons not to vote for Trump.

Hillary would be very wise to try to get him on board a "Republicans for Hillary" committee.

[Mr. Morden]

There's a "Stop Trump movement" Wikipedia page, that lists many of the same people we've talked about in this thread, with references included:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Trump_movement#By_individuals

Only problem is, their list mixes together people who've ruled out voting for him in the GE, and those (like Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan) who say they simply haven't made up their minds yet.

The "I'm not endorsing him yet, but I still might" group of Republicans remains rather large, and I haven't seen anyone try to put together a comprehensive list of that group.

[Mr. Morden]

Rick Snyder insists again that he’s not going to endorse anyone in the presidential race:

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/02/snyder-decides-endorsing-trump-president/85270198/

The NYT has a new story on all the people who are skipping the RNC this year, including some who were selected as delegates:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/02/us/politics/donald-trump-republican-convention.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1

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As the story notes, Rand Paul is also a convention delegate, yet hasn't decided yet if he's going to attend.  And both Kasich and Portman are noncommittal about attending too, even though the convention is in their own state.

[Mr. Morden]

Wikipedia also has a list of people who *have* endorsed Trump:

link

However, they’re pretty inconsistent about what counts as an endorsement.  For example, they include Nikki Haley as an endorsement even though she’s used the “support the nominee” but not “endorse” formulation, but they don’t include a bunch of other people who belong in that same category.

Without going through all of them one by one, I think that out of the 32 current Republican governors, maybe ~a third of them have given a real endorsement of Trump, without hedging (though even several of them say there are things about him they don’t like).  Most of the rest use some kind of weasel words about “support the nominee” without saying his name, or they dodge the question or even say they won’t comment on the presidential race for the duration of the campaign, because they’re “too busy” running their state government to worry about national politics, or something like that.  Then you have Charlie Baker who is #NeverTrump, and Kasich who says he’d only back Trump if he significantly changed his campaign and what it stands for.

Congress seems to be similar.  Many many people who are using some kind of weaselly “support the nominee” language or dodging the question, but also a significant block (yet still a minority) who have given Trump a full throated endorsement, and a small group of #NeverTrump diehards.

I can’t think of any modern precedent for so many people in elected office in one of the major parties declining to answer the question or giving some kind of weaselly split the difference type answer when asked if they’ll support their party’s presidential nominee.  Was it like this with Goldwater and McGovern?

[Mr. Morden]

Btw, I went through the list of Republican Senators up for reelection this year one by one, and many of them have offered Ayotte-esque tepid support for Trump like “I support the nominee, but don’t consider that an endorsement”.  But I think all but three have offered some kind of nominal support at least.

The three remaining holdouts—Republican Senators up for reelection this year who who have not (yet) indicated that they’re going to support Trump—are:

Mike Lee (UT): http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/mike-lee-on-donald-trump-he-scares-me-to-death/article/2591104

Jerry Moran (KS): http://cjonline.com/news/2016-05-04/top-kansas-republicans-say-theyll-back-trump-some-wont#

Pat Toomey (PA): https://www.buzzfeed.com/christophermassie/pat-toomey-i-hope-we-dont-get-to-a-point-where-i-cant-suppor?utm_term=.feeRkd2Dq#.dajlKqbeX

Toomey previously said he’d “support the nominee”, but as the link above indicates, he’s kind of backtracked and now says he might not.

None of those three are #NeverTrump though, as they don’t seem to have ruled out supporting him at some point in the future.  They’ve just said that they haven’t decided yet.

[Mr. Morden]

While I disagree with where they place some of the names on the list, TPM has the most comprehensive overview I've seen of which current GOP governors and members of Congress have endorsed Trump, refused to endorse him, or ended up somewhere in between:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/elected-official-trump-endorsement-scorecard

[Landslide Lyndon]

FWIW, Ted Cruz refused to answer yesterday whether he'll endorse Trump.
And according to his close advisers it's more possible than not that he will not endorse anyone.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Are we putting un-endorsements here? Mark Kirk just did the first.

[Green Line]

The dam is breaking!  Trump will not be our nominee come November, I guarantee it.

[Landslide Lyndon]

[This account no longer in use.]

