Sen. Joni Ernst would not explicitly say she will accept the results of the election — but said she hopes that she can. | AP Photo Ernst and Young struggle to account for Trump

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Republican elected officials like Sen. Joni Ernst and Rep. Todd Young are having a tough time explaining Donald Trump's statement that he may not accept the results of the presidential election.

On one hand, they don't want to undercut a Republican presidential nominee likely to win the conservative state of Indiana. But on the other, they don't want to be seen as endorsing Trump's conspiratorial claims that the election is "rigged" in places like Indiana, where Young could actually win a close Senate race without having to embrace electoral conspiracy theories.


That leaves them in a bit of rhetorical purgatory, forced to respond to Trump but unwilling to pick a fight with him. Young said Thursday there could be a "psychological rigging of the election" — meaning Indiana voters don't show up to the polls on Election Day. But he declined to explicitly rebuke or defend Trump's refusal to back the election results.

"The only way this election will be rigged is if Hoosiers don’t show up and vote, if those who are upset with the current course of the country don’t show up to vote for change in the election. Then they will have rigged the election themselves," Young said. "After Election Day, we respect the results of an election — assuming the election is not very close and there’s no need for a recount — but we respect the results of an election."

Pressed on whether Trump's rhetoric is bad for democracy, Young said he would say things "differently" but that "decent people" like Young and his wife are supporting Trump and his vision of change for the country. Ernst, an Iowan and a rising star in the party who is campaigning on behalf of Young in his Senate race against former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said that "millions of Americans" feel the same way that Trump does.

She declined to defend or support Trump's refusal, saying she can't speak for the GOP nominee.

"I hope that the election is fair, I don’t want to make any accusatory statements out there and I hope that if it is fair, that we accept that," Ernst said. "He’s trying to represent the majority of Americans out there. My hopes are that we do have a fair election."

Later on Thursday, a spokeswoman for Ernst said that "she believes that while we must always protect against voter fraud, there is no evidence of any effort to rig this election."

Both said they missed Wednesday's debate anyway. Ernst said she was on a flight to Indiana — and Young said he was reading.

Everett reported from Washington.