What They’re Saying: Local Newspapers Rip Vulnerable GOP Incumbents for Failing to Stand Up to Their Party

Gardner, McConnell Are “Men Without Conviction” — McSally Is “Trump’s Pocket Pal” — Tillis Is “Profile In Compliance” — Ernst Has “Legacy of Playing Party Politics”

Editorial boards and columnists at local newspapers in Senate battleground states are slamming vulnerable Republican incumbents for “playing party politics” by supporting Mitch McConnell’s push to confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee in just six weeks before Election Day and as early voting has started in some states — a stunning reversal from their positions in 2016. 

Read what local opinion-makers have to say about these Senate Republicans’ abandoning their own standard:

• The Denver Post Editorial Board says Senator Cory Gardner “flip-flopped on voters in four years” after he joined with McConnell in “proving to be men without conviction” and asks, “Where was their constitutional duty in 2016? It was an inconvenience easily dispensed with and replaced with pretty talk of giving voters a voice.” The Denver Post: Editorial: Will Sen. Cory Gardner apply his precedent in replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg? 

— And today’s Denver Post front page: “Gardner won’t defy move to fill vacancy”

• The Arizona Republic’s columnist Laurie Roberts highlights unelected Senator Martha McSally’s “political death spiral” as she became one of the first GOP senators to back McConnell and pledge to confirm Trump’s nominee this year. McSally squandered her chance to show Arizonans “that she is not just a Donald Trump pocket pal” and after McSally decided to “continue her losing strategy by cuddling up to a president who is unpopular,” it’s no wonder she “has not yet made the sale with Arizona’s moderate and independent voters.” Arizona Republic (Opinion): Sen. Martha McSally death spiral continues with end run around voters 

• The Raleigh News & Observer’s opinion editor Ned Barnett slams Senator Thom Tillis for “abdicating his job” and being “willing to deliver” whatever Trump wants — “clinging to Trump’s coattails in a desperate hope that his blind subservience to the president can get him re-elected.” Tillis committed to voting yes on Trump’s nominee before the person is even announced — a real “profile in compliance” that is par for the course for the senator who last year exemplified “distilled proof…of how the Republican Party has abandoned principle for expediency and political survival.” The News & Observer (Opinion): Sen. Tillis caves to Trump on court pick 

• The Des Moines Register’s Editorial Board lambasted Senator Joni Ernst for having “changed her tune” even though she told the Editorial Board in 2018 that it would be “absolutely fair” to expect Trump to have to face the voters for re-election before making a Supreme Court appointment in 2020. “She can consider herself reminded” by the state’s largest newspaper of her shameless hypocrisy. Des Moines Register: Editorial:Profiles in hypocrisy: Grassley, Ernst sidestep previous positions on Supreme Court nominees 

• The Cedar Rapids Gazette’s Editorial Board urges Senator Joni Ernst to reconsider her support for Trump’s “politically craven” push to ram through a Supreme Court nominee and laments her broken promise to “fight Washington corruption,” arguing “she’s enabled it, by always being a party line voter.” Ernst’s “legacy of playing party politics” threatens her ability to hold onto her seat as polls show her losing to Theresa Greenfield. The Gazette: Editorial: Grassley and Ernst must oppose Trump

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