GOP Summer of Chaos: Q2 Marks 90 Days of Senate GOP Infighting

As the second quarter ends, Senate Republicans have spent 90 days gripped by infighting and chaotic primaries. Former President Trump is “sabotaging” their races and recruitment, Republican candidates are weaponizing their opponents’ criticism of Trump against each other, and the primary fights are continuing to escalate across the Senate battleground map. See for yourself: 

• Washington Post: Trump inspired Republican Senate candidates create early tensions over direction of the party. “The early entrance of so many zealously pro-Trump candidates — all of whom have endorsed Trump’s bogus claims of rampant election fraud — is an early challenge for top Republican leaders in Washington.”

• New York Times: Republicans Fear Flawed Candidates Could Imperil Key Senate Seats. “But in the Trump era, the pursuit of his endorsement is all-consuming, and absent Mr. Trump’s blessing, there is no mechanism for clearing a cluttered primary field […] A combative Senate primary season is in store for the 2022 midterms, when Republicans who hope to regain the majority face a difficult map.”

• CNN: Senate Republicans already have a Donald Trump problem. “A) Trumpism isn’t going anywhere and b) it’s going to complicate Republican attempts to retake control of the Senate next November.”

• CNN: Donald Trump’s fingerprints are all over the 2022 Senate fight. “Even though we are only a few months into the 2022 election cycle, Trump has already made clear that he wants to — and will — play a central role in selecting Republican candidates. And that his choices will be based far less on which candidate has the best chance to win and more on who agrees with him most often.”

• The Hill: Trump digs in on attacks against Republican leaders. “Trump’s vow to support primary challenges to GOP incumbents who have broken with him sets the stage for a series of bitter and uncertain nominating contests that will pit the former president’s political operation against that of the Republican Party.”

• POLITICO: Republicans pray for truce after Trump attacks on McConnell. “Trump’s insult-laden diatribe against McConnell this weekend signals that the GOP could splinter badly in primaries next year — and raises the question of whether McConnell and Trump can work together at all […] It’s easy to see how continued discord will hinder the GOP’s efforts to take back the Senate majority next year.”

• NBC News: A Trump-McConnell power struggle creates landmines in GOP quest to retake Congress. “The Republican primaries for the 2022 midterms are fast becoming a battlefield for control of the party […] The post-Trump landscape is becoming a treacherous minefield with no historical playbook to help them navigate it. The growing power struggle could have repercussions in the 2022 elections.”

• The Hill: Trump drama divides GOP, muddling message. “Much of the focus all week was on the battling within the GOP […] The latest round of infighting comes as Republicans are already facing big headaches on their political fortunes as they struggle to dent Biden.”

• Associated Press: Trump’s grievances cloud Republican agenda heading into 2022. “Republican candidates in key Senate contests…are struggling to offer voters a clear vision for what they would do if elected as they fight for Trump’s endorsement.”

• Axios: Pro-McConnell PAC prepared to intervene in 2022 primaries. “A super PAC closely aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is prepared to intervene in GOP primaries — and potentially challenge former President Trump.”

• National Journal: Trump is sabotaging the GOP’s Senate prospects. “He’s continuing his destructive behavior, endorsing weaker candidates in contested primaries, squelching the campaigns of erstwhile allies, and elevating not-ready-for-prime-time contenders in must-win Senate contests.”

• Roll Call: Trump could shake up key Senate races with endorsements. “Former President Donald Trump’s recent endorsement in the North Carolina Senate race is the latest sign that he is looking to influence primaries in competitive states […] The endorsement also came as Florida Sen. Rick Scott, chairman of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, has encouraged Trump to hold off on endorsing candidates until after primaries are over.”

• CNN Analysis: Mitch McConnell was asked about Trump and 2022. His answer is hilarious. “There’s a zero percent chance that Trump won’t loom over the midterms in ways that are likely to complicate McConnell’s hopes of retaking the majority next November […] Trump’s presence (and meddling) could hamstring Senate Republicans.”

• HuffPost: After Criticizing Trump, GOP Senate Candidates Now Desperate For His Endorsement. “Leading GOP candidates for Senate seats across the country who once harshly criticized Donald Trump are now jockeying for his endorsement, a display of the former president’s near-total grip over the Republican primary electorate.”

• The Hill: Past criticism of Trump becomes potent weapon in GOP primaries. “Opposition researchers are discovering the most potent weapon against potential rivals: past comments critical of Trump, or acknowledgement that Trump lost to President Biden in the 2020 election.”

