Dem opponent: Toomey’s stance on Trump ‘disqualifying’
Democratic Senate candidate Katie McGinty knocked Republican Sen. Pat Toomey (Pa.) on Monday, calling her rival’s continued indecision on GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump “disqualifying.”
“It’s time for Senator Toomey to be frank and clear with voters in Pennsylvania on a pretty simple question: Does the senator support … Donald Trump?” McGinty told reporters.
“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.”
{mosads}She said “either the senator is not telling his constituents the truth and he knows full well what he thinks of Donald Trump, which is obviously disqualifying, or the senator is telling us the truth but indecision in this instance really means he is not up for the rigors of the job he is seeking.”
Toomey — who faces a tough reelection bid in a state that typically swings Democratic during presidential elections — has tried to put distance between himself and the GOP presidential nominee. He’s talked openly about his skepticism of the brash businessman and declined to say whether he will support him.
Stressing the importance of split-ticket voting, the Pennsylvania Republican told reporters in August: “Pennsylvania voters are really quite sophisticated, and they know for sure that Donald Trump is really in a category unto himself.”
But McGinty said on Monday that it’s “not credible” that Toomey “doesn’t have a very clear view” on his opinion of his party’s nominee ahead of this Sunday’s presidential debate, the second of three.
“After all, Donald Trump has been incredibly and repeatedly demeaning to women, to Muslims, to minorities of all kinds, to veterans, prisoners of war, to Gold Star families,” she said. “In addition to all of that, Trump has really made very, very clear the fact that he is not fit to be commander in chief of this great country.”
Trump this week faces a renewed battle over his tax returns, and he is an entrenched war of words with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.
“We can only assume that somehow Pat Toomey finds Donald Trump’s behavior to be acceptable if he continues to delay in denouncing that behavior,” McGinty said.
GOP incumbents, including Toomey, have stressed that they will break with Trump when they have areas of disagreement, as some did during his rhetorical battle earlier this year with the Khans, a Gold Star family.
Democrats have raced to link Republicans — who are defending 24 Senate seats this cycle — to Trump, who they hope will be an albatross on down-ballot candidates. A handful of GOP senators, including Toomey, are running in swing states that supported President Obama.
Ted Kwong, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania senator, hit back Monday, arguing the race boils down to whether voters support Toomey’s efforts to work with Democrats or McGinty’s “partisan” work as Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s chief of staff.
“Just yesterday another report detailed just how partisan and toxic McGinty’s quest to raise middle-class tax hikes in Harrisburg was last year. Meanwhile, even Tim Kaine and Ed Rendell have praised Pat’s efforts to reach across the aisle to achieve essential bipartisan pro-growth tax reform. That is the choice Pennsylvanians face in this race,” he said.
Democrats need to net five seats — or four if they also retain the White House — to gain control of the Senate.
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 1 point.
–This report was updated at 3:16 p.m.
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