In September, U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV) said he completely supported Donald Trump and trusted him having with the country’s nuclear arsenal.
Then, on October 7, the Access Hollywood tape in which Trump is heard bragging about sexual assault was released. The next day, Heck dumped Trump at a rally and got booed for it.
“I cannot in good conscience continue to support Donald Trump,” Heck said over jeers. “My wife, my daughters, my mom, my sister, and all women deserve better. All Americans deserve better.”
“We deserve a candidate that can ask themselves at the end of the day, ‘Did I live my life with honor and do I deserve to be elected President of the United States?’ I believe our only options is to formally ask Mr. Trump to step down, and to allow Republicans to elect someone who will provide us with the strong leadership so desperately needed,” he added.
Less than a month later, Heck has at least one foot back on the Trump bandwagon. During an interview with KSNV news, Heck said he might vote for Trump after all.
“We’re going to wait and see what happens,” he said. “We’re working through it, but on November 8th, I’ll have a decision.”
During the rally where he dumped Trump, Heck said he was “disappointed in our choice for President.” But he struck a very different tone in the KSNV interview, saying he now believes Trump is “qualified.”
“I think he won our nomination through a very intensive primary process and caucus process, and the Republican voters decided that they wanted him as their nominee,” Heck said. “So, I think if you meet the Constitutional qualifications and you’re selected by the Republican Party, then you’re qualified to be President.”
The political calculus
What changed since October? Certainly not Trump, who apologized for the remarks he made on the Access Hollywood tape but has gone on to smear the numerous women who have since accused him of sexual assault. If Heck thought he was unfit then, he has little substantive reason to change his mind now.
But he does have a good political reason. In the days after he dumped Trump, Heck’s poll numbers slid and his challenger, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, pulled ahead for the first time in the campaign. Heck now leads again, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polling in the Nevada senate race.
Heck’s disavowal of Trump appears to have alienated some of his supporters. Now that it’s clear the Access Hollywood recording and sexual assault allegations haven’t tanked Trump’s support, Heck’s turnabout makes political sense.
Heck’s not alone
Heck is far from the only Republican member of Congress to re-endorse Trump after un-endorsing him in October. Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Bradley Byrne (R-AL), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), and Sens. Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Sen. Mike Thune (R-SD) all followed a pattern similar to Heck’s.
Heck’s opponent, Cortez Masto, a former state attorney general, criticized Heck for enabling Trump in an interview with ThinkProgress conducted just days before the Access Hollywood tape dropped last month.
“The level of racism and bigotry is so astounding and disgusting, and he’s trying to mainstream it,” she said. “By Congressmen Heck not standing up to that, he’s allowing it to happen.”