Sen. Tom Cotton, R.-Ark., retweeted and then quickly deleted a call for a third-party alternative to presumptive Republican nominee in November.
In a late night tweet, which was deleted only seconds after he sent it out, Cotton manually retweeted the Weekly Standard‘s Bill Kristol, one of the prominent backers of a potential third party bid, saying there is a “big opening for [a] new voice w[ith] real ideas]” in a potential race between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“RT @BillKristol: With Clinton v. Trump, we have corrupt and entitled insider v. know-nothing and unprincipled bully. Big opening for new voice w real ideas,” Cotton tweeted Monday night, which was picked up by Politwoops’ collection of deleted tweets by politicians. The tweet was sent out from his political account and not his U.S. Senate account.
Cotton remained neutral throughout the Republican nominating process, declining to endorse any of the 17 candidates. However, Cotton said recently that he would indeed support Trump as the nominee because the country “can’t afford” a Clinton presidency.
“I’ve long said that I will support the Republican nominee because we can’t afford a third Obama-Clinton term,” said Cotton, according to BuzzFeed News.
Conservatives in Arkansas have been longstanding Clinton foes and Trump won the state’s Republican primary.
Toward the end of the GOP nomination fight, Kristol floated the Arkansas senator, along with 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney and Sen. Marco Rubio, as possibilities for a third party ticket if Trump were to become the Republican standard-bearer.
Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska is so far the only Republican member of the upper chamber to openly call for a third party challenger to Trump and either Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders. He called for more “choices” in an extensive Facebook post last week.
A spokesman for Cotton did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the Washington Examiner.
