Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) told reporters on Thursday that he will not support former President Donald Trump’s third campaign for the White House.
Young was chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2020 election cycle, when Republican Senate candidates struggled in several historically red states and the GOP underperformed nationally compared to expectations.
“I don’t intend to support him for the Republican nomination,” Young told reporters the morning after Trump appeared on a CNN town hall in New Hampshire.
When asked why, Young responded, “Where do I begin?”
Young used to have “a close relationship” with Trump, according to a report from The Washington Times, and said the primary reason that he is breaking with the former president is because he hurts Republican candidates in other races and he thinks that Trump will lose again to President Joe Biden.
“You want a nominee to win the general election. As President Trump says, ‘I prefer winners.’ He consistently loses,” the 50-year-old Marine veteran told reporters. “In fact, he has a habit of losing not just his own elections, but losing elections for others.”
“I can’t think of someone worse equipped to bring people together and get our legislation passed and advance our collective values than the former president,” he continued. “I don’t think conservatives would be well served by electing someone whose core competency seems to be owning someone on Twitter.”
Young added that he does not believe that Trump will be the nominee as the primary season is just starting and a lot can happen in the next nine months before the Iowa caucuses kick off
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“I don’t think he’ll be the nominee. I’d be really surprised. Republicans are in a winning mood. We wanna win,” he said. “We know he’s the shortest path to losing, because he’s done it since 2018. He’s brought down the entire party. And beyond that, if by some odd chance he were to actually get reelected, yes, you want someone to advance your values. I can’t think of someone worse equipped to bring people together and get legislation passed and advance our collective values than the former president.”
