After it was reported that Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Mike Pence would not be endorsing Senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte in their reelection bids, the Pence camp claimed that Pence’s words were misrepresented, and they clarified.
Mike Pence will be endorsing both McCain and Ayotte against their primary opponents. According to Politico:
Pence’s campaign says his remarks were never meant to imply that Pence did not support the two, a Pence aide said. The reference to “new leadership,” the aide said, was about Trump and Pence taking the White House.
The aide said a statement clarifying Pence’s position is forthcoming, adding that Pence supports all sitting GOP members of Congress in their primaries.
This all started when Pence appeared to refuse to endorse the sitting Senators, calling for “new leadership” in Washington.
“I look forward to supporting Republican candidates in the days and weeks ahead all over the country,” Pence told the reporters after being asked if he will endorse McCain and Ayotte, according to an NBC transcript. “To restore our country … we need new leadership.”
McCain’s primary opponent, Kelli Ward, also saw this as a non-endorsement releasing this statement:
“Donald Trump and Mike Pence recognize that we cannot win Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat in November with McCain,”
This also appears to be a situation where Pence breaks with Donald Trump after recently doing the same thing by endorsing Paul Ryan, something Trump refused to do. This type of disunity between the two members at the top of the Republican ticket could spell disaster come November, as Mike Pence is continuing to pick up after Donald’s messes.
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