Kirk Says Distance From Trump Has Helped His Senate Campaign

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 12: Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., talks with reporters after the Senate Policy luncheons in the Capitol, January 12, 2016. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
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Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), a vulnerable Republican senator in a tough re-election fight against Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), says that his efforts to separate his campaign from Donald Trump’s presidential run have paid off.

“It’s helped because I’m a very independent voice for Illinois,” Kirk told CNN in an interview published on Monday.

In June, Kirk ran a television ad arguing that Trump is “not fit to be commander in chief” and highlighting the Republican senator’s calls for a vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

The Kirk campaign told CNN that since running the ad, the campaign has seen an increased interest in their campaign.

When asked if he would win in November without backing Trump, Kirk told CNN, “I have always run way ahead of my ticket.”

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Notable Replies

  1. Kirk: I would be voting for Clinton in next general election. This continues my tradition of voting for all democrats. My vote for Obama turned out to be a good one.

  2. Too late. You’ve already contracted the plague from your earlier bear hug.

  3. He has ‘routinized’ his campaigns. About 6 months before Election Day, he begins to transform himself into a lookalike Democrat with meaningless Senate votes that he can claim make him a moderate. Don’t be fooled. In December, he will be a hard-core Republican again - only this time, let’s make sure that he is not in the Senate as he does so.

  4. So, it’s now supposed to be a good thing that a Senatorial candidate believes that the leader of his own Party is unfit to be POTUS? And that’s what he’s going with? Good luck on that.

  5. “It’s helped because I’m a very independent voice for Illinois,” Kirk told CNN in an interview published on Monday.

    You motherfucking liar.

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