Kirk Campaign: Told You So
Illinois Republican senator retracted his support of Trump in June
Illinois Sen. Mark S. Kirk‘s campaign is taking a victory lap as fellow Republicans abandon GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Kirk retracted his support of Trump back in June after Trump accused a judge involved in a trial related to Trump University of bias because of his Mexican ancestry.
On Friday, after a video was released showing Trump making derogatory comments alluding to unwanted sexual advances toward women, Kirk unloaded on Trump again on Twitter.
DJT is a malignant clown – unprepared and unfit to be president of the United States.
— Mark Kirk (@SenatorKirk) October 7, 2016
.@realDonaldTrump should drop out. @GOP should engage rules for emergency replacement.
— Mark Kirk (@SenatorKirk) October 8, 2016
.@realDonaldTrump https://t.co/KDFHJzNUTs
— Mark Kirk (@MarkKirk) October 7, 2016
Kevin Artl, Kirk’s campaign manager, said the campaign was happy it retracted the endorsement.
“It’s always better to be on offense than defense, right,” Artl said in an email on Saturday.
Kirk is facing one of the toughest re-election races of any incumbent Republican this year against Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth in heavily Democratic Illinois.
Kirk has made breaking with his party a hallmark of his campaign. He was the first Republican Senator to meet with Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.
Kirk also cut an ad in Spanish highlighting his criticism of Trump and expressing his support for overhauling immigration laws.
The Rothenberg & Gonzales/Roll Call Race Rating has labeled the race as “Leans Democrat.”
