washington<u+2014>mounting criticism over republican presidential nominee donald trump<u+2019>s crass comments about women left gop congressional leaders under increased pressure sunday to minimize damage from the nominee<u+2019>s troubles, which could jeopardize the party<u+2019>s control over the senate<u+2014>and possibly the house as well. house speaker paul ryan (r., wis.) and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell (r., ky.) maintained their support for mr. trump over the weekend, though both sharply criticized the gop nominee for comments he made in a 2005 video that he kissed and groped women without their consent. dozens of house and senate republicans renounced the nominee over the weekend, with many saying he should withdraw from the race. other lawmakers said they would wait to evaluate mr. trump<u+2019>s performance against democratic nominee hillary clinton in sunday night<u+2019>s debate. congressional aides and lawmakers said mr. trump<u+2019>s behavior in the matchup would factor into gop leaders<u+2019> next steps and would affect the number of defections expected monday. house republicans were scheduled to discuss the developments in a conference call monday morning. with mr. trump trailing in the polls, gop leaders are trying to limit his damage on house and senate races. it isn<u+2019>t yet clear if calling on mr. trump to step aside could help shore up gop majorities, because it looks very difficult to replace him on the ballot and is likely to anger his supporters. but the leaders<u+2019> response will help their rank and file, often fed up with defending mr. trump and wrestling with whether to stop doing so, a republican lawmaker said. one worry is that more damaging information about mr. trump could continue to emerge, lawmakers and aides said. for senate republicans, mr. trump<u+2019>s crude comments could hurt their remaining chances of winning in the handful of battleground states that will determine which party controls the chamber next year. and democrats<u+2019> prospects for taking over the house<u+2014>where republicans hold their largest majority since the late 1920s<u+2014> increased though were still viewed as a long shot. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s still time for this to become a wave election,<u+201d> greg valliere, chief global strategist at horizon investments, said sunday. he said mr. trump<u+2019>s comments will make it more difficult for republicans to keep the senate majority and modestly raise the odds of democrats taking over the house. to win senate control, democrats must win a net of five seats, or four if mrs. clinton wins the white house and the vice president can cast a tiebreaking vote. in the house, democrats would need to win a net of 30 seats to secure the chamber<u+2019>s majority. already, mr. trump<u+2019>s lackluster performance in the first debate and his criticism of a former miss universe winner for gaining weight appeared to be diminishing his chances in some key states<u+2014>a development likely to be a drag on down-ballot senate and house republicans. in pennsylvania, a wall street journal/nbc news/marist poll showing mrs. clinton with a 12-point lead over mr. trump would make it very difficult for gop sen. pat toomey to defeat his democratic challenger, former state official katie mcginty. in the poll, mr. toomey was trailing ms. mcginty by 4 points, 48% to 44%. mr. toomey said mr. trump<u+2019>s comments were <u+201c>outrageous and unacceptable,<u+201d> but didn<u+2019>t call on him to step down. democrats said mr. toomey had missed his window to take a stand against mr. trump. <u+201c>it is too late now for pat toomey to back away from donald trump, solely in hopes of saving his political career,<u+201d> ms. mcginty said in a statement. as fallout grew, many lawmakers, including sen. john thune of south dakota, a member of senate gop leadership, urged the nominee to withdraw from the race. gop senators in some of the tightest re-election races said over the weekend they wouldn<u+2019>t vote for mr. trump, including sens. kelly ayotte of new hampshire, rob portman of ohio and john mccain of arizona. <u+201c>he<u+2019>s talking about assault of women,<u+201d> ms. ayotte told reporters in new hampshire on sunday. <u+201c>i cannot vote for donald trump based on what he has said and done and the actions he talked about in those tapes.<u+201d> messrs. mcconnell and ryan so far haven<u+2019>t called on mr. trump to step aside, but some republicans said they would face more pressure to do so, particularly if mr. trump fails to assuage concerns in sunday night<u+2019>s debate . <u+201c>the leadership is obviously in a very difficult spot and the first priority of the republican leadership at this point must be to protect congressional majorities in the house and senate,<u+201d> rep. charlie dent (r., pa.) said in an interview sunday. <u+201c>if the rank and file speak up forcefully and in sufficient numbers, that would probably compel leaders to do the same.<u+201d> mr. dent had said earlier this year he wouldn<u+2019>t vote for either mr. trump or mrs. clinton. but gop leaders also could face backlash from mr. trump<u+2019>s millions of supporters, who have remained loyal to him as he has weathered criticism over his previous comments about women, hispanics and his contentious policy stances on immigration, foreign policy and other issues. even after the latest uproar, some voters defended mr. trump on saturday at a fall festival in wisconsin, to which mr. ryan had disinvited mr. trump . mr. trump has made clear that he intends to remain in the campaign and urged his followers to view pressure to step aside as interference from gop leaders tied to washington institutions many voters distrust. <u+201c>the media and establishment want me out of the race so badly,<u+201d> mr. trump said in a tweet over the weekend. later he tweeted that he was receiving <u+201c>tremendous support (except for some republican <u+2018>leadership<u+2019>).<u+201d> early voting has begun in many states, making it difficult for republican officials to replace mr. trump on the ballot. in a sign that republicans are likely to concentrate their efforts now on house and senate races, republican national committee chairman reince priebus told party officials over the weekend to redirect funds away from mr. trump to down-ballot candidates, according to an official informed of the decision.
amid trump video uproar, gop leaders look to limit damage     - wsj
kristina peterson siobhan hughes