Michigan Rep. Fred Upton joined a growing list of Republican lawmakers this week who are not planning on endorsing Donald Trump for president, further straining relations between Trump and the GOP establishment.
Upton, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he would not endorse the presumptive Republican nominee because he believed he had gone “off track”.
“I’m going to stay in my lane,” Upton told radio station WHTC on Tuesday.
“There’s a lot of things that folks are not happy about with either of these two candidates,” he said, adding, “Don’t look for me to endorse anyone in this race probably the rest of the year.”
Upton’s decision not to endorse Trump follows a similar announcement from Michigan’s Republican governor, Rick Snyder, on June 6. Other prominent Republicans distanced themselves from their party’s presumptive presidential nominee, including Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.