rep. todd young of indiana has not abandoned his support for donald trump. | ap photo by burgess everett 10/11/16 11:35 am edt rep. todd young of indiana is sticking with donald trump, one of several gop senate candidates in red-leaning but competitive races hanging with their wounded nominee. "the majority of hoosiers todd speaks with are still supporting donald trump despite their deep reservations, because it's the only way to ensure we don't have another 4 years like the last 8 as hillary clinton and evan bayh would ensure,<u+201d> said young spokesman jay kenworthy in an email. . story continued below with trump maintaining a statistically significant lead in the hoosier state and former sen. evan bayh (d-ind.) narrowly leading the race to succeed retiring indiana gop sen. dan coats, young is looking to ride trump<u+2019>s coattails while republicans viciously attack bayh as a democratic insider who enriched himself after leaving the senate in 2010. young<u+2019>s continued support of trump was first reported by the washington post. young had been <u+201c>seriously considering<u+201d> whether to withdraw his endorsement after a video surfaced last week showing trump bragging about being able to grope women because of his fame. young joins sens. roy blunt of missouri and richard burr of north carolina in continuing to back trump. all three are in must-win senate races for the gop. republicans are defending 24 seats next month, many in blue and purple states, and cannot afford to cede ground in more conservative states. blunt said immediately after the video was reported by the post that he would still vote for trump, which strategists said make sense given trump's strength in missouri. burr said he would wait to see what level of <u+201c>contrition<u+201d> trump displayed, then monday suggested that trump<u+2019>s apology in sunday's debate was sufficient for him. <u+201c>as a son of a presbyterian minister, my dad always taught me that when people ask for forgiveness, you should give it to them. he did that, and i<u+2019>ve certainly forgiven him,<u+201d> burr told the raleigh news & observer. hillary clinton is making a major push to flip north carolina blue this year, but it has been reliably republican other than president barack obama<u+2019>s 2008 win. burr showed up to a campaign event in a car sporting a trump bumper sticker, according to wral. the moves by senators and candidates in red-leaning states demonstrate the quandary republicans are in. they need trump voters to win, even more so than in toss-up races like new hampshire, pennsylvania and nevada, where senate candidates are not backing trump. candidates who have more wiggle room are making disparate choices. sen. chuck grassley (r-iowa) is continuing to support trump, who is doing well in iowa <u+2014> but not as well as grassley, who leads by double digits over democrat patty judge. sen. john mccain is winning his race handily in arizona, but made the calculation that it<u+2019>s worth divorcing trump as he gets hammered by his opponent. he said in a debate on monday night that he worries <u+201c>about the future of the republican party<u+201d> but argued that he has not lost credibility in his state by standing by trump for so long because <u+201c>people know me.<u+201d> rep. ann kirkpatrick (d-ariz.) has been dinging mccain over trump and did so again, challenging the senator monday on whether he trusts <u+201c>donald trump<u+2019>s finger on the nuclear button.<u+201d> mccain dismissed it as a <u+201c>nonsense question.<u+201d> by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
red-state senate hopefuls stick with trump - politico
burgess everett jack shafer