Veteran Pennsylvania Republican says he might write in Haley in November
Following Pennsylvania's closed Republican primary earlier this week, former Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania says there’s something notable about the 16.6% of Republicans who voted for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley despite the fact that she exited the race well over a month ago. "There is a non-trivial, significant minority of Republicans who are not going to vote for Donald Trump,” Toomey told The Philadelphia Inquirer of the critical swing state's general election. Toomey, who served as senator for a dozen years before retiring last year, was part of Haley's bloc earlier this week, and he said he would likely write in Haley's name in November. Haley notched her biggest wins in the southeastern part of the state, including the Philadelphia suburbs that proved critical to President Joe Biden flipping the Keystone State back to blue in 2020. She won roughly a quarter of the vote in Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties. Haley's strength in the very counties that helped deliver the state to Biden underscores the peril her support poses to Trump. And the notion that a high-profile Republican like Toomey would openly muse about withholding his vote from Trump in November is telling. He is effectively modeling an off-ramp for anti-MAGA Republican voters and giving them permission to take it. Haley ultimately won more than 157,000 votes—nearly twice the roughly 80,000 margin by which Biden won the state in 2020. While Biden would prefer to fully flip Republican voters to his corner, the next best thing is simply convincing those who would otherwise cast a vote for Trump not to do so. In Arizona in 2020, for instance, the roughly 34,000 voters who left the top of their ballots blank could have swayed the election by voting for Trump. Biden managed to flip the state on the razor's edge of some 10,500 votes. Pennsylvania is effectively deadlocked in 538's aggregate of polls, with Trump holding a 1-point edge. Biden has been angling to attract Haley voters ever since she exited the race in early March. Several weeks back, the Biden campaign dropped an ad reminding Haley voters of all of the nasty things Trump has said about her—and them. The 30-second spot, which will mostly run digitally, was aptly named "If you voted for Nikki Haley..." YouTube Video Maybe Biden can pick up some disaffected Haley voters, or maybe some just won't be able to stomach voting for Trump. Either way, it's a win for Biden to hold onto Pennsylvania and to keep Democrats' so-called blue wall intact. Here's one way to avoid dealing with election results you don't like: just wipe them from the record books. It's not Orwell—it's Arizona, and we're talking all about it on this week's episode of "The Downballot." This fall, voters have the chance to deny new terms to two conservative Supreme Court justices, but a Republican amendment would retroactively declare those elections null and void—and all but eliminate the system Arizona has used to evaluate judges for 50 years. We're going to guess voters won't like this one bit … if it even makes it to the ballot in the first place. Embedded Content Campaign Action
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Following Pennsylvania's closed Republican primary earlier this week, former Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania says there’s something notable about the 16.6% of Republicans who voted for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley despite the fact that she exited the race well over a month ago.
"There is a non-trivial, significant minority of Republicans who are not going to vote for Donald Trump,” Toomey told The Philadelphia Inquirer of the critical swing state's general election.
Toomey, who served as senator for a dozen years before retiring last year, was part of Haley's bloc earlier this week, and he said he would likely write in Haley's name in November.
Haley notched her biggest wins in the southeastern part of the state, including the Philadelphia suburbs that proved critical to President Joe Biden flipping the Keystone State back to blue in 2020. She won roughly a quarter of the vote in Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties.
Haley's strength in the very counties that helped deliver the state to Biden underscores the peril her support poses to Trump. And the notion that a high-profile Republican like Toomey would openly muse about withholding his vote from Trump in November is telling. He is effectively modeling an off-ramp for anti-MAGA Republican voters and giving them permission to take it.
Haley ultimately won more than 157,000 votes—nearly twice the roughly 80,000 margin by which Biden won the state in 2020.
While Biden would prefer to fully flip Republican voters to his corner, the next best thing is simply convincing those who would otherwise cast a vote for Trump not to do so.
In Arizona in 2020, for instance, the roughly 34,000 voters who left the top of their ballots blank could have swayed the election by voting for Trump. Biden managed to flip the state on the razor's edge of some 10,500 votes.
Pennsylvania is effectively deadlocked in 538's aggregate of polls, with Trump holding a 1-point edge.
Biden has been angling to attract Haley voters ever since she exited the race in early March. Several weeks back, the Biden campaign dropped an ad reminding Haley voters of all of the nasty things Trump has said about her—and them.
The 30-second spot, which will mostly run digitally, was aptly named "If you voted for Nikki Haley..."
Maybe Biden can pick up some disaffected Haley voters, or maybe some just won't be able to stomach voting for Trump. Either way, it's a win for Biden to hold onto Pennsylvania and to keep Democrats' so-called blue wall intact.
Here's one way to avoid dealing with election results you don't like: just wipe them from the record books. It's not Orwell—it's Arizona, and we're talking all about it on this week's episode of "The Downballot." This fall, voters have the chance to deny new terms to two conservative Supreme Court justices, but a Republican amendment would retroactively declare those elections null and void—and all but eliminate the system Arizona has used to evaluate judges for 50 years. We're going to guess voters won't like this one bit … if it even makes it to the ballot in the first place.
