Here's a running list of Republicans who are opposing Donald Trump
Donald Trump is the hole that keeps getting deeper. The Republican presidential nominee’s recent actions increasingly have even his pledged supporters wondering about his temperament, his morals, and above all his ability to run the country.
Since the beginning of his run, some fellow GOP members have questioned whether Trump belongs in the party, and quite a few—though by no means most—have said they will not vote for him in November. Ironically, they’re following a direction given by President Obama, who recently challenged Republicans still supporting Trump, calling him “unfit to serve.” He added: “There has to come a point at which you say, ‘Enough.'”
In recent days, several GOP stalwarts have even announced that they’re voting for Hillary Clinton. These are serious political defections, driven either by revulsion at Trump’s inability to show himself as a decent human being, or dismay at his total lack of political know-how.
Below, you’ll find a running tally of the notable Republicans who have have publicly stated that they will not stand for a Trump presidency.
As more defections happen, we will be updating this page.
REPUBLICANS WHO SAY THEY WILL BE VOTING FOR HILLARY CLINTON
Rep. Richard Hanna
Hanna is the first Republican member of Congress to cross party lines and say that, while he disagrees with her on many issues, he will be voting for Clinton. In an op-ed for Syracuse.com, the retiring Republican lawmaker said that he would be supporting Clinton in the upcoming race.
“I do not expect perfection,” he wrote of Trump, “but I do require more than the embodiment of at least a short list of the seven deadly sins.” He also warned that “the Republican Party is becoming increasingly less capable of nominating a person who is electable as president.”
Sally Bradshaw, top adviser for former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush
Bradshaw has actually left the GOP entirely. If the vote looks like it is close in her home state (and major swing state) of Florida, she told CNN, she will be voting for Hillary Clinton.
“Donald Trump cannot be elected president,” Bradshaw said. She lamented the fact that at a time where the GOP is “at a crossroads,” that it has nominated “a total narcissist — a misogynist — a bigot.”
William Milliken, former Governor of Michigan
The moderate Republican Milliken has endorsed Democrats over members of his own party in the past, noted the Detroit Free Press, but never because of such a harsh clash of ideals.
“This nation has long prided itself on its abiding commitments to tolerance, civility and equality. We face a critically important choice in this year’s presidential election that will define whether we maintain our commitment to those ideals or embark on a path that has doomed other governments and nations throughout history,” Milliken told the paper in a statement. “I am saddened and dismayed that the Republican Party this year has nominated a candidate who has repeatedly demonstrated that he does not embrace those ideals.
“Because I feel so strongly about our nation’s future, I will be joining the growing list of former and present government officials in casting my vote for Hillary Clinton for president in 2016,” he said.
Frank Lavin, political director for President Ronald Reagan
For the first time in 40 years, Lavin will not be voting for a Republican in the 2016 presidential election, he wrote in an op-ed for CNN.
“It might not be entirely clear that Hillary Clinton deserves to win the presidency, but it is thunderingly clear that Donald Trump deserves to lose,” he wrote. “The depressing truth of the Republican nominee is that Donald Trump talks a great game but he is the emperor who wears no clothes.”
Maria Comella, longtime aide to former Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie
Comella is credited with helping propel Christie into the national spotlight. But while Christie (with whom she has now cut ties) has become an enthusiastic supporter of Trump’s, Comella is taking a stand against the candidate.
“Donald Trump has been a demagogue this whole time, preying on people’s anxieties with loose information and salacious rhetoric, drumming up fear and hatred of the ‘other,'” Comella told CNN.
Rather than give lip service to such a person, she will be supporting Clinton, she said.
Meg Whitman, CEO and former GOP candidate
This one is a big deal of a different kind, because it also contains the promise of lots of money for Clinton. “Few, if any, Republicans as prominent and financially potent as Whitman have gone so far to defect to Trump’s Democratic opponent,” wrote the Washington Post.
Whitman, the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, announced her defection to Clinton’s camp in a Facebook post. She called Trump an “authoritarian,” adding that he is “reckless and uninformed,” and that he would endanger the nation’s prosperity and national security.
