CNBC host grills anti-Trump Republican on not voting for Harris or Trump: 'It is a binary choice'

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CNBC host puts former GOP senator under pressure for election decision

CNBC's Joe Kernen grilled former Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., for saying he won't vote for Vice President Harris or former President Trump in November.

Former Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania took heat from CNBC host Joe Kernen on Tuesday for defending his decision to not support either presidential candidate this November.

The "Squawk Box" host claimed Toomey was essentially giving a vote to Vice President Kamala Harris because the election was a "binary choice."

"[Anti-Trump Republicans] give me a list of reasons why Kamala Harris would be the worst thing to ever happen, but still won’t vote for Trump. And say something like: ‘Well, it’s not really a vote for Harris, and it’s not really, I just can’t,'" Kernen said. 

"Because it is a binary choice. So a vote not for Trump is a vote for Harris," he told Toomey.

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"Squawk Box" host Joe Kernen argued with former Republican Sen. Pat Toomey over his choice to not vote for Harris or Trump in November. (CNBC/Screenshot)

Toomey, who retired at the end of 2022, said he supported Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, but the former president lost his support after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In 2021, he voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment. Toomey didn't run for re-election in 2022, and his seat was won by Democrat John Fetterman that year.

"[W]hen you lose an election, and you try to overcome the results so that you can stay in power, you lose me. You lose me at that point," Toomey told Kernen.

"So you prefer Kamala Harris?" Kernen asked as the two talked over each other.

"I acknowledge that the outcome is a binary situation, but my choice is not. OK? I have the choice, and you and I are just going to disagree on this," Toomey defended his position.

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Former U.S. Sen. Pat Toomy (R-PA) argued with CNBC host Joe Kernen over not voting for either candidate in the 2024 presidential election. (Getty Images)

Kernen continued to press the Republican, asking if he would support Trump if the election came down to just "one vote."

"It is an acceptable position for me to say that neither of these candidates can be my choice," Toomey replied.

"It’s going to be one or the other," Kernen said, reminding Toomey of the massive tax increases under Harris' economic plan.

Toomey said he wasn't supporting Harris either. He said Harris' choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate was proof the "left wing" was running the Democratic Party.

Republican control of the Senate was "absolutely essential" to thwart the policies a Harris administration would promote, he argued.

The Republican senator said Vice President Harris' vice-presidential pick of Tim Walz showed the left-wing was in charge of the Democratic Party. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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"If the other side runs the table," he said, "then they will repeal the filibuster and they will be dragged by their left wing, which is clearly in charge now. I think Kamala Harris proved that with her vice-presidential election. It’s huge tax increases. It’s probably some version of Medicare for all. It might even get to an expansion of the Supreme Court, because there will be no breaks. But the good news is, I think Republicans are going to take the Senate."

Kernen pushed back, saying that as president, Harris still had leverage to push through her far-left policies through executive orders and appointments.

"Yes, there’s damage that will be done there. However, a Republican Senate can mitigate that also by its power of confirmation, so they have got to hang tough on some of the nominees," Toomey insisted.

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