U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna of New York said Tuesday morning that he will vote for Hillary Clinton over his party’s standard bearer Donald Trump, making him the first Republican member of Congress to choose Clinton over the Republican nominee.
Hanna, who is serving his third term in Congress for New York's 22nd Congressional District, wrote in an op-ed on Syracuse.com that "for me, it is not enough to simply denounce his comments: He is unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country.”
Hanna said in March before Trump clinched the Republican nomination that he would not support the real estate businessman, even if he became the party’s presidential candidate. In his op-ed Tuesday, Hanna said though he “disagree[s] with her on many issues,” he would vote for Clinton because of her commitment to public service.
“She stands and has stood for causes bigger than herself for a lifetime. That matters,” Hanna wrote.
Trump, in comparison, is “deeply flawed in endless ways,” Hanna wrote. “A self-involved man who is worth billions yet is comfortable -- almost gleefully -- using bankruptcy laws to avoid the consequences of his own choices. A man of character would not defend his actions but rather display shame and or at least regret. He is unrepentant in all things.”
Hanna also condemned Trump’s recent comments disparaging the mother of slain U.S. Captain Humayun Khan after her husband addressed the Democratic National Convention last week: “Where do we draw the line?”
“I will be hopeful and resolute in my belief that being a good American who loves his country is far more important than parties or winning and losing,” he concluded. “I trust [Clinton] can lead. All Republicans may not like the direction, but they can live to win or lose another day with a real candidate. Our response to the public's anger and the need to rebuild requires complex solutions, experience, knowledge and balance. Not bumper sticker slogans that pander to our disappointment, fear and hate.”