Senator Joni Ernst.
Iowa’s Joni Ernst is the only Republican woman serving in the U.S. Senate who has not called for Donald Trump to step aside or vowed not to vote for him. Ernst today said it’s because she’ll be voting for the 2016 Republican ticket.
“I am voting for my Republican Party and I’ve told others I’m not fighting for Donald Trump,” Ernst told Radio Iowa. “I am fighting for my country.”
Ernst sent a tweet Saturday morning, denouncing the contents of a vulgar 2005 recording of Trump that was published this past Friday. Today, Ernst briefly expanded on that criticism.
“I will not condone Donald Trump’s actions. I do not excuse them,” Ernst said. “But this is bigger than Donald Trump and it is about the direction of the country.”
Ernst “will not advise anybody to vote for Hillary Clinton.”
“And I will not support her and I feel that my party, regardless right now of who’s at the top of the ticket…has better ideas and a better direction for our country than those of the Democrats,” Ernst told Radio Iowa.
The Republican candidate in Iowa’s second congressional district announced today that he will not vote for Trump or Clinton. Chris Peters, the Republican running against Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack, has run in previous elections under the Libertarian Party’s banner.