ICYMI: Senate GOP worries Trump could derail bid for majority [The Hill]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The Hill: Senate GOP worries Trump could derail bid for majority
By Alexander Bolton
November 8, 2021

Key Points:

• GOP senators are worried that former President Trump could thwart their hopes of winning back the Senate majority next year with his support for controversial primary candidates who they fear could turn away female voters.

• The latest bombshell to rock the 2022 Senate election landscape came this week when the estranged wife of Senate candidate Sean Parnell testified in court Monday that he strangled her and hit their children.

• A similar dynamic is emerging in Georgia, where Trump has jumped in early to back candidates despite allegations from women of threatening behavior and sexual assault.

• Some Senate Republicans privately worry that the controversies could hurt their party’s chances of picking up seats in key states and may even offset what they otherwise expect to be a favorable political environment next year.

• “You can have the best political environment but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have good candidates,” warned one Senate Republican who requested anonymity to discuss anxiety within the GOP conference.

• The bigger potential problem is in Pennsylvania, perhaps Democrats’ best opportunity to pick up a seat and add to their narrow 50-seat majority. Trump’s endorsement of Parnell in early September was viewed as giving him a major leg up in the crowded Republican primary field.

• But now his viability is in serious question after Laurie Snell, Parnell’s wife, testified that he once strangled her, slapped one of their children so hard that it left red welts, and rained down physical and verbal abuse in other ways.

• This has now put Republican senators in the awkward position of having to respond to the allegations and questions about whether Trump should revoke his endorsement.

• An in-depth investigation by The Associated Press over the summer raised serious questions about former NFL star Herschel Walker, the leading Republican candidate to challenge Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). The review of Walker’s public records found that in 2005, the candidate’s ex-wife secured a protective order against him on the basis of alleged violent behavior.

• The party establishment in Washington was initially uncertain about Walker and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) explored other options and met with former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) at his Capitol office in June.

• Central to the Republican plan for winning back the Senate in 2022 is winning back female voters in the suburbs, who flocked to Democrats in 2018 and 2020 when Trump had become a major liability for the party with that key bloc.

• But that new trend could be stopped or reversed in key states if allegations of domestic abuse, sexual impropriety or serious character flaws become a major storyline.

• Another source of concerns is the Senate race in Missouri, where Trump hasn’t yet endorsed a candidate but the scandal-tarnished former governor, Eric Greitens, is making a concerted bid for his backing.

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