GOP Civil War Intensifies In Senate Battlegrounds As State Republicans Face Increasing Divisions & Self-Inflicted Turmoil

Across the country in Senate battlegrounds, Republicans are united by one shared reality: they’re facing nasty and divisive infighting. The growing turmoil plaguing GOP state parties in key states comes as Republicans are still reeling from major election losses and a brewing post-impeachment trial civil war is poised to destabilize them even more. The fractures among state Republicans are the latest warning sign illustrating “the difficulty Republican candidates will face in retaining the support of a Trump-adoring GOP base while appealing to a broader electorate with whom Trump is unpopular.”

• In Arizona, the state GOP under Kelli Ward “has avoided any introspection” and is “lashing out at its own members” — including censuring the sitting Republican governor and a former Republican U.S. Senator. Already “several thousand Arizona Republicans have abandoned the party.” The former Republican state House speaker says “the craziness from the state Republican Party… it’s pretty embarrassing,” and the Arizona GOP’s former executive director called the party’s recent actions “foolish” and “self-destructive.”

• In Georgia, a “showdown is brewing” as Republicans remain deeply divided over who will lead the state party “after the GOP suffered crushing defeats in the November elections and January Senate runoffs to ascendant state Democrats.” One former Republican candidate described the numerous conflicts as “like a Jenga game where someone has pulled out the wrong block…It’s unstable and a mess.”

• In Pennsylvania, the state Republican Party is “seriously splintered,” and one GOP committee member candidly admitted: “We’re in a mess.” Retiring Senator Pat Toomey is facing “backlash” for his vote to convict Trump, while 12,000 Republican voters have changed their party registration amid the fallout from January 6th.

• In New Hampshire, the state GOP’s recent annual meeting ended in total chaos, and a challenger to the Chair called the mess “the direct result of failed leadership.”

• In North Carolina, Republicans have turned on their senior senator, attacking and censuring retiring Senator Richard Burr for holding Trump accountable for inciting a mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol. Senator Lindsey Graham all but endorsed Lara Trump for the Republican nomination in response, while current Republican Senate candidate Mark Walker directly attacked Burr for his vote and not being a “true conservative”  –– a preview of the messy primary battles to come. In the midst of the chaos, North Carolina Republicans “are leaving their party in larger numbers.”

• In Wisconsin, local GOP figures agree the party is “split” and “there’s a chance of a real fracture coming.”

And it’s going to get worse: earlier, former President Donald Trump harshly attacked Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and pledged to “back primary rivals” in 2022, exacerbating a feud that GOP strategists say is “a direct threat” to the party’s chances. New polling finds that “Republican voters have taken a dimmer view of most of their senators” as McConnell has sought to distance the party from Trump after the election. With the Senate GOP leadership’s base support cratering, Washington Republicans are now facing the looming threat of ugly primaries that “yield candidates or divisions that squander otherwise winnable races.”

Take a look at the mess plaguing state Republicans in 2022 Senate battlegrounds:

• AP: Trump-McConnell feud threatens Republicans’ path to power
• Washington Post: Republicans feud over loyalty to Trump, and risk midterm election impact.
• CNN: Fallout from Trump’s acquittal exposes deepening rift within GOP
• Commentary Magazine: State Level Republican Parties Have Gone Crazy
• New York Times: ‘There’s Nothing Left’: Why Thousands of Republicans Are Leaving the Party
• NBC News: GOP registration drop after Capitol attack is part of larger trend
• POLITICO: Trump blows up the Arizona GOP on his way out
• CNN: Arizona GOP censures Flake, Ducey and McCain, signaling a fractured party in a key swing state
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A showdown is brewing over who will lead Georgia GOP after crushing election defeats
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ‘A mess.’ Georgia politicians prepare for brutal 2022 battles
• Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Pennsylvania Republicans weigh the party’s future post-Trump
• POLITICO: Pennsylvania GOP pledges full allegiance to Trump
• USA Today: Sen. Pat Toomey faces censure over impeachment vote: ‘We did not send him there to do the right thing’
• Philly Inquirer: Pat Toomey is facing a Republican backlash in Pennsylvania for voting to convict Donald Trump
• WMUR: After 4-hour Zoom chaos, NHGOP adjourns annual meeting with no vote on chair, vice chair
• News & Observer: NC Republicans censure Burr for Trump guilty vote, previewing fight over GOP’s future
• News & Observer (Editorial): In one state, the GOP accepted its senator’s vote of conscience. It wasn’t North Carolina.
• News & Observer: NC Republicans are leaving their party in larger numbers after Capitol riot
• The Cap Times: Wisconsin Republicans grapple with state of party post-Trump

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