“Therefore, I have decided to support Hillary Rodham Clinton,” she wrote. “It is clear to me that Secretary Clinton’s temperament, global experience and commitment to America’s bedrock national values make her the far better choice in 2016 for President of the United States.”
Richard Armitage, former Navy officer, deputy secretary of state under George W. Bush, deputy secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan
Before the Republican National Convention, Armitage told Politico in an interview that under no circumstances could he support Trump as president.
“If Donald Trump is the nominee, I would vote for Hillary Clinton,” Armitage said. “He doesn’t appear to be a Republican, he doesn’t appear to want to learn about issues. So, I’m going to vote for Mrs. Clinton.”
Of course, Trump got the nomination.
William D. Ruckelshaus, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency under Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan
William K. Reilly, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H. W. Bush
In a joint statement, the two former heads of the EPA pledged to support Clinton in her bid for the presidency, citing Trump’s past claims that climate change is a “hoax.”
“That Trump would call climate change a hoax — the singular health and environmental threat to the world today — flies in the face of overwhelming international science,” the duo wrote. “For us, there is simply no choice in this election,” they said. “We Republicans should be shocked, outraged even, at the prospect that all this progress, this legacy will be repudiated and rolled back by Donald Trump.”
Larry Pressler, former Republican senator from South Dakota
After the tragic mass shooting in Orlando, Pressler announced that he would be supporting Hillary Clinton for president, citing her support for stricter gun control laws.
“I can’t believe I’m endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, but I am,” Pressler told The Hill. “If someone had told me 10 years ago I would do this, I wouldn’t have believed them.”
Beyond gun control, Pressler, a Mormon, said that Trump’s rhetoric on Muslims has made him very uncomfortable about how the candidate is singling out a religious group for scrutiny. In the 1800s, Missouri encouraged citizens to kill Mormons, he remembered, and Trump’s language on Muslims is making Mormons “very nervous,” he said.
“This election is starting to sound like the German elections in [the late 1920s],” Pressler added. “This is a very dangerous national conversation we’re slipping into.”
Brent Scowcroft, retired lieutenant general and national security adviser under Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush
Although he didn’t mention Trump by name, Scowcroft, a lifelong Republican, announced his endorsement of Hillary Clinton in a statement he issued in June.
“Our next president will face extremely challenging national security issues. America’s military strength, its economic and technological leadership, and the resilience of our people encourage my belief that we can meet those challenges,” he wrote.
Harry Sloan, former MGM CEO and major Republican donor
Trump “does not embody the values that have made me a lifelong Republican. He is unprepared and temperamentally unfit to be our President,” Sloan said in a statement in August.
He is putting his support towards Clinton, unless another Republican candidate comes along. The switch has already helped Clinton financially. According to federal public records, Sloan cut Clinton’s joint fundraising account a $33,400 check in June, reported Politico.
Arne Carlson, former Minnesota governor
Carlson, who served as Minnesota’s governor between 1991 and 1999, has been critical of his party over the last several years. Speaking to Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO, he said that he will be voting for Clinton because she “works really well with others,” among other things.
“That’s not Donald Trump’s strong suit by a long shot,” said Carlson. He hopes that Clinton will be able to work with Republicans in Congress in order to finally get things done in Washington.
“That way, you come into Congress, not just with a partisan plan, but with a bipartisan plan and tremendous buy-in, if you will, from the American people,” he said. “I think she has the capacity to do that.”
Hank Paulson, Treasury secretary under George W. Bush, former CEO of Goldman Sachs
“It’s time to put country before party and say it together: Never Trump,” wrote Paulson in an op-ed in the Washington Post from June.
Paulson called the rise of Trump a “populist hijacking” of the GOP, and pledged that he would be supporting Clinton. He went on to tear into Trump’s business background, his knack for spreading outright lies, and his divisive, incendiary remarks.
“Simply put, a Trump presidency is unthinkable,” he wrote.
REPUBLICANS WHO SAY THEY ARE VOTING FOR LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE GARY JOHNSON
Rep. Scott Rigell
Current Virginia representative Rigell was the first member of Congress to publicly state that he will support the candidacy of Gary Johnson Trump. “I’ve always said I will not vote for Donald Trump and I will not vote for Hillary Clinton,” Rigell told the New York Times. “I’m going to vote for the Libertarian candidate.”
