Sen. Mark Kirk ripped Donald Trump Thursday, telling a Chicago radio station that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was "too bigoted and racist" for the state of Illinois.
"I do not support Hillary Clinton and I told the public that I did not support Donald Trump, either," Kirk, a first-term Republican who is in a bitter re-election fight, told "Big" John Howell on WLS-AM. "I think he's too bigoted and racist for the Land of Lincoln."
The interview was first reported by
BuzzFeed News.
Kirk, 56, who was elected in 2009, said that he planned to write in former CIA Director David Petraeus.
"I think if he announced, he would just light up the political spectrum," Kirk told Howell.
The senator said earlier this month that
he would not support Trump after his Democratic challenger, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, attacked Kirk for his silence on the billionaire's racially tinged remarks on a federal judge presiding over the Trump University civil lawsuit.
Kirk's seat is considered among the most vulnerable by Republicans this November. Illinois is a deeply blue state — and Democrats only need five seats to win back the Senate.
While Kirk had distanced himself from Trump's remarks, he has said that he would support the GOP's eventual nominee.