A number of Republican women have pulled their support from Donald Trump after a 2005 audio recording surfaced Friday of him making lewd comments about women, including boasts about making unwanted sexual advances, but Rep. Vicky Hartzler is sticking by the GOP nominee.
Hartzler, a three-term congresswoman from Missouri, said on a panel hosted Sunday by RealClearPolitics in St. Louis that she could not defend the candidate’s comments, but that she would continue to support him.
“His comments are undefendable, but his policies sure are, and that is what we need,” Hartzler said. “We have so many people that are hurting in this country because of the policies of Barack Obama that Hillary Clinton supports.”
After the controversial audio surfaced Friday evening, a swelling wave of Republicans, including House members and senators in competitive re-election races, walked away from their endorsements of Trump and called for him to leave the ticket in favor of his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Several high-profile women, including Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, withdrew their endorsements. But Trump insisted that he will not step down, and Pence, despite expressing frustration with the standard-bearer’s comments, stood by the top of the ticket. Other leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, stood by Trump as well, though Ryan on Monday reiterated his stance that the decade-old comments are indefensible.
Hartzler, whose re-election is rated safe by nonpartisan political analysts, said she understood the decision by some of her colleagues to move away from the nominee, but that the election should be about more than his comments from long ago.
“This election, it’s beyond just some words that were said inappropriately 10 years ago, or 11 years ago,” Hartzler said. “Look at what we’re facing here. We’re going to have Supreme Court nominees appointed by this next president and Hillary Clinton is not going to support somebody that is going to adhere to the Constitution, that is going to support limited government. That is the most important thing on people’s minds, certainly in my district."
Still, some Republicans have been concerned that there is more negative information about Trump that could come to light in the four weeks until Election Day, and that party members who support him now may be again put in a difficult position. Despite that, Hartzler insisted she plans to stand by the candidate, citing the policy plans put forward by Ryan and House Republicans and saying they are her main motivation this election.
“You have to vote for someone,” Hartzler said. “Elections are about choices and so whoever is on the ballot, I’m going to support who has the vision and the ideas and the solutions to get our country going again. That’s what I’m focused on, is the policies we’ve worked on in the House."
Hartzler may have more leeway than other House Republicans in sticking with Trump, who leads Clinton by 10.6 percentage points in the RCP polling average for her state.
