Pat Toomey On Sharing Ticket With Donald Trump: 'I'm Going To Run My Own Campaign'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey addressed the dilemma of running for re-election with Donald Trump at the top of his party's ticket come November and believes there are both positives and negatives that could impact his fate.
Toomey, talking with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, stated there are currently no plans to coordinate their efforts inside the commonwealth.
"I'm definitely going to run my own campaign. We will run separate campaigns. Whether our paths cross, whether we are together at an event, I don't know. I don't rule that out. That would be a function of the logistics and what makes sense on a given moment in the campaign."
He believes that while the specter of Trump presents a full array of possibilities, he will just focus on defeating his opponent.
"I think Pennsylvania voters are very capable of distinguishing between two completely separate people, candidates, different races. Pennsylvania is famous for ticket splitting. Donald Trump might win Pennsylvania. He could win Pennsylvania. He could win this general election. He could drive turnout in a way that is very helpful to guys like me and also some of the things he has said have been outrageous. And they are offensive. That could be problematic. But I think that voters have a sense of who I am and they're going to make the decision in my race based on the contrast between me and Katie McGinty."
Toomey also commented on the turmoil in the Democratic Party's nominating process, saying Bernie Sanders is more honest and sincere than the former Secretary of State.
"What does Hillary Clinton really believe? No one has any idea, right? Everybody gets that. So, you start off with he's just crushing her in the authentic category and then you have this incredibly undemocratic process where the superdelegates determine who the nominee is. It doesn't matter how the actual elections go. So the people who support the authentic guy, the real deal, the true socialist, they're getting complete short shrift here and it's understandable that they are pretty angry about it. I don't see how this comes together as a big, happy marriage after the convention."
