Campaign 2020 April 28, 2020

Jeff Flake Says Donald Trump Needs To Be Defeated In November

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 28: Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) listens to fellow committee members debate the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh during a mark up hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 28, 2018 in Washington, DC. Flake was crucial in getting the committee to agree to an additional week of investigations into accusations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh before the full Senate votes. A day earlier the committee heard from Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor who who has accused Kavnaugh of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982 when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Former GOP Senator Jeff Flake is giving his two-cents about the upcoming election. While Flake is not popular with Republicans or Democrats, his opinion may give us a glimpse into what some other members of the Republcian party may be thinking come November. Here’s an exchange from an interview he did with The Washington Post:

WP: Which do you think would be better for the Republican Party, and maybe the country itself: a second term for Trump or a sound defeat in November?
JF: Oh, a sound defeat, no doubt. Long term for the Republican Party, you bet. And for conservatism as well.
WP: You would feel comfortable casting a vote for a Democrat?
JF: Yeah. This won’t be the first time I’ve voted for a Democrat — though not for president [before]. Last time I voted for a third-party candidate. [Laughs.] But I will not vote for Donald Trump.

Trumpism cannot be the future of the Republican Partyhttps://t.co/SFuXurnxED
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) April 28, 2020

Flake chose not to run a second term back in 2018, at the time he remarked, “There may not be a place for a Republican like me in the current Republican climate or the current Republican Party.”

He now says some of his former colleagues share his concerns, telling The Washington Post, “I know that everyone worries about what this does to the standing of the party, long term.”