Vulnerable GOP freshman doesn’t rule out voting for Clinton

One of the most vulnerable congressional Republicans isn’t ruling out voting for Hillary Clinton in November.

Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a freshman from Florida’s 26th District, has already said he wouldn’t vote for GOP front-runner Donald Trump in the general election. When asked if that meant he would support Clinton, he told CBS Miami, “No, not necessarily.”

Democratic voters told the station that Curbelo has been saying he’d vote for Clinton. But when asked on camera by CBS’s Jim DeFede, Curbelo didn’t go that far.

“A lot of Republicans, Republicans that I know, would vote for Hillary Clinton, instead of Donald Trump. What I’ve said publicly over and over again to the media is ‘I will not support Mr. Trump under any circumstances.’ That does not mean automatically supporting Hillary Clinton,” Curbelo said.

Curbelo told CBS he’d prefer to back a viable third-party candidate.

“I think in every election everyone, Republican, Democrat, independent has to ask themselves: Who is the best candidate for this office?” Curbelo said. “I could never explain to my two little girls that I would support Donald Trump.”

Curbelo is facing a tough re-election this fall. President Barack Obama twice carried his district by single-digit margins, and the 26th District has since become more Democratic due to redistricting.