The dam is breaking!  Trump will not be our nominee come November, I guarantee it.

Honestly, I feel like a contested convention would be worse for the GOP long-term than simply letting Trump have the nomination.

[Mehmentum]

This is crazy.  It looked like everyone was falling in line, but I guess the chaos is just beginning.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Add Michael Reagan to the list.

[Mr. Morden]

A Republican Iowa state senator has dropped his party registration in protest over Trump:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/iowa-gop-senator-suspends-party-membership-to-protest-trump/2016/06/07/6d5d7d10-2d0b-11e6-b9d5-3c3063f8332c_story.html

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[Badger]

Former Rep. Ray LaHood (IL) won't vote for Trump:

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20160526/NEWS/160529638

Moderate Republican and of Middle Eastern descent and very bipartisan - basically he has too many reasons not to vote for Trump.

Hillary would be very wise to try to get him on board a "Republicans for Hillary" committee.

He already served as Obama's Secretary of Transportation, so it shouldn't be hard.

[Mr. Morden]

I took Dean Heller off the list in the OP, because, after digging into his public comments more, it looks like he's just undecided on how to vote, not that he's ruling out Trump:

http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/may/04/heller-to-vote-against-clinton-not-necessarily-for/

However, Mark Kirk's been added to the list in the OP, as he now appears to be #NeverTrump.

Also, it looks like Brian Sandoval has moved from "supports Trump" to "undecided":

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/nevada-gov-sandoval-voting-trump-not-sure-n587426

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[Mr. Morden]

In this interview (at about the ~4:20 mark) Mitch McConnell is asked if he thinks Donald Trump is fit to be president, and he dodges the question, simply saying that “The American people will decide” in November:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-utLdJo69U

So we have the Republican Speaker of the House endorsing the party’s presidential nominee, yet accusing him of making racist comments, and the Republican Senate Majority Leader endorsing the party’s presidential nominee, but not answering the question when asked if he’s actually fit to be president.

Seems like a healthy political party.

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/JoePerticone/status/740520444747522048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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[Mr. Morden]

During the primaries, Dan Coats said that he’d support whoever the nominee was, but I don’t think he’s actually offered any endorsement of Trump since he clinched the nomination.  Yesterday, he wouldn’t even say what issues he agrees with Trump on:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/us/politics/paul-ryan-donald-trump-gonzalo-curiel.html

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[standwrand]

Marco isn't going to speak on Trump's behalf at the convention anymore

http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016/06/07/marco-rubio-wont-speak-behalf-trump-convention/

[Landslide Lyndon]

https://twitter.com/capitolwatch/status/740621673402142720

Former Congressman Chris Shays says he's not voting for Trump "under any circumstance. I'm not drinking the Kool Aid."

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

https://twitter.com/capitolwatch/status/740621673402142720

Former Congressman Chris Shays says he's not voting for Trump "under any circumstance. I'm not drinking the Kool Aid."

#UnsurprisingNewsOfTheDay

[Coolface Sock #42069]

In this interview (at about the ~4:20 mark) Mitch McConnell is asked if he thinks Donald Trump is fit to be president, and he dodges the question, simply saying that “The American people will decide” in November:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-utLdJo69U

So we have the Republican Speaker of the House endorsing the party’s presidential nominee, yet accusing him of making racist comments, and the Republican Senate Majority Leader endorsing the party’s presidential nominee, but not answering the question when asked if he’s actually fit to be president.

Seems like a healthy political party.

Yeah, this is bad.

[Mr. Morden]

I added Chris Shays to the list in the OP.

Scott Walker seems to have walked back his Trump endorsement to “undecided”:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/scott-walker-trump-endorsement-224059

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Meanwhile, things aren’t great for Trump on Capitol Hill:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-senate-support-224085

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Only eight?  Off the top of my head, I can think of at least 10 Republican Senators who haven’t even offered an Ayotte-esque “I support the nominee, though with reservations” boilerplate statement of support:

Coats
Collins
Cruz
Flake
Graham
Heller
Kirk
Lee
Sasse
Toomey

And I’m sure there are others, as I haven’t bothered to go through each Senator one by one.

But hey, at least he now has the support of Jerry Moran:

http://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/now-consider-this/article82345032.html