On Nov. 8, Donald Trump handily won Texas’ 38 electoral votes in his unforeseen presidential victory over Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.
On Dec. 19, when the Electoral College meets to officially vote, Texas elector Christopher Suprun will ignore his state’s voting results by refusing to cast his vote for the president-elect.
In an op-ed for the New York Times, the former firefighter cited Trump's lack of qualifications as a major reason behind his decision:
Fifteen years ago, as a firefighter, I was part of the response to the Sept. 11 attacks against our nation. That attack and this year's election may seem unrelated, but for me the relationship becomes clearer every day.
George W. Bush is an imperfect man, but he led us through the tragic days following the attacks. His leadership showed that America was a great nation. That was also the last time I remember the nation united. I watch Mr. Trump fail to unite America and drive a wedge between us.
Suprun, who urged electors to cast their votes for a more qualified candidate like Ohio Gov. John Kasich, went on to call out Trump for everything from his Twitter beef with “Saturday Night Live” to his lack of foreign policy expertise. He argued that the Electoral College was set up for the very reason of preventing candidates like Trump from becoming president:
The United States was set up as a republic. Alexander Hamilton provided a blueprint for states' votes. Federalist 68 argued that an Electoral College should determine if candidates are qualified, not engaged in demagogy, and independent from foreign influence. Mr. Trump shows us again and again that he does not meet these standards. Given his own public statements, it isn't clear how the Electoral College can ignore these issues, and so it should reject him.
Suprun is not the only Texas elector to publicly refuse to vote for Trump. Back in late November, Art Sisneros wrote a blog post stating his decision to resign as elector rather than cast his vote for the president-elect.
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