Rep. Joe Heck is standing by his decision to rescind his endorsement of Donald Trump in the wake of revelations that he once bragged about sexually assaulting women, a source confirmed to the Washington Examiner late Wednesday.
There was some confusion about the matter after Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said in a television interview that Heck was among those Republicans who had reversed themselves and reaffirmed their support for the Republican nominee after initially yanking their endorsement.
However, that is not the case, a knowledgeable source confirmed.
Heck, a Nevada Republican, represents the GOP’s best opportunity to pick up a Democratic-held Senate seat. The seat is open because Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is retiring.
But disavowing Trump is a risky propostion for Heck, even after an 11-year-old video was released in which Trump boasts that being a television star makes it acceptable for him to grab women’s genitals without their consent. Trump was previously host of the hit reality television show, “The Apprentice.”
Trump’s support among Republican voters in Nevada is among his strongest of any battleground state, and Heck felt the blowback from GOP voters there almost immediately upon yanking his endorsement of Trump over the weekend.
Conservative talk radio programs have fielded calls from self-described Republicans threatening to vote for Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton but ignore the down-ticket, or vote for Democratic Senate nominee Catherine Cortez Masto to teach Heck a lesson.
“I think that when all is said and done that both men gave their races away with that announcement last weekend,” former Nevada GOP official Chuck Muth said this week, referring to Heck and Republican Cresent Hardy, who is running for re-election to his competitive House seat.
Heck’s lead in the RealClearPolitics.com polling average stood at 3.4 percentage points as of Thursday morning. Clinton’s lead over Trump was a razor-thin 1.4 points.
