An aide for Mike Pence said the governor supports all sitting GOP members of Congress in their reelection bids. | AP Photo Pence campaign says he endorses McCain, was misrepresented A Pence aide says he also supports Kelly Ayotte and all other sitting GOP lawmakers in their primaries.

Mike Pence endorses Sens. John McCain and Kelly Ayotte in their primary races, a campaign aide told POLITICO, pushing back on reports that the Indiana governor had declined to offer his endorsement for the two Republican senators.

Pence was reported to have declined to endorse McCain and Ayotte Thursday after comments made to reporters on Thursday on his press plane.


“I look forward to supporting Republican candidates in the days and weeks ahead all over the country,” Pence told the reporters after being asked if he will endorse McCain and Ayotte, according to an NBC transcript. “To restore our country … we need new leadership.”

Donald Trump, the presidential candidate who picked Pence as his running mate, this week declined to endorse McCain or Ayotte, harshly criticizing both.

But Pence's campaign says his remarks were never meant to imply that Pence did not support the two, a Pence aide said. The reference to "new leadership," the aide said, was about Trump and Pence taking the White House.

The aide added that Pence supports all sitting GOP members of Congress in their primaries.

The news comes a day after Pence broke with his running mate in announcing his support for Speaker Paul Ryan.

Both McCain and Ayotte have said they will support Trump, but both have been less than enthusiastic in their support and have hit him for controversial statements.

Soon after Pence's remarks were publicized, McCain’s top primary opponent, Kelli Ward, blasted out a statement touting what she, too, saw as a non-endorsement. “Donald Trump and Mike Pence recognize that we cannot win Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat in November with McCain,” she said in the statement.

What was initially interpreted as a non-endorsement from Pence outraged some McCain supporters.

“I remember traveling with John McCain to Indiana to campaign for, several times, for a desperate Mike Pence. Shame on him,” said former top McCain advisor John Weaver on Twitter.

He then followed up: “In 2000, Pence was about as desperate a politician as one could find. McCain came in for him and made a difference. I was there.”