House Republicans are “very comfortable” with Donald Trump becoming their party’s presidential nominee and have few concerns about the down-ballot effects of a Trump nomination, one GOP congressman told the Washington Examiner, much to the dismay of his colleagues.
During an interview Thursday afternoon, New York Rep. Chris Collins said it is unlikely that most of his Republican colleagues would ever support Trump in the primary. But that doesn’t mean they’re troubled by the thought of him competing in the general election, he said.
“I’m guessing 200-plus of the 246 [House Republicans] would never endorse, but they all know the top of the ticket matters and to tell you the input I’m getting, with the exception of three or four members, the House members are very comfortable with having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket,” Collins said.
He continued, “The mood on the House floor is Mr. Trump will be our nominee. And the mood on the House Floor is, ‘Hey, that’s fine. I can run my reelection campaign with him on the top of the ticket.'”
Collins, who was one of the first members of Congress to endorse Trump’s White House bid, pointed to the March 1 primary elections in Texas and Alabama, where Republicans in both state’s congressional delegations managed to maintain their seats.
“That put to bed the thought that the top of the ticket would impact their races,” he said. “All politics is local and the sheer factor of that was illuminated with the Texas and Alabama primaries.”
Despite Collins’ claim that his Republican colleagues have warmed to the idea of Trump being their nominee, interviews with several other GOP members and their staffers suggest otherwise.
“Chris must be in a different Congress than I’m in in,” Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., told the Examiner. “There is great concern about whether the Democrats will capture the House if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, based primarily on the polling data showing his unfavorables would make him the most disliked Republican nominee in the history of polling.”
Brooks also pushed back against Collins’ claim that House Republicans have all but accepted that Trump “will be [their] nominee” and that statewide elections in Texas and Alabama assuaged concerns about the brash billionaire’s impact on Republicans’ re-election campaigns.
“It’s comparing apples to oranges,” he said. “There’s a huge difference between focusing solely on Republican primary voters and general election voters. Donald Trump polls reasonably well when you poll Republican voters. Donald Trump polls very badly when you expand beyond Republican voters to include independents and Democrats.”
Virginia Congressman Scott Rigell suggested that considerable fear still exists among Republicans in the lower chamber who worry about being associated with Trump when they return to their districts to campaign.
“I know a member in a really tough seat who said, ‘If Trump comes through here, I’m done. I’m going to lose,'” Rigell, who described Collins as a friend, said in an interview.
“What happens is that when you’re out there trying to make the case for yourself, you’re immediately in the mode of having to address Trump, and that’s the problem,” he explained. “You’re just sucked into the controversy surrounding this unqualified candidate, so your own message is very difficult to convey.”
“Most House members also agree that it’s too early to tell who will be the Republican nominee, and that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have about equal chances,” Brooks said.
Brad Stewart, the communications director for Illinois Congressman Robert Dold, declined to speak directly to Collins’ comments, but pointed instead to comments his boss made last month.
“Whether it’s women, whether it’s veterans, whether it’s Latinos or Muslims, we do not need someone who is dividing or really tearing apart people,” Dold said of the Republican party’s presidential nominee.
Dold represents Illinois’ 10th congressional district just outside Chicago, and is locked in a tight re-election battle against former Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider, who defeated him by a single percentage point in 2012. He has previously said he will not support Trump if the New York real estate mogul secures the GOP nomination.
While Collins’ comments triggered heavy pushback among his colleagues, there remains one area many House Republicans seem to agree on.
“I think most members see this as a rather surreal turn of events,” Rigell wheezed out, while bicycling to a hair appointment Friday afternoon.
“It’s probably going to be a historic convention. That’s not an overstatement. I truly believe it will be in the history books,” he added.
