A freshman lawmaker has become the first sitting senator to break with the GOP line of supporting the Republican presidential nominee, even if that means voting for Donald Trump.

Just ahead of Super Tuesday and amid establishment party fears Trump could build an insurmountable lead in his march toward the nomination, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse has published a blistering open letter explaining his decision not to vote for the billionaire business mogul should he be the party's pick in November.

Sasse, who has shown a propensity for speaking uncomfortable truths about his party, said he would look to find a conservative third option if Trump faces off with Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the general election.

"Mr. Trump's relentless focus is on dividing Americans, and on tearing down rather than building back up this glorious nation," Sasse said in a lengthy post explaining his thinking.

Sasse said his primary concern in deciding whom to support is determining who would best meet the "president's core calling … to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.'"

Trump, he wrote, has repeatedly shown disdain for the First Amendment, promising to sue the press, praising those known for heavy-handed or repressive tactics like Russian President Vladimir Putin and communist China, and attempting to silence those who oppose him.

"I believe a sizable share of Christians – who regard threats against religious liberty as arguably the greatest crisis of our time – are unwilling to support any candidate who does not make a full-throated defense of the First Amendment a first commitment of their candidacy," Sasse wrote.

Pre-empting the argument that refusing to vote for his party's standard-bearer would help deliver the presidency to Democrats, Sasse said that while "voting is usually just about choosing the lesser evil of the most viable candidates … certain moments are larger."

Political parties "are just tools. I was not born Republican. I chose this party, for as long as it is useful," he wrote. "If our Party is no longer working for the things we believe in – like defending the sanctity of life, stopping Obamacare, protecting the Second Amendment, etc. – then people of good conscience should stop supporting that party until it is reformed."

Sasse so far is the highest-ranking Republican to openly break from the party, which will officially name a nominee in July – but he is likely far from alone.

Former GOP New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, for example, already has blasted the Garden State's current chief executive for throwing his support behind the front-runner.

Whitman, who has endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said she was "ashamed" Gov. Chris Christie had decided to back someone "who has employed the kind of hate mongering and racism that Trump has." Christie, while running his own campaign for the nomination, frequently said Trump was unfit to be president.

If Trump were to become the nominee, Whitman said, she would vote for Clinton.





"You'll see a lot of Republicans do that," Whitman said. "We don't want to. But I know I won't vote for Trump."

A #NeverTrump movement, given a boost by conservative activist Erick Erickson and co-opted by the campaign of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, hopes to encourage other Republicans to take similar vows.

And soon, Sasse might not be alone among his colleagues in the upper chamber. Although Trump also got his first Senate endorsement from Alabama lawmaker Jeff Sessions over the weekend, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has reportedly given his conference the green light to "drop [Trump] like a hot rock" if he gets the nomination.

In a remarkable report published over the weekend detailing the party's flailing efforts to stop Trump, The New York Times said McConnell has approved of vulnerable GOP senators openly campaigning against Trump if they thought it might help them win re-election. The story states:



"While still hopeful that Mr. Rubio might prevail, Mr. McConnell has begun preparing senators for the prospect of a Trump nomination, assuring them that, if it threatened to harm them in the general election, they could run negative ads about Mr. Trump to create space between him and Republican senators seeking re-election. Mr. McConnell has raised the possibility of treating Mr. Trump's loss as a given and describing a Republican Senate to voters as a necessary check on a President Hillary Clinton, according to senators at the lunches. He has reminded colleagues of his own 1996 re-election campaign, when he won comfortably amid President Bill Clinton's easy re-election. Of Mr. Trump, Mr. McConnell has said, 'We'll drop him like a hot rock,' according to his colleagues."



Republicans may be right to worry about the implications of a Trump nomination as they attempt to win back the White House and retain a majority in the Senate.

According to a new CNN/ORC national poll released Monday, Trump was leading the field by one of his widest margins yet.

Among registered Republicans and independents leaning that way, 49 percent said they planned to vote for Trump, up 8 points from a month ago and easily besting his remaining opponents: Just 16 percent said they support Rubio, 15 percent back Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 10 percent favor retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and 6 percent like Kasich.