• CNN: McConnell, Trump On A 2022 Collision Course. “A new faceoff emerging in the Republican Party that could come to a flashpoint in the midterm elections. It pits Mitch McConnell against former President Donald Trump […] You may have him weighing in against a candidate or for a candidate who is not the most likely to win a general election, and that makes Mitch McConnell very, very nervous — rightfully so.”

• Financial Times: Top Republican warns ‘hardcore’ pro-Trump candidates risk hurting party. “‘If [Trump] endorses candidates based on their loyalty to him, who are not strong candidates in their own right, then we could have an election in 2022 that goes worse than it should.”’

• The Independent: Trump is launching a series of ‘revenge rallies’ — and Republicans are worried. “‘We’re playing with lawn darts,’ said one Republican consultant who has worked with House candidates in recent election cycles. ‘He [Trump] is fun for the base, but it’s only a matter of time until the fun kills people, our chances of winning a totally winnable election, or both.’”

• Washington Post: Trump’s endorsements: revenge against enemies, rewards for friends and purveyors of election falsehoods. “The backstage dramas and prospect of complicated primaries are enveloping Republican politics as Trump moves to weaponize his remaining power over fellow Republicans more than a year before the next elections.”

In Arizona:

• Arizona Republic: Trump lashes out against possible U.S. Senate candidate Mark Brnovich over election audit. “Former President Donald Trump lashed out against state Attorney General Mark Brnovich over his tepid support of the ongoing review of ballots in Maricopa County […] Trump continues to insist widespread fraud in Maricopa County, once a conservative stronghold, was the only explanation for his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.”

• Washington Examiner: Arizona Republican spends on ads in New Jersey to reach Trump.

• The Hill: Trump looms large over fractured Arizona GOP. “Half a dozen Republicans interviewed this week separately compared the schism within their party as a shootout in which there would be no winners.”

• CNN: How Donald Trump is already sabotaging one of Senate Republicans’ best takeover chances. “[Trump’s intervention] opens up the possibility that a more Trump-y candidate emerges as the GOP nominee — a development that would make it less likely for Republicans to beat Kelly in the fall […] That Trump is already meddling in one of his party’s key takeover chances bodes very poorly for McConnell and Senate Republicans heading into 2022.”

In Georgia:

• The Hill: High anxiety over Trump in Georgia GOP. “Georgia Republicans are growing anxious that former President Trump’s continued influence within the GOP and the party’s deepening internal divisions could undermine their standing in critical races in 2022.”

• CNN: With Trump’s backing, Walker freezes Senate GOP field in Georgia. “Former President Donald Trump’s backing of football great Herschel Walker to run for the Georgia Senate seat has been enough to effectively freeze the GOP field in place — even though some Republicans privately worry the political neophyte might fizzle…”

• Associated Press: In Georgia, Herschel Walker puts GOP in a holding pattern. “Republicans’ U.S. Senate nomination in a premier battleground like Georgia is a plum political prize, but a year before GOP voters choose a nominee for the 2022 midterms, they have no clear options.”

In North Carolina:

• POLITICO: North Carolina primary field builds, with or without Lara Trump. “McCrory… [is] already taking heat from other Republicans, who criticized his 2016 defeat and say he is out of step with the current base of the party […] It’s likely to be a brutal fight for the nomination.”

• CNN: Trump’s effort to overturn loss becomes 2022 GOP litmus test in key Senate races. “In North Carolina, Republicans are bracing for a brutal primary fight… The primary race, however, could turn on loyalty to Trump, even though no Republican candidate has aligned with him 100% of the time.

• Bloomberg: Trump Wades Into Midterm Senate Majority Fight in North Carolina.

• Charlotte Observer Editorial: Donald Trump just threw NC’s U.S. Senate race into chaos. Democrats should be delighted. “Trump created chaos in the Republican race for the 2022 U.S. Senate nomination by using the occasion to endorse the candidacy of U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, arguably the least likely of the top three GOP Senate candidates to be able to win a statewide race.”

• POLITICO: Nasty N.C. Senate primary tests Trump’s sway over the GOP. “Trump’s surprise intervention has been the foremost drama so far, creating sore feelings among his party’s candidates and causing dissension among North Carolina Republicans.”

• Washington Examiner: Trump’s Senate endorsement puts North Carolina GOP in pickle.

In Ohio:

• POLITICO: Trump’s secret sit-down with Ohio candidates turns into ‘Hunger Games’. “The scene illustrated what has become a central dynamic in the nascent 2022 race. In virtually every Republican primary, candidates are jockeying, auditioning and fighting for the former president’s backing.”

• NBC News: Ohio Republican Senate candidate running as a Trump ally once called him a ‘maniac’.

