Pa. Republican Gold Star Mom Says She Will Vote for Clinton

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, speaks during a rally coinciding with Pearl Harbor Day at Patriots Point aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Monday, Dec. 7, 2015.

After a barrage of inflammatory statements about the military this week, people are starting to jump off the Trump bandwagon. One of those is Susan Loudon, from Brockport, Pa. A registered Republican and Gold Star mother, Loudon said yesterday in a call with reporters that she is supporting Hillary Clinton.

While she is registered as a Republican, Loudon made clear that she is not a “push-button Republican,” and that she considers herself “first and foremost and American.” 

She said that this is why she found Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric so troubling. She is the mother of 2nd Lt. Christopher Loudon, who was killed in Iraq.

Loudon and her husband are one of many military families that have signed a letter denouncing Trump, including Celeste Zappala, a local Gold Star mother who recently spoke to Philadelphia magazine.

Additionally, Loudon spoke out against a recent incident where Trump was presented with a purple heart by a veteran. “Maybe Donald Trump would like to read my son’s autopsy report to know exactly what happened to him to get his purple heart,” she said.

Loudon’s statement comes after a group of local veterans denounced Trump’s remarks and made public their support of Clinton.

Donald Trump campaigned throughout the region Tuesday, with stops in Mechanicsburg, Ohio and Northern Virginia.