Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV), who is running for the Senate seat vacated by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), still will not say whether he will vote for Donald Trump, but said Tuesday that Trump is qualified to be president.
Heck pulled his endorsement of Trump following the release of a 2005 tape on which Trump can be heard boasting about grabbing and kissing women without permission. Even as some Republican lawmakers who reversed their Trump endorsements have now said they will vote for the Republican nominee, Heck has still declined to reveal who he will vote for on Election day.
“Well, I can tell you I’m not voting for Hillary Clinton,” Heck told Las Vegas television station KSNV Tuesday. “We still have six days before I walk into the booth. On November 8th, I’ll have a decision.”
But the Republican congressman also acknowledged that Republican primary voters selected Trump and said that the Republican nominee will surround himself with good military advisers.
When asked if Trump is qualified to be president, Heck said, “Well, according to our Constitution he is.”
“I think he won our nomination through a very intensive primary process and caucus process, and the Republican voters decided that they wanted him as their nominee. So, I think if you meet the Constitutional qualifications and you’re selected by the Republican Party, then you’re qualified to be President,” he added when pressed further.
Heck, an Army brigadier general, was also asked if he is comfortable with Trump being commander-in-chief.
“I think whomever the next commander-in-chief is, they’re going to need to surround themselves with military leaders that will provide them with the expert advice that they need to keep the country safe and make sure our men and women in uniform have the tools and the resources they need to do the jobs we asked them to do,” he replied. “I think that Donald will do that. He certainly has a lot of military leaders that have signed on as his advisors.”
