Donald Trump speaking before supporters at a rally in Arizona.
Credit: Gage Skidmore
Republican congressional candidate Brian Fitzpatrick has broken from his party and announced he will not vote for presidential nominee Donald Trump.
The announcement comes as other major Republicans ditch Trump’s campaign. By Sunday morning, Senator John McCain, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Congressman Jason Chaffetz and other top GOP members have renounced their support for the controversial business man following the release of a 2005 tape where he made lewd comments about women and implies he can have sexual contract with women because he is a “star.”
“Donald Trump’s comments and actions are offensive and disgusting and they cannot be rationalized or ignored, regardless of context. Like the vast majority of residents in this district, I have been frustrated by this presidential campaign because neither candidate shares our values. This is why, as a former FBI Supervisory Special Agent and Federal Prosecutor, I have refused to endorse either candidate, and reached the point that I cannot vote for either candidate,” the Fitzpatrick campaign’s statement reads.
Democratic congressional candidate State Rep. Steve Santarsiero took time do condemn Trump’s statements and call out Fitzpatrick for his past support of the candidate in two statements. The first statement was released prior to Fitzpatrick’s denouement of Trump and the second was issued following the release from the Republican’s campaign.
The second statement reads that Fitzpatrick’s announcement he won’t vote for Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is a “belated attempt to distance himself from Donald Trump is blatant political opportunism.”
Credit: NewtownPANow.com
The statement from Fitzpatrick holds somewhat closely to his stance from the first congressional debate held at the beginning of September. LevittownNow.com previously reported Fitzpatrick said,”we are going to elect a president with an over 50 percent unapproved rating.” The retired FBI agent turned congressional candidate went on to say that fact made him “sad as an American.”
During the radio debate, Fitzpatrick described Trump as a third-party candidate running as a Republican.
Santarsiero’s campaign and the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has pushed hard to link Fitzpatrick to Trump. A series of nationally-produced DCCC ads that have been airing on TV and online have sought to link the two. One ad does have a title card that says “Brian Fitzpatrick support Donald Trump” before pointing out one of Trump’s detractions.
Fitzpatrick took time in his Saturday statement to hit Santarsiero for “steadfastly refused to show any difference between himself and his party’s nominee.”
Santarsiero has shown steadfast support for Clinton since spring despite her various scandals and a statement from the director of the FBI that said the former secretary of state and her colleagues were “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
An early September poll commissioned by the Fitzpatrick campaign showed 57 percent of Bucks County voters disliked Clinton and 54 percent viewed Trump unfavorably. The pollster stated both presidential candidates were “largely unpopular” among Bucks Countians.
The race for the Eighth Congressional District has gained national attention and focus from the national Democratic and Republican parties apparatus.
