GOP women break with Trump

by Melanie Zanona - 10/08/16 12:52 PM ET

A growing list of Republican women are breaking from Donald Trump following leaked audio of the GOP presidential nominee vulgarly talking about groping women.

{mosads}Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who is locked in a tough reelection race, announced Saturday that she will “not be voting for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton and instead will be writing in Governor [Mike] Pence on Election Day.”

Trump has been a source for controversy for Ayotte, who had to walk back comments earlier this week about whether she thought Trump was a good role model.

Reps. Martha Roby (R-Ala.) and Mia Love (R-Utah) have both rescinded their endorsements of Trump, while Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) — a top Democratic target — and Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) called on Trump to drop out of the race.

And the Texas GOP’s lone female lawmaker, Rep. Kay Granger, said Trump should step down in light of the “disgusting” video.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said in statement she was “deeply offended” by the comments and said that there is no excuse for the “disgusting and demeaning language.” Capito added it may be appropriate for Trump to reexamine his candidacy. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she can’t support Trump and that he has “forfeited the right to be our party’s nominee.”

Carly Fiorina, who faced off with Trump several times during the GOP presidential primary and was later picked to be Ted Cruz’s running mate, said Trump should step aside so that he could make way for Pence, Trump’s running mate.

And Republican Meg Whitman, chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard and typically a major GOP donor, has endorsed Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The damning audio — first published by the Washington Post on Friday — comes as Trump struggles to connect with women voters and follows on the heels of his spat with a former Miss Universe whom he allegedly criticized for gaining weight.

Trump was caught on a hot microphone before an appearance on “Access Hollywood” in 2005 talking about unsuccessfully trying to seduce a married woman and said that as a celebrity, women let him “do anything.”

“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything,” he said in the audio.

“Grab them by the p—-.”

Updated at 2:25 p.m.

Tags Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Kay Granger Kelly Ayotte Lisa Murkowski Martha Roby Ted Cruz