Trump rallies California voters against Democrats
President Donald Trump was trying to rally his supporters in California, the epicenter of Tuesday’s primary voting, where Republicans faced the embarrassing prospect of failing to even get a candidate into the November election for governor.
The president urged voters in a last-minute tweet to not let Democrats shut them out.
“In High Tax, High Crime California, be sure to get out and vote for Republican John Cox for Governor. He will make a BIG difference!” Trump tweeted.
Under California’s primary system, all candidates appear on a single primary ballot, with the top two vote-getters regardless of party advancing to the November election. In a crowded and competitive field of hopefuls, such as the race to succeed term-limited Democrat Jerry Brown, it’s possible that two candidates from the same party would advance, in this case Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Cox, a business executive, has the GOP’s best chance at earning a spot.
It’s also possible Republicans may not secure a nomination spot in the challenge against 84-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was expected to be easily renominated for the Democrats on Tuesday.
The Democrats faced challengers elsewhere on Tuesday as Montana, Alabama, Mississippi and New Jersey also held statewide primaries to shape the first midterm election of Trump’s presidency.
With the possibility of a Democratic wave on the horizon, Tuesday’s contests will test voter enthusiasm, candidate
quality and Trump’s influence as the 2018 political battlefield begins to settle.
In California, national Democrats have spent more than $7 million trying to curb the damage of Democrats attacking one another in districts opened by retiring Republican Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa, and the district where Republican Dana Rohrabacher is facing challenges from the left and the right.
That’s money the Democrats would have preferred to spend promoting their candidates this fall.
Trump also urged Republicans to support the party’s congressional candidates, in light of Democrats’ increased chances of taking the House, where GOP retirements have made such a changeover more likely in the past year.
Democrats must wrest at least 23 seats from Republican hands to seize control of the House for the second half of Trump’s first term.
There is no more fertile terrain than California, which features seven Republican seats in districts won by Democratic presidential nominee
Hillary Clinton in 2016. No other state features more than three such seats.
There is another kind of drama playing out in other states.
In New Jersey, Sen. Bob Menendez was expected to become the Democratic Party’s nominee for a third term despite being tainted by a hung jury in his recent federal bribery trial. Republicans hope to use the fallout to tar other Democrats in the state, including those fighting to defeat vulnerable GOP incumbents in suburban districts.
In Montana, Republicans were choosing a candidate to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, who is among the most vulnerable Democratic senators in the nation. The GOP struggled to recruit top-tier candidates, leaving the most likely nominees as State Auditor Matt Rosendale or retired Judge Russ Fagg.
Governors’ races took shape Tuesday in Alabama, Iowa, South Dakota and New Mexico, where Republicans in most cases are fighting to demonstrate their loyalty to Trump.