Pennsylvania Representative Tom Marino Endorses Donald Trump

Rep. Tom Marino, a Republican from the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania, is jumping on the Trump train.

Marino on Monday became the fifth sitting member of Congress to publicly throw his support to Donald Trump, as the Republican front-runner rolls toward Super Tuesday. In an exclusive interview Monday with POLITICO, Marino, a former prosecutor, said Trump has “overwhelming support” in his district because “he’s 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.”

The congressman called endorsing Trump “one of my life-changing moments” — along with quitting his job at 30 to go to college and law school, adopting his children, and deciding to run for Congress in 2010.

The Pennsylvanian shrugged off suggestions that Trump would damage the Republican Party's electoral prospects in November, or that Trump's own recent statements would damage him. “There will be many people now who say that if Trump’s [the nominee], I’m not going to vote," Marino said. "And that’s just emotion at this point.”

“Donald Trump is saying what the voters agree on and what the voters are feeling,” Marino said, adding that voters are angry at the political system generally.

"How’s it going for us now?" Marino asked rhetorically. "Over the last 20 years, over the last Republican and Democrat presidents, senators as presidents, governors as president, career politicians as president."

Marino said he wasn't courted by Trump or anyone else, nor is he looking for anything from Trump. “No one’s courted me," he said. "I’m just a third term congressman from rural Pennsylvania.”

He joins Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter (Calif.) and Chris Collins (N.Y.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.) in officially endorsing Trump, while Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) declared Monday that he voted for Trump in his state's primary.

Read More at: Politico