Republican Senate Candidates’ No Good, Very Bad Week

In the past week, Republican Senate candidates’ flaws and baggage were on full display in races across the country, as a new wave of reporting detailed their financial vulnerabilities, lack of connection to their states, unpopular policy positions and more. 

“Senate Republicans are running deeply flawed candidates with dangerous views and policies, whose massive baggage and disqualifying vulnerabilities will lead their campaigns to defeat in 2024,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Tommy Garcia.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 

• Vanity Fair: “Wannabe Cowboy”: This GOP Senate Candidate’s Rancher Bona Fides Are Coming Under Scrutiny. For Senate Republicans this cycle, recruiting candidates with deep pockets appears to be a bigger priority than finding ones with substantive ties to the states they are hoping to represent. “We call it a wannabe cowboy,” Matt Rains, a fifth-generation Montanan rancher, says of Sheehy…“He bought his way in—and we’ve lost a lot of great ranchers to rich out-of-staters buying up land to add to their little collections, just like Sheehy has.” 

• Michigan Advance: Where is Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood? Rogers also owns a large home in Florida. The 4,751-square-foot home in Cape Coral valued at $1.7 million was his official residence until his decision to run for U.S. Senate. Public records show he received a $50,000 homestead tax exemption on the property for 2022, as well as pulled a renovation permit that same year worth $327,000, more than the cost of the entire Michigan house. 

• HuffPost: GOP Senate Hopeful Says His Book Proceeds Go To Fallen Firefighters. That’s Not The Whole Story. Tim Sheehy has been promoting his new book about aerial firefighting while on the campaign trail — and often misrepresenting who benefits from the book’s proceeds. Sheehy has repeatedly said that all of its proceeds benefit “fallen aerial firefighters and their families.” What Sheehy doesn’t mention… is that author proceeds go to both the Wildland Firefighter Foundation… and the United Aerial Firefighters Association, an industry trade group that Sheehy co-founded early last year. The UAFA has spent tens of thousands of dollars lobbying Congress, including on legislation and policies that would benefit Sheehy’s company.

• American Journal News: Top Republican U.S. Senate candidates call for gutting Social Security. Multiple Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate are threatening to dismantle the program. Multiple incumbent Republican senators have also put Social Security in the crosshairs. 

• HuffPost: Like Trump, Republican Senate Candidates Buck Bipartisan Border Deal. Former President Donald Trump has made it clear that he opposes the bipartisan border enforcement deal being hammered out in the Senate. Many Republican Senate candidates with close ties to him have likewise come out against the proposed bill. Republican Senate candidates in Ohio, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Florida and Texas have all come out against Lankford’s would-be agreement.

• POLITICO: Kari Lake to headline fundraiser hosted by QAnon supporters. Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake is headlining a campaign fundraiser on Friday hosted by two wealthy QAnon supporters.

• POLITICO: Kari Lake’s fundraising puts her behind in Arizona Senate race. Kari Lake raised more money challenging the results of her last election than she did running for a new one.

• Washington Examiner: Kari Lake earned six figures from company led by GOP chairman she helped oust. Kari Lake, who is running for U.S. Senate in Arizona, was paid $101,507 for her work at a company once headed by the former Arizona Republican Party chairman she helped oust last week. 

• Copper Courier: Kari Lake made $75,000 in speaking fees her campaign claimed she doesn’t charge. Arizona US Senate Candidate Kari Lake reported $75,000 in speaking fees last year, directly contradicting claims by her campaign that she isn’t paid for public speaking. Lake’s financial disclosure has proven this declaration to be false.
  
  
• HuffPost: Arizona Republicans Relentlessly Boo Kari Lake On Home Turf Following Scandal. Arizona Republicans let Kari Lake have it this weekend as they hurled boos and jeers her way at a state GOP meeting following a scandal involving her and the now-former head of the state’s party.
  

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