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GOP Summer of Chaos: Republican Senate Candidates Spent Their Summers Fighting & Trying To Out-Trump Their Opponents

Republicans’ summer was defined by infighting and chaotic primaries as former President Trump “weaponize[d] his remaining power,” intervening in primaries, “rewarding loyalists and exacting retribution,” GOP candidates attempted to “out-Trump one another,” and messy primary infighting continued to escalate. 

As the summer comes to a close, here’s a look back at the chaos that gripped GOP Senate primaries in key battlegrounds across the map: 

  • POLITICO: Trump acolytes poised to push out Senate dealmakers. “In the five states where Republican senators are retiring, the primary election fields to succeed them are crowded with Donald Trump supporters who have made loyalty to the former president a cornerstone of their campaigns.”
  • Los Angeles Times: Mar-a-Lago primary: Trump wields power with endorsements, but some in GOP fear midterm damage. “While most former presidents have steered clear of politics, Trump is intervening in Republican primaries like an old-style ward boss: rewarding allies, punishing enemies and trying to use his vast popularity among Republican voters to keep himself and his agenda at the center of the GOP. But Trump’s heavy hand in GOP primaries carries risks for his party. Some Republicans fear that some of his endorsements — those based not on electability but on candidates’ loyalty to him and his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen — could make it harder for the party to win in swing states.”
  • New York Times: Democrats See Edge in Early Senate Map as Trump Casts Big Shadow. “Out of office and banished from social media, Mr. Trump continues to insist on putting his imprint on the party with rallies and regular missives imposing an agenda of rewarding loyalists and exacting retribution against perceived enemies.”
  • The Hill: Trump getting tougher for Senate GOP to ignore. “Mainstream Republicans are getting increasingly caught up in the party’s internal battle over Trump’s legacy…This makes it tougher for leading Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), to keep on ignoring Trump.”
  • POLITICO: ‘Get on the team or shut up’: How Trump created an army of GOP enforcers. “But Trump’s penchant for intra-party conflict and demands for absolute loyalty changed the equation…Between Trump’s still-domineering hand on the party and a GOP base that remains intensely loyal to the former president, the imperative for state party chairs is to intertwine his interests with that of the party — fearful that failing to do so may alienate supporters. This is despite Trump’s failure to win a second term and the loss of Republican majorities in Congress during his watch.”
  • National Journal: Republicans suppressing their own voters in Arizona and Georgia. “But the party’s Trumpian turn is complicating its chances to unseat freshmen Sens. Mark Kelly and Raphael Warnock. Their struggles in the two states could be a preview of the long-term political damage that the party’s devoted attachment to the former president is causing.”
  • Vice: Trump’s Election Lies Are Taking Over Republican Senate Races. “Most of the GOP front-runners in key Senate races are clinging to the lie that Trump actually won the 2020 election, seeking to out-Trump one another to win the GOP base. In the process, they run the risk of alienating swing voters in purple states.”
  • 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.”
  • 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.”
  • 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.”
  • New York Magazine: Republicans Face New Litmus Tests in Trump Era. “Heading toward the 2022 midterm elections, Republican-watchers are fascinated by the aggressive role Donald Trump intends to play in GOP primaries. Aside from his plans of vengeance toward those who egregiously crossed him at some point over the past half-century, he is selectively backing candidates whom he can claim as his very own.”

In Arizona:

  • Roll Call: Senate candidates walk Trump tightrope as he returns to Arizona. “While they aren’t initially mentioning Trump, the GOP Senate candidates aren’t disavowing him, either…‘It’s a minefield,’ said veteran Arizona strategist Chuck Coughlin, a former Republican who is now not registered with any party…Coughlin said he has never seen such a wide-open primary field in his 30-year career in Arizona politics.”
  • POLITICO: Thiel ally’s entrance kicks off protracted GOP Senate fight in Arizona. “The Republicans running to turn back Democratic gains in Arizona and flip a critical Senate seat next year will have to fight through a protracted, expensive primary first… Arizona’s Republican Party has been riven by deep divisions for more than a decade…Now, the crowded, cash-flush Senate primary all but assures that Republicans will be fighting over who their nominee will be for more than a year, while Kelly, who narrowly won in 2020, rakes in cash and consolidates his position.”
  • 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:

  • Roll Call: Herschel Walker run for Senate in Georgia comes amid GOP concerns. “Former football player Herschel Walker has filed paperwork to run for the GOP Senate nomination in Georgia, despite some Republican concerns that Walker’s candidacy could endanger the party’s chances of defeating Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock next year…‘If any Republican in Georgia told you they didn’t have concerns about his candidacy, they’d be lying to you. We all have concerns,’ said Chip Lake, a GOP strategist in the state.”
  • Atlanta Journal Constitution: Gary Black gets tough on Herschel Walker in 2022 Senate bid. “The top Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in Georgia haven’t laid a glove on Herschel Walker, the football icon edging toward a possible run for the office. Until now. Agriculture Secretary Gary Black, the most prominent Republican in the race, released a digital ad Monday mocking Walker’s flirtation with entering the race from his home in Texas.”
  • Washington Examiner: Gary Black moves to outflank Herschel Walker in Georgia Senate race. “What’s wrong with Black? Some Republicans question his ability to compete with the charismatic Warnock…Meanwhile, Republicans have mixed feelings on Walker…worrying his background would be an anchor in the general election in a contest that could decide the Senate majority.”
  • Fox News: Herschel Walker declares Senate candidacy in Georgia, a top GOP target in 2022. “Though he has Trump’s backing, Republicans close to longtime Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell are privately expressing concerns whether Walker is ready for the rigors of a high-profile Senate campaign…Some other Georgia Republicans are worried about a possible political train wreck as Walker faces incoming fire in the weeks and months ahead.”    

In North Carolina:

  • News & Observer: GOP Senate campaign heats up after report tying Budd to bankruptcy that hurt farmers. “Budd, whose candidacy won former president Donald Trump’s endorsement in June, has faced sharp criticism from his competitors after the story published on Tuesday. Both former Gov. Pat McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker, who are also vying for the nomination, jumped at the chance to accuse Budd of being a “D.C. insider” who swindled farmers.”
  • News & Observer: NC Senate candidates watch Trump candidate lose Texas election. “Budd’s two main competitors — former Rep. Mark Walker and former governor Pat McCrory — could see the loss as a harbinger of things to come: that Club for Growth’s money and Trump’s endorsement are far from a sure ticket to success in Republican primaries.”

In Ohio:

  • Washington Examiner: In Ohio GOP Senate primary, Trump is kingmaker. “Donald Trump is looming over the Ohio Senate race as the Republican candidates jockey for an endorsement and urge the former president to overlook past resistance to his leadership.”
  • The Hill: GOP hopefuls fight for Trump’s favor in Ohio Senate race “The race for former President Trump’s endorsement in Ohio’s GOP Senate primary is putting several candidates on a collision course that some Republicans fear could hobble the party in the 2022 midterm elections.” 
  • 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.”
  • 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:

  • Associated Press: Pennsylvania election audit gets GOP campaign trail embrace. “The audit has fast become a litmus test…That has some GOP party officials and donors squirming with discomfort, albeit quietly. Some Republicans privately worry that the spectacle of a protracted election audit is a time bomb that not only will damage the state’s democratic institutions, but also the party’s credibility with critical swing voters.”
  • 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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