Former Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., says he will not vote for either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris in November's election.
Toomey, who spent 12 years in the Senate before retiring early last year, told CNBC on Tuesday that although he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, he will not support the former president this time around.
"When you lose an election and you try to overturn the results so that you can stay in power, you lose me. You lose me at that point," said Toomey, referring to Trump's allegations of 2020 voter fraud in several key states.
Toomey was 1 of 7 Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial on the charge of inciting an insurrection against the U.S.
Pennsylvania is considered to be 1 of 7 key battleground states that will determine the outcome of the presidential election.
"I acknowledge that the outcome is a binary situation, but my choice is not," Toomey said after host Joe Kernen insisted that not voting for Trump would be a vote for Harris.
"It is an acceptable position for me to say that neither of these candidates can be my choice for president."
Kernen also pressed Toomey about Harris' economic plan, such as raising the corporate tax rate to 28% and the capital gains tax rate to 45% for the nation's highest income earners.
A long-time fiscal conservative, Toomey said there is a way for the GOP to keep Harris in check if she is elected president.
"The answer to that is Republican control of the Senate, and that is absolutely essential," he said.
"If the other side runs the table, then Katy bar the door," he said. "They will repeal the filibuster, and they will be dragged by their left wing, which clearly is in charge now ... and I think Kamala Harris proved that with her vice-presidential selection [Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz] ... and its huge tax increases, probably some version of Medicare for all, it might even get to an expansion of the Supreme Court."
Toomey said Senate Republicans, if in control, could "mitigate" a future President Harris' executive actions "by its power of confirmation."
"They've got to hang tough on some of these nominees," he said.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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