Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada finally revealed he voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
Heller, a vocal critic of the president, told The Nevada Independent in a short statement that “Yes, I voted for Donald Trump.”
The news may come as a surprise given that just one month before the election Heller told reporters he was 99 percent sure he would oppose the GOP nominee.
The Nevada Republican is up for reelection in 2018 and is getting primaried by businessman Danny Tarkanian.
The acknowledgement follows nearly a year and a half of criticism and cautious public statements made by Heller about Trump throughout the 2016 election. […]
Heller also donated campaign donations from Trump to charity in 2015, and said during the campaign he was “vehemently opposed” to Trump, whom he described as a man that “denigrates human beings.”
But unlike several of his Senate colleagues, Heller never fully closed the door on supporting Trump, and had kept his presidential vote a secret until now. He told a Reno Gazette-Journal reporter in December that “I don’t think anybody cares” how he voted. [...]
The revelation comes on the same day that Tarkanian’s campaign unveiled an attack website highlighting many of Heller’s cautious statements toward Trump, and asking readers to vote in a poll as to whether Heller is “100% Never Trumper,” “99% Never Trumper,” or “Almost Positive Never Trump.”
Despite his criticisms of the president, Heller votes in line with Trump’s position 89.6 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.
“When President Trump or my party is right for Nevada, I’ll support them,” he said in April. “But when they’re wrong for Nevada, I’ll try to change their minds. I’ve always put Nevada first.”
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