Editor,

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Bryant has said that he supports a third-party candidate, and I am going to follow his lead.

However, there is a difference between me and Bill Bryant. Bryant, only after making it through the primary election, decided to come out as a member of the “never-Trump” crowd, while I am a Trump supporter.

Bryant claimed to be running under the Republican tent, but his “never-Trump”-like statement betrays the majority of Republicans who have propelled Donald Trump to the position he now holds as the Republican candidate for United States president.

When party candidates break ranks with the majority of the people in their party, it is they who have left the people, not we who have left them.

I have given money to numerous Republican presidential candidates this year, including Cruz, Fiorina, Paul, Carson, and, lately, Trump.

Now, the so-called Republican candidate for governor of Washington state has chosen to undermine my ongoing Republican-unifying efforts.

Donald Trump has been, for a majority of Republicans, the most unifying candidate in ages, yet a small number of some self-appointed Republican leaders/elected officials/candidates continue to live in a world where they think that they are the voice of the Republican Party and the rest of us had just better “toe the line.”

We’ve seen our share of such back-stabbing before in Island County — e.g. Jill Johnson shortly after taking office four years ago. Now, Bill Bryant joins my unfortunately growing list of RINOs.

William Burnett

Oak Harbor