Former Vice President Dick Cheney and former GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole have said they’ll support the GOP’s 2016 nominee, putting two more feathers in Donald Trump’s cap.
“I plan to attend the RNC convention in Cleveland to show my support for our party and our ticket, as I have done my entire life. We must unite as a party to defeat Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump is our party’s presumptive nominee and our best chance at taking back the White House this November,” he said.
That’s two pick-ups for Trump as he tries to rally the GOP’s older business-minded establishment around his new populist-minded GOP.
So far, numerous establishment GOP politicians — including House Speaker Paul Ryan — have kept their distance from Trump’s bandwagon. Others, such as immigration-advocates Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Jeb Bush, say they won’t support Trump.
Many GOP leaders have only said they’ll back the nominee — likely Trump — but a growing number have backed Trump by name. They include roughly 20 representatives, two Senators and eight governors. The governors are from Indiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Florida, New Jersey and Maine.