Senate Republicans’ Flawed Candidates on Full Display as GOP Infighting Continues to Escalate

This week, as Senate Republicans’ flawed candidates continued to brawl in “increasingly crowded” and “contested” primaries, their “intraparty rifts” and candidates’ vulnerabilities were once again on full display in races across the map.

• In Arizona, new reporting from The Messenger revealed that Kari Lake — who Republicans have expressed doubts and fears about for months — is hitting back at the GOP establishment: Lake claimed that if she wins next November, Senator Mitch McConnell will be replaced as Majority Leader, saying Republicans need “somebody who’s got the fight left in him and kick it up there and do the job.”

• In Montana, new reporting from HuffPost revealed Tim Sheehy took in COVID-19 relief from the American Rescue Plan for his company Bridger Aerospace – despite the fact that Sheehy “repeatedly decried” the legislation “as wasteful spending” on the campaign trail.

• In Nevada, new reporting from The Messenger highlighted how “abortion is poised to be a potentially pivotal issue” in the 2024 Senate race, and how Sam Brown has an extensive “history of making anti-abortion statements that could haunt him” – including backing a Texas abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest and having “left the door open to potentially voting for a national abortion ban” during a debate last year. Meanwhile, Jeff Gunter again attacked “Scam Brown” for failing to endorse Trump, calling him a “swamp-loving RINO” and a “McConnell puppet.”

• In Ohio, Newt Gingrich – a major Trump ally – endorsed Bernie Moreno. In response, Matt Dolan’s campaign attacked Moreno as “an ideological shape-shifter who will say or do anything to get elected. Maybe that helped him sell cars, but it destroys trust with voters and it would make him a lousy Republican nominee” and Frank LaRose’s campaign said “Bernie hasn’t registered with Ohio voters and I don’t see that changing — he’s a car salesman and that comes across.” Additionally, Donald Trump continues to loom large in the “messy” Republican primary, as LaRose’s “history of Trump criticism” is “catching up with him” and has “become fodder for [LaRose’s] opponents.”
  

• In Pennsylvania, new reporting from the Daily Beast revealed David McCormick ran a “shadow operation” to boost his run for U.S. Senate in ways that “experts said, pushes and might even exceed the limits of the law” and were potentially even “flatly illegal.” McCormick appeared to be “flagrantly bending the rules” by having his state PAC, Pennsylvania Rising, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on his campaign before he formally declared he was running.

• In West Virginia, Mooney continued to attack Justice as the “King of Scandals” over his “scandal-ridden leadership,” insisting that “our state can’t afford any more of” because “he will NOT represent our conservative values.”  

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