The chairman of the 2016 Texas GOP Victory Fund told a newspaper in the state’s capital he is not supporting the party’s presumptive nominee Donald J. Trump.
“I, along with others, are not in a position to endorse at this time because of concerns about his rhetoric and his inability to create a campaign that brings people together,” said Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush told the Austin-American Statesman.
The son of former GOP candidate and former Florida governor John E. “Jeb” Bush and the nephew of President George W. Bush and the grandson of President George H.W. Bush told the paper he has no plan to endorse Trump—unless the New York City developer changes to his liking.
The younger Bush said to the paper he may or may not show up for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July and that his focus on winning the down ticket races, such as for statewide offices and congressional contests. One race is gaining national attention, Rep. Will Hurd (R.-Texas) in a rematch with former Democratic congressman Pete Gallego. Hurd is a former cyber-security specialist at the CIA and an African-American in a largely Hispanic district–and he, like many Texas Republicans, is not endorsing Trump either.
One of the factors Bush seems to be gaming, along with other elected Republicans, is that because the Lone Star State is perceived as a lock for Trump, the land commissioner can go soft on Trump, while hustling the Mexican-American vote—positioned as the anti-Trump Republican.
There is no threat of Trump losing Texas, allowing the developer to put states like Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan in play, he said. “The Trump effort is going to concentrate on other parts of our country, the industrial Midwest and other battleground states.”
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