Dana Ferguson

dferguson@argusleader.com

A new nominee is the key to defeating Hillary Clinton in November, Gov. Dennis Daugaard said Wednesday, but if none emerges he'll vote for Donald Trump on election day.

The comments come days after Daugaard on Twitter called on Trump to drop out of the race so that vice presidential candidate Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana could become the party's nominee, a scenario that appears increasingly unlikely.

“I believe the point in this country in terms of this presidential election should be to defeat Hillary Clinton.” Daugaard told Argus Leader Media. “Trump’s outrageous comments and his personal statements were out of line, certainly. My hope is that he would see that and step down in favor of Mike Pence."

Daugaard and Lt. Gov. Matt Michels joined Sen. John Thune and dozens of Republicans nationally in pulling their endorsements of Trump over the weekend. Their calls for Trump to withdraw followed the release Friday of a 2005 video in which Trump made vulgar comments about women.

Trump apologized and in a debate Sunday said he'd bragged about kissing and groping women against their will but didn't act on those comments.

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In the days following the release of the video comments, South Dakotans have voiced frustration with Republican governor and the state's senior senator on social media, saying they didn't have the authority to make anti-Trump comments.

Daugaard defended the comments Wednesday, saying he had the right to express his frustrations with the nominee.

“I’m a voter like everyone else, and I can express my concerns about the candidates,” he said.

Voters also expressed their fear early this week that Daugaard and Michels, two of the state's three Republican electors, would back another candidate on election night.

South Dakota electors aren't bound to support the candidate who wins the state's popular vote, but Daugaard said he does not plan to cast a rogue electoral vote.

Daugaard encouraged voters, even those who are disenchanted or disappointed with the options, to cast votes for the Republican nominee.

“We have two very flawed candidates,” Daugaard said. “But I don’t know that our country can handle another four or eight years of what we’ve seen under Obama.”

Since calling for Trump to drop out of the race Saturday, Thune has said he'll vote for the nominee despite his “reservations about the way (Trump) has conducted his campaign and himself.”

“He has a lot of work to do, I think, to win this election,” Thune told the Rapid City Journal. “But, I’m certainly not going to vote for Hillary Clinton.”

In the days following the surfacing of the Trump recordings, Rep. Kristi Noem has said she also plans to back Trump at the polls. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., has remained silent on the statements though his spokeswoman on Saturday said the comments were "deplorable and indefensible."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow Dana Ferguson on Twitter @bydanaferguson, call (605) 370-2493 or email dferguson@argusleader.com

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