{"id":11900,"date":"2016-03-01T09:01:41","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T17:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/gop-badly-split-as-trump-clinton-seek-wins-today\/"},"modified":"2016-03-01T09:01:41","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T17:01:41","slug":"gop-badly-split-as-trump-clinton-seek-wins-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/gop-badly-split-as-trump-clinton-seek-wins-today\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP badly split as Trump, Clinton seek wins today"},"content":{"rendered":"

VALDOSTA, Ga. <\/strong>\u2014 On the eve of Super Tuesday\u2019s crucial primaries, a sharp new divide erupted between Republicans who pledge to fall in line behind Donald Trump if he wins their party\u2019s nomination and others who insist they can never back the bombastic billionaire.<\/p>\n

The fissure could have major implications beyond the primaries, exposing the looming challenges in uniting the party after the election, no matter who wins.<\/p>\n

Nebraska\u2019s Ben Sasse, a rising star among conservatives, became the first current senator to publicly raise the prospect of backing a third party option if Trump clinches the nomination. In a letter posted on Facebook late Sunday, Sasse urged Republicans to consider whether a party led by Trump would still represent their interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our party is no longer working for the things we believe in \u2014 like defending the sanctity of life, stopping Obamacare, protecting the Second Amendment, etc. \u2014 then people of good conscience should stop supporting that party until it is reformed,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press asked Republican senators and governors across the country if they would support Trump if he secured the nomination. Just under half of those who responded would not commit to backing him, foreshadowing a potentially extraordinary break this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am increasingly concerned by Donald Trump\u2019s statements and behavior, and I have serious concerns about his ability to win the general election and provide presidential leadership,\u201d Indiana Sen. Dan Coats said in a statement to AP.<\/p>\n

The concern among Republican leaders appeared to grow in light of Trump\u2019s refusal to immediately disavow former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke\u2019s support.<\/p>\n

Mitt Romney, the party\u2019s 2012 nominee, called that \u201cdisqualifying.\u201d And South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, campaigning in Atlanta alongside Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, said she would \u201cnot stop fighting a man who refuses to disavow the KKK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said he had not understood the interviewer who first raised the question about Duke, and he did later repudiate him. \u201cHow many times do I have to continue to disavow people?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Several high-profile Republicans and conservative writers have embraced an anti-Trump social media campaign, using the Twitter hashtag \u201cNeverTrump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has won three of four early primary contests, roiling a party that had assumed his populist appeal with voters would fizzle. Instead, he\u2019s only grown stronger and appears to be in commanding position heading into Super Tuesday, the biggest single-day delegate haul of the year.<\/p>\n

Tensions boiled over during Trump\u2019s rally Monday in Radford, Virginia, where he was repeatedly disrupted by demonstrators, including 20 or more chanting \u201cBlack lives matter.\u201d At another point, he asked a protester, \u201cAre you from Mexico?\u201d after he was interrupted during remarks about immigration. He ordered several people to be removed, then cast himself as a unifying political force.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve it or not, we\u2019re going to unify this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If Trump sweeps most of the states up for grabs Tuesday, he could amass a delegate lead that would be difficult for any rival to overcome. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is banking on a win in his home state to keep him in the race, while Rubio wants to stay close in the delegate count until the primary hits his home state of Florida on March 15.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is solidifying her lead. Like Trump, Clinton could begin putting her party\u2019s nomination out of reach for rival Bernie Sanders with a strong showing on Super Tuesday.<\/p>\n

As Trump has rolled through the early voting states, he\u2019s received enthusiastic endorsements from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and from Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of the most vocal opponents of immigration-law changes on Capitol Hill. Several other party officials have said they would back the real estate mogul if he does become the nominee, though some say their support would be reluctant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a Republican and I will support the nominee,\u201d Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said Monday. \u201cI do not think he is our best nominee, but I will support the nominee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Party leaders are particularly worried about the ripple effect of a Trump nomination on other races. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson urged Republicans to remember that their White House pick also impacts \u201cthe Senate and whether we\u2019re going to continue to elect Republican governors across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new commercial released Monday by Arizona Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, who is challenging John McCain for his Senate seat, served as a likely preview of how Democrats would seek to link GOP candidates to Trump. The 60-second spot highlighted several of Trump\u2019s more incendiary statements and questioned how McCain could say he would support him in the general election.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans said Senate candidates and others would have to forgo party unity in order to save themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be a team effort. It\u2019s going to be every man for himself,\u201d said Matt Mackowiak, a GOP strategist who is unaffiliated in the 2016 race.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Pace reported from Washington. AP writers Thomas Beaumont in Atlanta, Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, and Andrew Taylor, Donna Cassata and Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Julie Pace at http:\/\/twitter.com\/jpaceDC and Jill Colvin at http:\/\/twitter.com\/colvinj<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VALDOSTA, Ga. \u2014 On the eve of Super Tuesday\u2019s crucial primaries, a sharp new divide erupted between Republicans who pledge to fall in line behind Donald Trump if he wins their party\u2019s nomination and others who insist they can never back the bombastic billionaire. The fissure could have major implications beyond the primaries, exposing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11900"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}