"I intend to support the nominee of our party and if anything should change then I'll let you know,” South Dakota Sen. John Thune said of Donald Trump. | Getty Republicans who swore off Trump pledge to still vote for him

A growing stream of congressional Republicans are performing an Olympic-level political contortion over Donald Trump: They're still pledging to back their nominee for president, even after calling on him to step aside.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the third-ranking Senate Republican, said in a local interview late Tuesday night that he plans to vote for the GOP’s nominee — a stance that would seem to contradict the senator’s anti-Trump statement from Saturday, when he called for Trump to step aside and let Mike Pence assume the top of the ticket.


Thune said in the interview that he still believes Trump leaving the race is the “best solution,” yet it’s unlikely to occur with so few days left before Election Day. Trump, now more defiant than ever against the Republican establishment, has stated flatly and stubbornly that he will not withdraw from the race.

"I intend to support the nominee of our party and if anything should change then I'll let you know,” Thune told KELO News in Sioux Falls, S.D. “But he’s got a lot of work to do, I think, if he’s going to have any hope of winning this election.”

He stressed that he would not vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Among congressional GOP leaders, Thune had taken the most aggressive posture against Trump in the wake of the video disclosed Friday by the Washington Post that showed Trump boasting about grabbing women without their consent. Republican leadership on Capitol Hill roundly condemned Trump’s offensive remarks, yet none had withdrawn their support — except for Thune. That was until he signaled support for the GOP nominee on Tuesday.

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) was forced to explain that she was still supporting the Trump-Pence ticket, although she said in no uncertain terms Saturday that Trump should withdraw from the ticket and let Pence take over.

On Tuesday, Fischer acknowledged that Trump wouldn’t budge and added, “I respect his decision.”

"I plan to vote for Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence on Nov. 8," she said on Nebraska's KLIN. "I put out a statement ... with regard to Mr. Trump's comments. I felt they were disgusting. I felt they were unacceptable and I never said I was not voting for our Republican ticket."

In the Colorado Senate race, long-shot Republican challenger Darryl Glenn declared that Trump, with his predatory comments toward women, was “simply disqualified from being commander-in-chief.”

But now, Glenn — trying to unseat the heavily favored Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) — is trying to wiggle out of that stance.

"I have an open invitation to Donald Trump to meet with me this week to give him the opportunity to share his heart and win back my vote,” Glenn tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

Though the political furor over the leaked Trump video continues to rage this week, the walk-back coming from some corners of the Republican Party is understandable considering the broad base support Trump enjoys, even as the graphically lewd audio could threaten some down-ballot GOP candidates — and potentially help tilt control of Congress to Democrats.

A POLITICO/Morning Consult poll of GOP voters taken in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s remarks found that 74 percent of Republicans surveyed believe party officials should stick by Trump, while only 13 percent said they should abandon the nominee.

The Trump two-step isn’t limited to senators and those vying to join the chamber. In the House, Rep. Scott Garrett, a conservative Republican in northern New Jersey and one of the most vulnerable incumbents this cycle said in a statement through his campaign that he was “appalled” by Trump’s crude comments and said he believes Pence would be the “best nominee for the Republican Party to defeat Hillary Clinton.”

His campaign now says he will continue to support Trump — and said that position is not a contradiction.

“He has always believed that [Democratic nominee] Hillary Clinton is not the candidate whose leadership and policies are right for America,” Garrett campaign manager Sarah Neibart told PolitickerNJ. “Donald Trump remains the nominee of the Republican Party, and Rep. Garrett has always said he will vote for the Republican Party nominee.”

Much further down south in Alabama, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) also declared Saturday that he found Trump’s remarks “disgraceful” and said it is “now clear Donald Trump is not fit to be President of the United States.” He, too, wanted Pence to take over.

Still, he is still backing him for president. “I pledged to support the Republican ticket, and that has not changed,” Byrne said on Twitter this week.