ICYMI: Mar-a-Lago primary: Trump wields power with endorsements, but some in GOP fear midterm damage [Los Angeles Times]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Los Angeles Times: Mar-a-Lago primary: Trump wields power with endorsements, but some in GOP fear midterm damage
By Janet Hook
July 25, 2021

Key Points:

• 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.

• A former NFL star Trump is promoting for a potential Senate run in Georgia — Herschel Walker — is beloved in the state where he started his career as a Heisman Trophy winner. But he is an untested political novice, and it’s been decades since he lived in Georgia.

• In North Carolina, Trump is backing Rep. Ted Budd to replace the state’s retiring Republican senator. Budd, a gun store owner, is an ardent defender of the former president but has trailed in early polling and fundraising.

• In Arizona, many Republicans believe Gov. Doug Ducey would be the best candidate against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. But Ducey, who has been pummeled by Trump for not doing more to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, has said he won’t run.

• Trump derided him on Ducey’s own turf Saturday, recalling in a Phoenix speech his reaction to Ducey’s possible candidacy. Trump said he was asked, “Sir, would you like him to run for the Senate?” and replied, “He’s not getting my endorsement, I can tell you.”

• The National Republican Senatorial Committee, a party campaign arm, has pledged to stay out of contested open primaries in 2022. The committee’s chair, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, tried without success to get Trump to stay neutral until after GOP primary voters pick the nominees.

• The power and limits of Trump’s backing were illustrated in North Carolina early last month when he made his surprise endorsement of Budd in the contest to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Richard M. Burr. That catapulted Budd from the back of the pack to new prominence. But it did not clear the field.

See also: New York Times: Democrats See Edge in Early Senate Map as Trump Casts Big Shadow; The Hill: Trump getting tougher for Senate GOP to ignore; POLITICO: ‘Get on the team or shut up’: How Trump created an army of GOP enforcers; National Journal: Republicans suppressing their own voters in Arizona and Georgia; Vice: Trump’s Election Lies Are Taking Over Republican Senate Races; CNN: Republican candidates back Trump’s election lies across the 2021 and 2022 maps; Washington Post: In ramp-up to 2022 midterms, Republican candidates center pitches on Trump’s false election claims; Washington Post: Trump’s endorsements: revenge against enemies, rewards for friends and purveyors of election falsehoods; HuffPost: After Criticizing Trump, GOP Senate Candidates Now Desperate For His Endorsement; Roll Call: Trump could shake up key Senate races with endorsements; National Journal: Trump is sabotaging the GOP’s Senate prospects; Axios: Pro-McConnell PAC prepared to intervene in 2022 primaries; CNN Analysis: Mitch McConnell was asked about Trump and 2022. His answer is hilarious.

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