What To Know About Pennsylvania GOP’s “Train-Wreck” Senate Primary Escalating Again As Carla Sands Joins The Fray

Trump Megadonor And Former Ambassador Carla Sands’ Campaign Launch Means This Primary Is About To Get More Crowded, More Expensive & Even Nastier

In response to Trump megadonor Carla Sands’ entrance into Pennsylvania’s “train-wreck” Republican Senate primary, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Stewart Boss released the following statement:

“Pennsylvania was already accurately labeled a ‘trainwreck’ for Senate Republicans and having a Trump megadonor join the fray is just going to make this intra-party fight more crowded, more expensive, and even nastier. Carla Sands’ connections to Trump and her personal resources will ensure this GOP feud intensifies further and leaves whichever underwhelming politician who eventually limps out of the primary out of touch and badly damaged for the general election.”

Before donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump earned her an ambassadorship to Denmark, Sands was “a former socialite” and “B-list movie star” living in California. As ambassador, Sands repeatedly violated the Hatch Act — reportedly running afoul of federal law by abusing her official taxpayer-funded position for partisan politics.

Read more about the Pennsylvania GOP’s messy Senate primary:

• POLITICO: Pennsylvania GOP launches ‘super MAGA Trump’ primary. Never mind Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Palm Beach, Fla., is where the party’s Senate nomination is likely to be decided.

• POLITICO: MAGA crashes into moderates in train-wreck Senate race. “Any candidate who wants to win in Pennsylvania in 2022 must be full Trump MAGA,” said Steve Bannon.

• The Hill: Republicans vie for Trump’s mantle in Pa. Senate primary. Republicans are bracing for a potentially heated Senate primary in Pennsylvania that will see candidates competing to tie themselves to former President Trump.

• Washington Examiner: Wealthy ex-Trump ambassador moves toward Pennsylvania Senate race. Money certainly would not be a problem; Sands is wealthy enough to finance her campaign. But her absence from Pennsylvania until moving back to the Harrisburg area this year could be. The Camp Hill native, who graduated from two Pennsylvania universities and practiced chiropractic medicine in the state, lived for several years in Los Angeles, where her husband’s real estate firm was based, before going to Copenhagen.

• POLITICO: Bartos super PAC muscles into Pennsylvania Senate race. The contest is likely to be one of the most expensive in the nation next year… The super PAC said it has raised more than $750,000 to date.

• Washington Examiner: Donald Trump Jr. wields endorsement in Pennsylvania Senate race. Donald Trump Jr.’s influence as kingmaker in Republican primaries is poised to be tested in Pennsylvania, where close friend and failed 2020 congressional candidate Sean Parnell entered the race to replace retiring Sen. Pat Toomey.

• Pittsburgh City Paper: An extensive list of all the times Sean Parnell criticized Donald Trump. Before Trump secured the Republican nomination in 2016, Parnell criticized Trump often and in harsh terms. He called for Trump to release his tax returns (only to criticize liberals for focusing on tax returns a year later), he said Trump’s campaign was failing to unify the country, and he criticized Trump’s debate performance, all while openly endorsing and supporting Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Florida) run for president.

• Pittsburgh City Paper: GOP Senate candidate Jeff Bartos donated to and praised Democrats in past, challenger Sean Parnell responds. The Republican primary contest for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat is just a few months old, but it’s already testing candidates on who can be seen as more conservative and who is more aligned with former President Donald Trump.

• @JonathanTamari: “And now Jeff Bartos is running ads on Google saying Parnell ‘sided with liberals’ and linking to this 2016 Parnell tweet. The PA Sen GOP primary is off to quite a start”

###