A 2005 tape released on Friday of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump making lewd comments about women has caused a stir in the Maryland U.S. Senate race.
The video recording, reported by The Washington Post on Friday, showed a conversation between Trump and Billy Bush of Access Hollywood, in which Trump described how he tried to have sex with a married woman. He also boasted in the video about how he kisses women without waiting — because “when you’re a star, they let you do it” — and mentioned grabbing women by their genitals.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, never endorsed Trump for president and further criticized the nominee Tuesday for his remarks, calling them “disgraceful and outrageous,” according to The Post.
“I am appalled by Donald Trump’s comments,” Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Szeliga said in a statement Friday. “I raised my sons to never speak about women like this and to defend women against just these kind of comments. Donald Trump should sincerely apologize to all women immediately.”
But Szeliga, who is running against Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen for retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s seat, said she will still be voting for Trump this November.
“Donald Trump’s values are not Maryland’s values,” said Bridgett Frey, a spokeswoman for Van Hollen’s campaign. “What will it take for Delegate Szeliga to finally walk away from a candidate who has not only attacked women, but immigrants, minorities, people with disabilities, [prisoners of war], Muslims and President Obama with his racist birther comments?”
Voters have not been left with an easy choice, Szeliga said.
“Both of these candidates are seriously flawed,” she said. “One says appalling things and one has done appalling things. Like most Marylanders, I wish we had different options, but we don’t.”
High-profile Republicans across the country have retracted their support for their party’s nominee since Trump’s recording was released, including Arizona Sen. John McCain and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte. House Speaker Paul Ryan condemned Trump’s comments, but didn’t rescind his endorsement of him, though he will stop actively campaigning for the presidential candidate.
“From day one, Governor Hogan made it clear that he would not support Donald Trump,” Van Hollen’s campaign statement read. “In recent days, we’ve seen 12 Republican Senators or Senate candidates say that enough is enough and they can no longer support Donald Trump. These people are putting country before politics.”
This university’s College Democrats and College Republicans chapters have both condemned Trump’s comments. College Republicans chapter President Jacob Veitch called the nominee’s remarks “shameful.”
“I don’t think there is any gray area; he should be ashamed,” said Veitch, a junior government and politics and international business major. “His apology was not for his remarks, but it was ‘for if anyone was offended.'”
“We found it was disgusting and disheartening that any major party nominee of the United States to say things like that, for any person to say things like that,” said Jake Polce, president of this university’s chapter of College Democrats.
Polce, a junior government and politics major, added he supported Van Hollen’s statement and recent polling, which shows Van Hollen nearly 30 points ahead of Szeliga, indicates that Marylanders aren’t going to vote for a candidate “who spans hand-to-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump.”
College Republicans declined to comment on Szeliga’s support for Trump. The latest Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, published on Oct. 6, showed Van Hollen leading Szeliga 58-29 percent.
