Presidential races

Ayotte: I will not vote for Trump

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) on Saturday said that she will not vote for Donald Trump following leaked audio of Trump in 2005 vulgarly discussing groping women.

“I will not be voting for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton and instead will be writing in Governor Pence on Election Day,” she wrote in a statement. 
 

{mosads}Ayotte expressed outrage on Friday after new footage of the Republican nominee recorded him making lewd remarks about women and his sex life.

She joins a list of Republicans distancing themselves from Trump in the wake of the revelations.

Ayotte is in a tight race for a New Hampshire Senate seat that could determine which party controls the Senate majority. 

She has repeatedly been put on the defensive over Trump in recent days after she described him as a role model in a debate on Monday. 

Her Democratic opponent, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, pounced on her latest remakrs.

“Kelly Ayotte today simply reinforced that everything she does is based on cold, political calculations about what is in her personal best interest,” she said in the statement. “After spending 24 hours running the political math, Ayotte has made a decision that is a transparent, craven attempt at political self-preservation.” 

Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) have all called on Trump to leave the GOP presidential ticket. 

Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Martha Roby (R-Ala.) have rescinded their endorsements of Trump, and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt has called on him to leave the presidential race.