ICYMI: Sununu announcement act rubs top Republicans the wrong way [POLITICO]

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POLITICO: Sununu announcement act rubs top Republicans the wrong way
By Natalie Allison
November 10, 2021

Key Points:

• Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott found out the same way everyone else did that their top recruit to help secure the Senate majority was a no-go: They saw it on a local television livestream.

• The unfolding of the much anticipated announcement left top Senate Republicans blindsided and miffed.

• Deflated aides and strategists exchanged texts and calls throughout the day Tuesday about the news, a blow that appeared to expose the fragility of Republican confidence in their Senate prospects.

• The GOP can’t just bank on an advantageous political environment, strategists say.

• The party actually has to have the right candidates — a particular concern among party operatives who worry about the checkered pasts of Republican frontrunners in several key Senate races … Sean Parnell, the Trump-endorsed frontrunner in Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary, was attending his second week of court hearings as part of an ongoing child custody dispute with his estranged wife. She has accused him of assaulting her and her children, an allegation he denies.

• “People are demoralized. People are saying, ‘This is devastating. What’s our plan?’” said another Republican operative, referring to conversations he had throughout the day. “Everyone is kind of like, ‘What are we doing here? What is going on?’”

• The Sununu tease amounted to a “recruiting failure,” as another McConnell ally put it, adding that Republican leadership has yet to land a successful recruit for 2022.
  
  

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