Another Republican senator, Senator Todd Young (R-IN), has confirmed he will not be supporting Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
The news was first reported by local, Evansville TV station, WWEV:
Young spoke about Trump’s take on the war in Ukraine, where Trump says Putin is not a war criminal and will not take sides as the war wages on.
Instead, Young says what Hoosiers decide to do is their choice. Young says he does not know who he will support for the party’s nomination.
Indiana Senator Todd Young says he will not support former President Trump in his bid to secure the Republican Presidential nomination. https://t.co/edXu8RqfNa
— WTHI News10 (@WTHITV) March 8, 2024
“Nothing’s changed from my standpoint,” Young told CNN. “I trust the people I represent to make their own decisions on who they’re going to vote for.”
The Senator previously said he would not support Trump during the presidential primaries, but left open the possibility of endorsing him in the 2024 race.
“Where do I begin? I think President Trump’s judgment is wrong in this case,” Young said in 2023 after Trump declined to call Vladimir Putin a war criminal. “Putin and his government have been engaged in war crimes. . . . That’s why I don’t intend to support him for the Republican nomination.”
Young also criticized Trump for the party’s lack of electoral success:
You want a nominee to win the general election. As President Trump says, I prefer winners. He consistently loses. In fact, he has a habit of losing not just his own elections, but losing elections for others.
I can’t think of someone worse equipped to bring people together to pass legislation and advance our collective values than the former president. I don’t think conservatives would be well served by electing someone whose core competency seems to be owning someone on Twitter.
A less known figure than many of his colleagues, Young has also positioned himself as one of the many foreign policy hawks in the Senate and in February voted in favor of the national security supplemental funding package.
He said at the time:
In the aftermath of the last two decades, the American people are understandably tired and reluctant to sacrifice. But we cannot ignore the cost of such divestment to our global leadership role.
This legislation provides vital security assistance to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. We cannot abandon these allies and partners as they face existential threats. Abandoning our allies and partners will empower and embolden authoritarian powers such as China and Russia. Leadership comes with a price, but it also comes with rewards.
In 2023, Young was among a group of seven Republican senators to confirm former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as Joe Biden’s Ambassador to India, despite his diabolical record in office.
7 Senate Republicans voted Yes confirming former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as the first U.S. Ambassador to India for the Biden Administration:
Collins-ME
Cassidy-LA
Daines-MT
Graham-SC
Hagerty-TN
Marshall-KS
Young-IN— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) March 15, 2023
Young becomes the fourth Republican Senator refusing to support Trump, joining Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Susan Collins of Maine in doing so.
