In Pennsylvania, the Ice Beneath Donald Trump Is Cracking

The first sitting members of Congress to back Trump in 2016 are now urging Governor DeSantis to run for the GOP nomination in 2024. How many others are following the same path?

AP/Matt Rourke
President Trump, right, and a GOP Senate candidate, Representative Lou Barletta, during a rally at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. AP/Matt Rourke

PITTSBURGH — In 2016, Representatives Lou Barletta and Tom Marino, two Pennsylvania Republicans, became the first sitting members of Congress to endorse then-candidate Donald Trump for president. Their colleagues in Washington gave them the side-eye. Mr. Barletta told me at the time that when that didn’t work, their colleagues tried to talk them out of it. 

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