Elections 2016: Congressman Frank LoBiondo Votes For Donald Trump After All [UPDATED]

U.S. Rep Frank LoBiondo (R-2) has changed his mind.

Last month, LoBiondo said he would not vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump after a tape leaked that documented Trump’s graphically vulgar comments about women.

He said he would instead write in Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, for president.

But when push came to shove, LoBiondo backed off this statement and voted for Trump, the Courier Post reports. He said he believes Democrat Hillary Clinton is “100 percent unacceptable for president.”

“I will not vote for a candidate who boasts of sexual assault,” LoBiondo previously said of the candidate he ultimately voted for. “It is my conclusion that Mr. Trump is unfit to be President.”

LoBiondo may not have been alone in his determination that although "Mr. Trump is unfit to be President," Hillary Clinton is "100 percent unacceptable for president."

Trump went on to win the presidency early Wednesday morning when he broke the 270 electoral college threshold with a Wisconsin win.

Trump's win was a sharp rebuke of the U.S. political establishment and even Trump's own Republican party, much of which abandoned him after he seemed incapable of stopping himself from insulting women, blacks, Latinos and even the handicapped. Some, such as Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, couldn’t even bring themselves to utter Trump’s name, referring to him instead as “our party’s nominee.”

Trump’s path to victory, almost unthinkable when he opened his campaign with a barrage of insults against the increasingly powerful bloc of Latino immigrants, was cleared with exceptionally strong support from white, working-class voters in the growing exurbs and rural farm towns in most every region of the nation.

He also won with the support of some who previously said they would never support him, such as LoBiondo. While some Republicans left the ballot blank rather than vote for Trump, others may have felt the need to make the connection with Trump to appeal to their voters.

LoBiondo governs a heavily Republican area, and was in his own election battle on Tuesday.

He ran for re-election against Democrat Dave Cole, Libertarian John Ordille, and a host of independent candidates, including Ocean City resident Steven Fenichel.

LoBiondo won the district, which covers all of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties, as well as parts of Ocean, Gloucester, Camden and Burlington, with 59 percent of the vote, according to the unofficial results posted on nj.com. Cole was second with 37 percent of the vote, while Ordille, Fenichel and James Keenan each won 1 percent.

Patch file photo