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

Last 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 Arizona Republic highlights Kari Lake “hosting an online talk show for a company started by a former Fountain Hills evangelical who has said Christians need to be ‘capable of extreme violence,’” as the latest example of her “far-right rhetoric in a Senate race.” The report details how “​​Lake’s show indulged…conspiracy theories” and “election denialism has come up at least 27 times,” while also pointing out “GOP leaders” and “top Republicans in Washington are wary of [Lake’s] political viability.”

• In Michigan, at a debate Republican Senate candidate Nikki Snyder and Michigan Republican Michael Farage both took aim at “deep state” politician Mike Rogers over his vote for the Patriot Act. Farage didn’t stop there, bashing Peter Meijer for missing the debate and his vote to impeach Trump along with Sandy Pensler for being inaccessible to voters, insisting that if Michigan Republicans vote for Rogers, Meijer, Craig, or Pensler, “you have the kind of government you deserve.” Pensler also took direct aim at Rogers and Meijer, saying “you shouldn’t be running for Senate because you screwed up.”
  
  
• In Montana, new reporting from HuffPost revealed that just before launching his campaign, Tim Sheehy “sold off thousands of dollars’ worth of stock in companies with reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” including in companies “the U.S. has identified as threats to national security,” “propaganda tool[s],” and “key part[s] of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surveillance and censorship apparatus.” The report details Sheehy also “maintains significant portfolios at financial institutions with deep ties to China.” 

• In Nevada, Jeff Gunter took swings at Sam Brown and national Republicans, touting his new billboard “calling out Scam Brown and his Swampy Never Trump Mitch led DC Elite Nevada campaign fraud.” Gunter attacked Brown for failing to “endorse President Trump or even mention the America First movement” on his website and called him a “McConnell-backed puppet.”  
  

• In Ohio, LaRose took swings at Bernie Moreno after a new poll showed “Moreno taking narrow lead in tightening Ohio Senate GOP primary.” LaRose also submitted his required financial disclosure late after refusing to file the report for 26 days, but the disclosure failed to explain the “highly unusual” and “myster[ious]” six-figure loan he made to his campaign. “LaRose’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment to better explain his finances.” 

 

• In Texas, after the Texas Supreme Court prohibited a life-saving abortion for a pregnant woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition, a wave of new reports detail that Ted Cruz is being “grilled” for “dodg[ing] questions” on the case and “refus[ing] to comment” on his support for the state’s ban — which he previously called “a massive victory.” Three days after he was originally asked, Cruz still had no response.  

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