Ahead Of Arizona Rally, “Kingmaker” Trump Forces GOP Senate Candidates To “Prove Their Loyalty”

Ahead of Donald Trump’s rally in Arizona – where Republicans are locked in a vicious Senate primary fight –  a series of reports have highlighted how Trump’s “focus has turned to the contest for the Senate” where he is creating chaos, “struggling to clear” GOP primary fields, “escalat[ing]” GOP infighting, elevating flawed candidates, and forcing candidates to “prove their loyalty.”

See for yourself:

In Arizona:

• Just last night, Trump issued a statement attacking “Weak RINO” Doug Ducey “being pushed by old crow Mitch McConnell” to enter the already messy race.

• Trump has “muscle[d] his way into” the GOP Senate primary, making the Big Lie a “purity test” for every GOP candidate.

• The state has become “ground zero” for his election lies – but even Republicans are calling it an “albatross around the neck for every Republican running.”

• The “knives are already out” for Brnovich, who Trump has repeatedly attacked over his failure to act on false claims of election fraud, while a super PAC supporting Blake Masters “blast[ed]” Brnovich with TV ads for failing to stand with Trump. Brnovich has done a complete about-face, moving to investigate Arizona’s 2020 elections and even threatening to withhold public safety funds from Maricopa County.

In Georgia:

• Trump has sparked a “political civil war,” creating “a nightmare scenario for Republicans.”

• His hand-picked Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, failed to clear the field, and the primary fight “escalate[d] after Trump’s endorsement.”

• For instance, Republican Gary Black has called out Walker for failing to show up and meet with Georgia voters, saying that “there is a problem with Herschel that his team does not want us to know about” and comparing Walker winning the primary to “an extinction-level event.”

In Nevada:

• Adam Laxalt has fully committed himself to Trump’s Big Lie – leading efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Nevada and even planning preemptive election litigation to challenge the 2022 election if he loses.

In New Hampshire:

•  The GOP’s massive failure to recruit Governor Sunnunu into the race “underscores how Trump has reshaped the GOP’s battle for the Senate,” and left Republicans with “b-tier” candidates in the Granite State.

• Republicans expect Trump willplay a key role in deciding the Republican nominee — even though the “Trump element in the party doesn’t have the status or capability to win the general election.”

In North Carolina:

• The “nasty” Republican primary “tests Trump’s sway over the GOP.”

• Club for Growth, which is backing Trump-endorsed candidate Ted Budd in the race, has “peppered the airwaves” with ads targeting McCrory as a “Trump-hater, liberal faker” and continues to attack McCrory with “the kind of ferocity that’s usually saved for a general election.”

• McCrory has hit Trump-backed candidate Budd, questioning Trump’s endorsement and suggesting “the President got bad advice in picking a Washington D.C. insider.”

In Ohio:

• The “frenzy” to land Trump’s endorsement has fueled “an increasingly nasty GOP Senate primary battle” that “hinges on loyalty to Trump.”

• JD Vance has faced a wave of attacks from his primary opponents and from the Mandel-backing Club for Growth over his past criticisms of Trump.

• Most recently Club for Growth went up with an ad attacking Jane Timkin after she previously defended Rep. Anthony Gonzalez’s vote to impeach Trump.

And in Pennsylvania:

• Republican candidates are scrambling to “MAGA-proof” their campaigns, “outdoing each other to prove their loyalty to Trump” as they fight for his endorsement.

• Connecticut Hedge Fund Executive David McCormick has come under attack for his past remarks in which he said he “wasn’t a Trump supporter” and that the former president bore “a lot of responsibility” for the January 6th insurrection. Opponents have slammed McCormick for his anti-‘America First’ record, calling him a “friend of china” who has “outsourced Pittsburgh jobs.”

• Allies of Mehmet Oz and other GOP candidates are “going after McCormick for his past,” calling anti-Trump remarks “a political non-starter within the Republican primary.” 

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