Bay Area GOP reacts to party's divide over Trump
SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Two weeks after the Republican National Convention, the party's divided loyalties over it's unconventional nominee Donald Trump have become public and increasingly prominent.
Silicon Valley Republican Meg Whitman, the Hewlett Packard executive and former California gubernatorial candidate, announced Tuesday that she would raise funds and vote for Hillary Clinton, instead of Trump.
Retiring U.S. Representative Richard Hanna of New York also said he would not vote for Trump, calling him unrepentant and unfit to serve the Republican Party. Rep. Hanna is the first Republican member of Congress to say he would cross over and vote for Clinton.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a long-time Trump supporter, joined a growing number of Republican officials who are distancing themselves from Trump's criticism of the parents of Captain Humayun Khan, a Muslim Gold Star family.
On the campaign trail In Ashburn, Virginia, Trump received a symbolic show of support from Lt. Colonel Lewis Dorfman, who gave Trump his Purple Heart, a military medal the veteran received from being injured in battle.
"I said to him is that like the real one or is that a copy? And he said that's my real Purple Heart. I have such confidence in you," Trump said on stage.
That confidence is shared by some but not all conservatives, in a battle for the heart of the Republican Party.
Trump says he will not back House Speaker Paul Ryan or Senator John McCain in their re-election campaigns.
Bay Area Republican Dave Erlich has supported Trump since day one and says the party leaders need to follow through and support Trump.
"When he first started running, they made him sign a pledge that he would back the nominee. Well, now it's time to back the nominee and the establishment is not," said Erlich, the Alameda County Republican Party Chairman, "In my heart of hearts, I think everybody should get in lockstep."
Some Republicans are rejecting both Trump and Clinton.
San Francisco Republican Mason Harrison has joined a coalition launched on Tuesday called "Republicans for Johnson and Weld." Republican Gary Johnson, is a former governor of New Mexico, and Bill Weld is a former governor of Massachusetts. They are running as the presidential ticket for the Libertarian Party.
"It's heartbreaking for me to not be able to support the Republican nominee, but I ultimately I got into politics for a reason and voting for Donald Trump would betray those reasons this year," Harrison said.
That angers Hilary Hagenbuch, President of the San Francisco Young Republicans. Hagenbuch says she was a Mitt Romney supporter and can't believe Republicans would defect from the party's nominee.
"Very upset with those Republicans. They are going to put Hillary Clinton in the White House if they don't vote for Trump, if they don't go along with our party, if they don't support our nominee," Hagenbuch said.