Like Rep. Richard Hanna, who has endorsed Clinton, Rigell is retiring from politics at the end of this term. He said he expects more members of Congress publicly disavowing Trump will follow.
Juan Hernandez, Hispanic outreach director for the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Hernandez concluded that Libertarian Johnson “is not only an option ‘C,’ he is our only option.”
“I am beginning to understand that at least during this presidential election, being a Republican doesn’t mean what it used to mean,” he wrote.
Hernandez said that Johnson represents the best of both worlds: fiscal conservatism and social liberalism when it comes to issues like same-sex marriage. “Johnson offers an attitude that the government should get out of people’s lives,” he wrote.
REPUBLICANS WHO SAY THEY AREN’T VOTING FOR TRUMP
Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts Governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee
In what has been one of the most talked about condemnations of Trump, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee blasted the businessman in a March speech, calling him a “con man, a fake.”Romney is reportedly considering endorsing Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson for president, a move that some think could turn heavily-Mormon Utah into a swing state, thereby favoring Hillary Clinton.
Jeb Bush, former Florida governor and 2016 presidential candidate
After Trump won the nomination in May, Bush—whose crushing, humiliating defeat by Trump will go down in infamy—made it very clear that he would not be supporting him for a variety of reasons.
“The American Presidency is an office that goes beyond just politics. It requires of its occupant great fortitude and humility and the temperament and strong character to deal with the unexpected challenges that will inevitably impact our nation in the next four years,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Donald Trump has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character. He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And, he is not a consistent conservative. These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy.”
Marc Racicot, former chair of the Republican National Committee, former Montana Governor
Like many, Racicot hoped that somehow Trump’s official nomination could have been blocked at the Republican National Convention. But that didn’t happen, so he’s jumping ship.
“I wanted to be a team player, I wanted to be a team member, I wanted to support the team loyally,” said Racicot on an interview on Bloomberg. “But there are some transcendent principles that also come along with running for the highest office in the land, and I think the most powerful person in the world has to meet those principles.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger
The Illinois representative is up for reelection this November, but will not be falling in line with his party—presumably in part because he hopes that it will aid his campaign.
“Donald Trump is beginning to cross a lot of red lines of the unforgivable in politics. I’m not going to support Hillary, but in America we have the right to skip somebody,” he told CNN. “That’s what it’s looking like for me today. I don’t see how I get to Donald Trump anymore.”
Wadi Gaitan, former Florida GOP director of communications, former House Republican aide and spokesperson
The son of Honduran immigrants, who once played a crucial role in House Republicans’ outreach to the Hispanic community, Gaitan stepped down from his role as the director of communications of the Florida GOP, citing differences with Donald Trump. He will now be joining the LIBRE Initiative, a grass-roots, Latino-focused organization, backed by the industrialists Charles and David Koch.
“I’m thankful for my almost two years with the Florida GOP, however, moving on gives me a great, new opportunity to continue promoting free market solutions while avoiding efforts that support Donald Trump,” Gaitan said in a statement.
The Harvard Republican Club
Not a person, OK, but the school’s largest Republican student group is a highly influential barometer for young conservative sentiment, which presumably encompasses future party leaders. In a press release, the group called Trump a “threat to the survival of the Republic,” who “is poisoning our country and our children,” reported the Harvard Crimson.
The group polled its members and found that a measly 10% said that they would support a Trump presidency, while 80% said they would not. An additional 10% said they were undecided.
Vin Weber, former U.S. Representative
Former Minnesota congressman and longtime ally of Newt Gingrich Win Weber said in an interview with Politico that the world would be “all in shambles” in Trump were elected president.
“I won’t vote for Trump,” he said. “I can’t imagine I’d remain a Republican if he becomes president.”
The very future of the party is in jeopardy thanks to Trump, he said. He has not decided whether he would vote for Clinton at this point.
Norm Coleman, former senator
“I won’t vote for Donald Trump because of who he isn’t. He isn’t a Republican. He isn’t a conservative. He isn’t a truth teller,” Coleman starts an op-ed that he wrote in March for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I also won’t vote for Donald Trump because of who he is. A bigot. A misogynist. A fraud. A bully.”
