One day after Donald Trump crushed the competition in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary, reality has started to sink in among GOP lawmakers that the bombastic front-runner they had refused to take seriously could indeed become the party’s nominee.
“I can support Donald,” Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said Wednesday, hours after the New Hampshire polls closed and Trump sailed to victory with a resounding 35 percent of the vote.
King said he prefers either former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or Ohio Gov. John Kasich to Trump, but if he is forced to choose between Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the billionaire businessman will win his vote.
“I’m totally opposed to Ted Cruz,” King said. He called Cruz, who last week won the Iowa Republican Caucus, “a malevolent person.”
King said he and Trump grew up near each other and King knows Trump’s brother. “I have a lot in common with Donald Trump, King joked.
But Republicans who have been in denial over a Trump presidential ticket are are beginning to put their jokes aside and are seeking out Trump’s positive attributes.
Last week’s debate performance, for example, earned Trump new respect from King.
“He was a legitimate candidate up there,” King said. “He was no longer the novelty. His answers were legitimate and he almost seemed like he was an arbiter up there. He was almost a statesman.”
Other lawmakers, however, aren’t lining up to endorse Trump. Many of the GOP establishment are quietly holding out hope that Sen. Marco Rubio, Bush or Kasich can pull ahead in the primary at some point.
But the polls so far give outsider candidates Trump and Cruz the advantage, and no candidate has been able to topple Trump from the lead in national polls, where he has remained since July. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who is a Cruz supporter, said the outsider candidates have a lock on the GOP primary electorate.
“The oddest thing is emerging here, which is that the establishment candidates really don’t have traction,” King said.
The list of GOP establishment candidates continued to shrink on Wednesday when Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., and Carly Fiorina suspended their campaign after finishing sixth and seventh, respectively, in New Hampshire.
None of the remaining trio of viable establishment candidates is leading in polls in the upcoming primaries and caucuses.
Trump is ahead by double digits in South Carolina and Nevada, where then next primary and caucus will take place.
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said support for Trump could shift in his state before the Feb. 20 GOP primary.
“Right to the last second, it could change,” Wilson said.
Wilson had backed the presidential bid of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and then Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., two mainstream Republicans who dropped out of the race due to low support.
Now, Wilson said, “I’ll be uncommitted,” adding, “I will abide by the wisdom of the primary voters.”
He said if Trump wins in South Carolina, he would still be uncommitted. But he acknowledged that Trump is resonating with voters.
“He says so much that people agree with,” Wilson said.
Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, who heads the largest House conservative faction of Republicans, said it’s too soon to assume Trump will win the nomination, though he added the GOP House will back whoever becomes the nominee.
The March 1 “Super Tuesday” caucuses in several Southern states, including Texas, could shake up the race, he said.
“It looks to me, based on what happened last night, that it’s still a horse race,” Flores said. “Cruz is going to play very well in my state. But an outsider candidate has a better shot than the so-called establishment candidates.”
Flores cited the Obama administration as a reason voters are anxious for something new in politics.
“America is ready for a change,” Flores said.
