WASHINGTON — Fearing that a seat crucial to winning a Senate majority could slip away, the national Republican establishment on Monday unleashed a furious campaign to drive Representative Todd Akin, the party’s newly selected nominee, out of the race against Missouri’s Democratic senator.
Orlin Wagner/Associated Press
Representative Todd Akin spoke with reporters at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalla, Mo., last week.
Amid an uproar over provocative comments on rape and abortion that Mr. Akin made in an interview broadcast on Sunday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee declared that it would withdraw financial and organizational support for Mr. Akin, including $5 million in advertising already reserved for the fall. In the interview, Mr. Akin said victims of “legitimate rape” rarely got pregnant.
Crossroads GPS, a Republican advocacy group that had already spent more than $5 million to weaken Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, considered the Senate’s most endangered incumbent, announced that it was withdrawing from the state.
At the same time, Republican candidates like Mitt Romney and Senator Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts either called for Mr. Akin to step aside or strongly indicated that he should. In a radio interview, the conservative host Sean Hannity pleaded with Mr. Akin to drop out. “Sometimes an election is bigger than one person,” he said.
But Mr. Akin said on Monday that he would not drop out. “I’m not a quitter,” he said on Mike Huckabee’s radio program. “My belief is we’re going to take this thing forward, and by the grace of God, we’re going to win this race.”
Mr. Akin also backtracked on his comments. “Rape is never legitimate,” he said. “It’s an evil act that’s committed by violent predators. I used the wrong words in the wrong way.”
He added: “I also know that people do become pregnant from rape. I didn’t mean to imply that that wasn’t the case.”
But Senator John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the Senate campaign committee, personally asked Mr. Akin to step aside, a senior Republican Senate campaign aide said.
“Over the next 24 hours, Congressman Akin should carefully consider what is best for him, his family, the Republican Party and the values that he cares about and has fought for throughout his career in public service,” Mr. Cornyn said in a statement.
President Obama, after weeks of steering clear of the White House press corps, stepped to the lectern at the White House to weigh in. “Rape is rape,” he declared.
The furor over Mr. Akin’s comments showed the sensitivity that social issues still hold for Republicans as they seek to narrow their deficit with women ahead of the November elections, even as Democrats work to showcase what they portray as extreme positions by Republican candidates on issues important to women.
The strong response also indicated the centrality that Ms. McCaskill’s seat has assumed in the Republican game plan to retake the Senate in November. Republicans learned a difficult lesson in 2010, when impolitic conservative nominees in Delaware, Nevada and Colorado fumbled Senate seats that Republicans had counted on and allowed the Democrats to retain control of the Senate. Besides the Nebraska seat of Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat who is retiring, no seat was considered a safer take-away than the one in Missouri as the Republicans look for a net gain of four to win Senate control.
Republican campaign officials said the coordinated effort to push Mr. Akin out of the race was in part a result of a tight deadline that the party faces. If Mr. Akin drops out by 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Missouri Republican central committee will be free to choose a replacement for the November ballot. He still could quit anytime before Sept. 25, but if he waits, his withdrawal could be challenged by the Missouri secretary of state, Robin Carnahan, a Democrat. Also, once the statewide ballot is printed, probably early next month, Mr. Akin would be liable for paying for any reprinting of the ballot if he withdrew.
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