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
In May, the Florida congresswoman announced that she would not be supporting either party’s presidential nominee.
“I will work with whomever is chosen by the American people to serve as president, because I deeply respect the American constitutional system,” the congresswoman said in a statement to the Miami Herald. “In this election, I do not support either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.”
Rep. Carlos Curbelo
“I think both Donald Trump and Mrs. Clinton are flawed candidates, if you look at the polls the majority of Americans have negative views on both of them,” Curbelo told CBS Miami. “So I am going to wait and see what happens on our side, but I have already said I will not support Mr. Trump. That is not a political decision. That is a moral decision.”
50 senior GOP national security officials
A broad array of senior GOP national security officials jointly signed a letter opposing Trump. He would stand to be “the most reckless president in American history,” the letter reads, in part. The officials mostly served under President George W. Bush.
Signatories include high-level figures such as Michael V. Hayden, the former director of both the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency; and two former secretaries of homeland security, Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff. John B. Bellinger III, who served as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s legal adviser, wrote the letter, told the New York Times that many signing the letter will go on to vote for Clinton, while others will simply not vote.
“But all agree Trump is not qualified and would be dangerous,” he said.
Rep. Charlie Dent
In a recent interview with CNN, moderate Pennsylvania congressman Dent gave a laundry list of Trump scandals that has left him unable to support his party’s nominee.
“All of those incendiary comments are giving me a lot of pause, obviously, as well as a lack of policy specifics and policy knowledge,” said Dent. “I’m not planning to vote for either of the two major-party nominees and I’m not ready to say I’m going to vote for the libertarians either.”
Sen. Ben Sasse
Nebraska senator Sasse is perhaps the loudest Never Trump voice coming out of the Senate. He has faced criticism from his own party over his outspokenness, and even a resolution passed by the Nebraska branch of the GOP that would pull funding for any Republican in the state who doesn’t endorse the party’s presidential nominee.
“In the history of polling, we’ve basically never had a candidate viewed negatively by half of the electorate. This year, we have two,” he wrote in a lengthy Facebook post in May. “There are dumpster fires in my town more popular than these two ‘leaders.'”
Sen. Susan Collins
“Rejecting the conventions of political correctness is different from showing complete disregard for common decency,” wrote Collins in a Washington Post op-ed.
Citing Trump’s long string of controversies and his “reckless” behavior, the senator from Maine explained that she hoped Republicans would “see a ‘new’ Donald Trump as a general-election candidate,” to no avail. “Trump’s tendency to lash out when challenged further escalates the possibility of disputes spinning dangerously out of control,” she added.
Sen. Mark Kirk
The Illinois Republican is running one of the toughest reelection fights in the Senate this electoral season. Previously, he said that he would back Trump if he was nominated for the ticket, but in June he announced that he had revisited that position, after a string of scandals.
“After much consideration, I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world,” he wrote.
Sen. Lindsey Graham
The South Carolina stalwart once likened the choice at the end of the Republican primaries between Senator Ted Cruz and Trump as a choice between “poisoning or getting shot.”
He has repeatedly stated that Trump is unfit to serve as president, issuing some of his harshest words when Trump went after Mexican-American judge Gonzalo Curiel.
“This is the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy,” Graham said. “If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it.”
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker
Baker had previously left the door open to the possibility of voting for Clinton rather than Trump, but ultimately his office said he will be voting for neither.
“There are a number of issues that I disagree vehemently with Mr. Trump on, and I question whether he’s got the temperament to serve as president,” Baker told the Boston Globe in May. “Some of the things he’s said about women, and about Muslims, and about religious freedom, I just can’t support.”
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan
There is no way Hogan will be voting for Trump in November, he told the Washington Post in June.
“I guess when I get behind the curtain I’ll have to figure it out. Maybe write someone in. I’m not sure,” Hogan said.
Daniel Rivero is a producer/reporter for Fusion who focuses on police and justice issues. He also skateboards, does a bunch of arts related things on his off time, and likes Cuban coffee.