Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appears to be embracing Donald Trump’s White House bid ahead of a Thursday meeting, and pointed to a poll showing the real estate mogul is competitive in key states.
“Most of our members believe that he has won the nomination the old fashioned way,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday. “He got more votes than anybody else. And we respect the voices of the Republican primary voters across the country and we’ll sit down and talk about the way forward.”
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Trump is slated to sit down with McConnell and other Senate GOP leaders on Thursday morning. Trump will also huddle with Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus.
McConnell said Trump requested the meeting.
McConnell appears to have shifted his position from just a few weeks back, when he promised GOP senators in tough re-election races that they would separate themselves from Trump if he were to win the nomination.
McConnell pointed to recent polls showing Trump in a competitive race with Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida. “Early indications are that our nominee is likely to be very competitive,” McConnell said.
He added that divisions within the GOP over Trump’s nomination could be overcome by a universal opposition to Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee.
“I think that, in the end, is going to be enough to unify Republicans across the country,” McConnell said.
