Dozens of Republicans urge RNC: Spend on Senate races, not Trump

WASHINGTON — More than 75 Republicans have signed a letter urging Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus to spend the party’s money on helping secure the Republican majority in the Senate, not on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

The letter, whose signers include former congressmen Gordon Humphrey, Mickey Edwards and Christopher Shays; Bruce Bartlett, a member of President George W. Bush’s cabinet; and former RNC staff members said that Trump’s campaign will have a “catastrophic impact” on down-ballot races.

It is another instance of Republicans coming out against the party’s presidential nominee. In recent weeks, a number of high-profile Republicans have said they cannot support Trump’s candidacy.

“We believe that Donald Trump’s divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide, and only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck,” the letter reads.

It said Trump’s chances of becoming president are “evaporating by the day,” due in large part to feuds and inflammatory comments that are alienating voters. The letter said they include his spat with the parents of a Muslim Army captain who was killed in Iraq, calling on Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails, showing a “total ignorance” of foreign policy and “deliberately and repeatedly lying about scores of issues, large and small.”

The letter cites a number of polls that show Trump losing ground to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton nationally. It also points out his animosity toward other Republicans, including his claims that Sen. Ted Cruz’s father may have been linked to John F. Kennedy’s assassin, stating he would start a super PAC that could be used to fight other Republicans, calling Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., a loser in front of his Senate colleagues and initially refusing to support House Speaker Paul Ryan’s primary campaign.