• Salon: J.D. Vance leads GOP hypocrisy on “Big Tech” — while raking in cash from Silicon Valley. “Vance has already been targeted by anonymous attacks from the right for opposing Trump while drawing allegations of hypocrisy for courting the same Big Tech moguls he now constantly criticizes.”

• Associated Press: Republicans vie for Trump’s blessing in Ohio Senate primary. “Republican contenders already are working furiously to cast themselves as Trump’s favorite in the open race. That work can be awkward and far from subtle […] That leaves the field in Ohio positioning frantically in hopes of being deemed the Trumpiest of them all.”

• POLITICO: Top MAGA ally under fire for ‘squishiness’ on Trump. “In a Republican Party where a candidate’s viability is measured in degrees of fealty to the former president, the crowded field of primary opponents is insisting Timken has failed a key test.”

• Cleveland Plain Dealer (Opinion): A Trump-tinged GOP Senate primary in Ohio unlike any other – and not in a good way: Brent Larkin. “Before it’s over – the date of the spring 2022 primary is not yet set – it will be a nasty affair filled with wild accusations, crazed conspiracy theories and enough nauseating and disqualifying embraces of Donald Trump’s lies to make millions of rational Ohioans reach for a barf bag.”

• Sandusky Register Editorial: Message for GOP: Stop groveling. “Instead of parading like beauty contestants ready to repeat every lie, we urge Timken, Mandel, Gibbons and Moreno to do this: Tell voters what you stand for, tell them who you are and why you want to be our senator.”

• Cleveland.com: Donald Trump holds Lorain County rally, but offers little encouragement to 2022 statewide candidates. “A slew of candidates showed up to seek Trump’s support – or even the possibility that he may say something flattering about them, providing invaluable campaign fodder in the constant race to one-up each other on who is the Trumpiest candidate of them all.”

• NBC News: Ohio GOP Senate candidates escalate competition for Trump’s favor. “The competition for even the hint of Trump’s endorsement […] has gotten so intense in recent weeks that the contenders had turned his visit into a shadow primary […] candidates approached the weekend as if it were a potential sequel to the tense, so-called ‘Hunger Games’ sit-down they had with Trump.”

• National Journal: Ohio is the epicenter of the Republican civil war—and Trump is winning. “The state of Ohio […] will be the epicenter of several of the biggest intra-Republican fights in coming months […] Republicans will nominate their Senate standard-bearer in a crowded field that includes former state Treasurer Josh Mandel, who has embraced Trump’s most egregious extremes in his own campaign.”

In Pennsylvania:

• POLITICO: Pennsylvania GOP launches ‘super MAGA Trump’ primary. “Though President Donald Trump lost Pennsylvania in 2020 and will have been out of office for nearly two years by the time voters cast their ballots in the Senate election, the Republican primary here is already revolving around him — creating a potential dilemma for the GOP in one of the nation’s most important races next year.”

• The Hill: Republicans vie for Trump’s mantle in Pa. Senate primary. “Republicans are bracing for a potentially heated Senate primary in Pennsylvania that will see candidates competing to tie themselves to former President Trump.”

• Pittsburgh City Paper: An extensive list of all the times Sean Parnell criticized Donald Trump. “Parnell’s opponents have been quick to point out his past criticism of Trump. Jeff Bartos, a businessman who’s also running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, ran digital ads on Google after Parnell’s announcement saying that Parnell “sided with liberals” and linked to Parnell’s 2016 tweet when he called for Trump to release his tax returns.”

• Associated Press: Trump looms large in Pennsylvania’s GOP primaries in 2022. “It was no mistake, perhaps, that the first attack Parnell faced from GOP rival Jeff Bartos was to try to fray his ties to Trump […] The Bartos campaign quickly spooled out a Parnell missive on Twitter from 2016, when he criticized Trump’s refusal to release his taxes. Asked about it, Parnell said he thought Trump could “inoculate” himself from that line of attack if he had.”

• Pittsburgh City Paper: GOP Senate candidate Jeff Bartos donated to and praised Democrats in past, challenger Sean Parnell responds. “The Republican primary contest for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat is just a few months old, but it’s already testing candidates on who can be seen as more conservative and who is more aligned with former President Donald Trump. Two candidates — army veteran and author Sean Parnell (R-Ohio Township) and businessman Jeff Bartos (R-Montgomery) — have already traded barbs over each other’s past support for Trump adversaries, and those attacks continue after Pittsburgh City Paper discovered that Bartos gave money to Democrats in the past, and he praising Hillary Clinton in 2014.” 

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