GOP Summer of Chaos: Infighting Continues Escalating in GOP Senate Primaries

This week, Senate Republicans’ “intraparty rifts that defined the 2022 cycle and contributed to the GOP’s loss[es]” were on full display in races across the map.

• In West Virginia and Montana: The Daily Beast and Roll Call reported that conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein maxed out his direct donations to Alex Mooney in West Virginia and Matt Rosendale in Montana, with “millions he can still pour into super PACs and other outside backers.” The Uihlein donations “suggest the messy intraparty rifts that defined the 2022 cycle and contributed to the GOP’s loss of control in the chamber remain in play.”

• In Nevada: Jim Marchant attacked Mitch McConnell-backed candidate Sam Brown for being “another Republican establishment’s choice” and declared the race to be “MAGA vs. establishment.” Marchant, who has never lost a Republican primary, bragged about being a “Trump-supporting, MAGA movement Republican,” while Brown has faced doubts from Nevada Republicans, refused to answer questions on whether or not he will support Trump in the presidential primary, and tried to paper over his own support for Trump’s Big Lie.
  

• In Ohio: Frank LaRose launched his candidacy, escalating the Ohio Senate “slugfest” Republicans were hoping to avoid. Within hours of LaRose’s announcement, Bernie Moreno attacked him, calling LaRose “a true career politician.” LaRose fired back, calling Matt Dolan and Moreno “insufficiently conservative.” Dolan’s campaign then attacked LaRose for backtracking on his praise for Dolan once he announced his candidacy, insisting “that on any given day, it’s unclear which version of Frank LaRose is actually going to show up for work.” Read more about the ongoing slugfest here.
  

• In West Virginia: Alex Mooney attacked Jim Justice for the “litany of scandals following him, including the reputation of a businessman who doesn’t pay his bills,” citing recent reporting detailing “Justice has been dogged by allegations that his family businesses haven’t paid their debts, including fines for environmental violations at their coal plants.” Mooney also called Justice a  “deadbeat” and “swamp member” who “has broken nearly every promise he made to West Virginia” and “will bend the rules to accommodate himself and leave Americans out to dry” in the U.S. Senate. 

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