So far, no word yet from Republican NY-22 candidates Claudia Tenney, George Phillips or Steve Wells on whether they would endorse Trump or Cruz as nominee
Now that retiring incumbent House Republican Richard Hanna has sided against Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, it’s time for the Republican congressional candidates looking to replace him to follow his example and say whether or not they support Cruz or Trump for president.
Tenney, Phillips and Wells have been mum on whether they would support either of the two as the Republican party’s standard bearer.
Their silence is no surprise. Recent House GOP polling indicates that “a plurality of respondents — 48 percent to 40 percent — would be less likely to vote for a Republican congressional candidate or incumbent if Trump were the nominee.” And the case is even worse for Cruz, who a Republican pollster argued “would have the biggest negative effect [on GOP House candidates], citing the Texas senator’s starkly ideological positions.”
The neutral play by Tenney, Wells and Phillips comes at the same time Trump’s biggest cheerleader in New York, Carl Paladino, has been bullying resistant New York House Republicans into endorsing Donald Trump.
In the neighboring 23rd congressional district, the respected political analysts at Cook Political Report moved Congressman Tom Reed’s race from ‘Likely Republican’ to ‘Lean Republican’ after he recently endorsed Donald Trump, arguing that the endorsement could “make the incumbent [Reed] a more polarizing figure.”
“Now that retiring incumbent Congressman Richard Hanna has made his position known on Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, what say the Republican candidates running to replace him: Claudia Tenney, George Phillips and Steve Wells?” asked Bryan Lesswing at the DCCC. “The reality is that Tenney, Phillips and Wells are all trying to dance around Trump and Cruz – and the down-ballot apocalypse they’d produce – instead of being straight with Republican voters. Tenney, Phillips and Wells should follow Hanna’s example and make their positions on Trump and Cruz known.”