Donald Trump’s support with the Republican Party weakened Saturday after the release of a recording of the GOP candidate making lewd comments about women.
Carly Fiorina on Saturday called on Mr. Trump to quit the presidential campaign, making her the first of the embattled nominee’s former top-tier rivals to demand that he step down as the party’s standard-bearer.
Mrs. Fiorina had never endorsed Mr. Trump but joins what on Saturday has become a flood of Republicans either withdrawing their support for the GOP nominee or calling for him to quit the race.
Mrs. Fiorina is now the highest profile Republican who hadn’t previously renounced Mr. Trump to break with him. The former Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive asked the Republican National Committee to replace Mr. Trump with his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
“I understand the responsibility of Republicans to support their nominee. Our nominee has weighty responsibilities as well. Donald Trump has manifestly failed in these responsibilities,” Mrs. Fiorina said in a statement posted to her Facebook page. “Today I ask Donald Trump to step aside and for the RNC to replace him with Gov. Mike Pence.”
Minutes before Mrs. Fiorina’s statement, Mr. Trump told The Wall Street Journal there is “zero chance I’ll quit.” The party has no mechanism to remove him without his consent and if he were to resign as the GOP nominee, it is too late to replace his name on ballots with Mr. Pence.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who is facing a tough re-election contest and has taken heat for recently saying that Mr. Trump should be a role model for children, Saturday announced that she was retracting her pledge to vote for Mr. Trump even though she couldn’t endorse him.
“I wanted to be able to support my party’s nominee,” she said. “However I’m a mom and an American first, and I cannot and will not support a candidate for president who brags about degrading and assaulting women.” She said she would write in Mr. Pence rather than vote for Mr. Trump or the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.
In West Virginia, where Mr. Trump is expected to win an overwhelming victory in November, GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito denounced his remarks and said “the appropriate next step may be for him to re-examine his candidacy.”
Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, who faces re-election in 2016 but doesn’t have significant opposition, withdrew his endorsement Saturday morning and urged Mr. Trump to step aside and allow Mike Pence to be the standard-bearer.
Late Friday, three Utah GOP lawmakers including Gov. Gary Herbert, Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee that has spent years investigating Mrs. Clinton, renounced Mr. Trump. Mr. Lee called for him to quit and Mr. Chaffetz recanted his endorsement. “I’m out,” Mr. Chaffetz told a Salt Lake City TV station.
Syndicated conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, who had backed Mr. Trump since he won the nomination and chided Republicans opposed to him, on Saturday morning called on Mr. Trump to leave the race.
“For the benefit of the country, the party and his family, and for his own good, @realDonaldTrump should withdraw. More and worse oppo coming,” Mr. Hewitt wrote on Twitter.
After his remarks were made public Friday, Mr. Trump had drawn the opprobrium of other Republicans, including Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, House Speaker Paul Ryan, former GOP presidential rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, several GOP senators running for re-election, and former GOP presidential nomineesJohn McCain and Mitt Romney.
