Tenn. lawmaker casts vote early for Trump

Donald Trump secured his fourth congressional endorsement on Monday from Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.), who represents a state in the critical Super Tuesday contests this week.

{mosads}DesJarlais said in a statement that he cast his vote early for Trump ahead of Tuesday’s primary in Tennessee.

“While there are certainly things that I admire and respect in each of the remaining candidates, I believe Donald Trump is the candidate best poised to make America great again. As such, I was proud to cast my vote for Mr. Trump and look forward to supporting the eventual Republican nominee whomever that might be,” DesJarlais said.

Recent polls have been showing Trump leading the GOP pack in the Volunteer State.

After holding out for months, Capitol Hill Republicans have begun to publicly flock to Trump in the aftermath of the real estate mogul’s victory in three of four early-voting states so far, and his polling leads in many of Tuesday’s slate of contests. 

A day after Trump won the Nevada caucuses last week, GOP Reps. Chris Collins (N.Y.) and Duncan Hunter (Calif.) both endorsed him. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) also backed Trump over the weekend ahead of his state’s Super Tuesday primary.

Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) later Monday became the fifth lawmaker to endorse Trump. He told Politico that Trump is “the man for the unprotected … not the protected, not for the Wall Street people, not for the DC insiders, but for the hard-working taxpayers.”

Updated 6:43 p.m.