Senator Todd Young (R-IN) announced on Tuesday that he will not support his own party’s presidential nominee in the upcoming election.
The decision by the establishment politician not to vote for Donald Trump comes just days after the former president secured the party’s nomination. While Young had previously hinted that he wouldn’t endorse Trump, Tuesday marks the first time he publicly acknowledged that he won’t even cast his vote for his party’s nominee.
“At some point, principled conservatives need to incentivize our party, the Republican Party, to nominate somebody that principled conservatives can actually believe in,” Young told a local Indiana outlet. “Stated differently, I’m tired of having my vote taken for granted.”
Young, a proponent of continued American taxpayer funding for Ukraine’s conflict against Russia, has pointed to Trump’s refusal to label Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal as a key factor in his decision not to back Trump.
Young stands out as an exception among Republicans who were previously hesitant to fully support Trump. Other holdouts began rallying behind Trump once it became evident that his nomination was inevitable. The tide shifted notably on March 6, following Trump’s dominant performance on Super Tuesday, when