SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois Republicans are rallying rallied around first-term U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk after a top fundraiser briefly suggested that the moderate elected to Barack Obama’s former seat should abandon his re-election bid due to a recent series of public gaffes.
Kirk was widely criticized last month after being heard on an open microphone calling South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham a “bro with no ho” because the GOP presidential contender is unmarried. Last week, Kirk told a radio station that Obama was trying “to get nukes to Iran.”
Chicago businessman and donor Ronald Gidwitz suggested Kirk should drop out of the race to do no further damage to the state party, then later recanted.
But former Illinois Republican chairman Pat Brady urged the party to “rally around” Kirk.