Toomey: Trump not a role model for kids
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said Tuesday that he doesn’t believe Donald Trump is a role model for children, one day after another vulnerable GOP incumbent stumbled over the question.
“No — Donald Trump is not a role model; not for my kids and I don’t think for most American kids,” he told reporters after a campaign stop in his home state, according to The Wall Street Journal. “The vulgarity and gratuitous insults of people is not exactly the way I encourage my kids to behave.”
{mosads}Democrats have seized on Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s Monday night that she would “absolutely” call Trump a role model.
The New Hampshire Republican, who like Toomey faces a difficult reelection bid, later tried to walk back the answer she gave in a debate, saying neither Trump or Hillary Clinton are role models for her children.
Toomey, according to the Journal, also said he doesn’t believe Clinton is role model.
His comments come after Katie McGinty, his Democratic opponent, blasted him on Monday for continuing to remain undecided on if he would support Trump in November.
“Sen. Toomey has been ducking and dodging on this simple question. I believe that the senator’s continued refusal to answer that simple question is disqualifying,” she told reporters during a conference call.
Vulnerable GOP senators have tried to put distance between themselves and the GOP presidential nominee, who they worry could hurt their standing with moderate and independent voters.
Toomey has talked openly about his skepticism of the brash businessman and has declined to say whether he will support him. He told reporters in August that “Pennsylvania voters are really quite sophisticated, and they know for sure that Donald Trump is really in a category unto himself.”
But Democrats have raced to link Republicans — who are defending 24 Senate seats this cycle — to Trump, hoping he will be an albatross on down-ballot candidates.
On Tuesday, Ohio Democrats blasted out a release questioning how GOP Sen. Rob Portman would answer the role model question.
“Senator Portman has unequivocally endorsed Donald Trump, trusts Trump with the nuclear codes and wants Trump to shape the Supreme Court for generations – so it should be simple for him to answer whether he believes Trump is an appropriate role model for Ohio’s children,” said Daniel van Hoogstraten, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party. “This question is so straightforward that even Senator Portman should be able to answer it.”
Toomey is in a tight race with just over a month to go until the election. According a RealClearPolitics average of polling, McGinty is leading the Pennsylvania senator by 2 points.
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