Tilt to right in 4 primaries worries some Republicans
As primary season kicks into high gear, Republicans are engaged in nomination fights that are pulling the party to the right, leaving some leaders worried their candidates will be out of step with the broader electorate in November.
Primaries in four states on Tuesday, all in places President Donald Trump carried in 2016, showcase races in which GOP candidates are jockeying to be seen as the most conservative, the most anti-Washington and the most loyal to the president. It’s evidence of the onetime outsider’s deepening imprint on the Republican Party he commandeered less than two years ago.
In Indiana, Republicans will pick from among three Senate candidates who have spent muchof the race praising Trump and bashing each other.
The three are even trying to appeal to Trump voters by adopting the president’s harsh immigration rhetoric and penchant for personal insults by assigning derisive nicknames to one another: “Lyin’ ” Todd Rokita, Luke “Missing” Messer and “Tax Hike” Mike Braun.
In West Virginia, a former federal prisoner and coal baron has taken aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., with racially charged accusations of corruption.
Senate candidate Don Blankenship, 68, former CEO at Massey Energy, has accused McConnell of creating jobs for “China people” and charges that the senator’s “China family” has given him millions of dollars. McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan, is Trump’s transportation secretary.
Blankenship served a one-year prison term on a misdemeanor conviction for conspiring to violate Senate candidate Don Blankenship has accused the Senate majority leader of creating jobs for “China people.” federal mine safety standards at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine, where 29 miners were killed in a 2010 explosion. Thursday marks the first anniversary of his release from a California prison. He filed Senate candidacy papers late last year.
In tweets Monday morning, Trump urged West Virginia voters to reject Blankenship, arguing he would lose the general election as Republican Roy Moore did in Alabama after allegations of sexual misconduct came to light.
“To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference,” the president wrote.
“Problem i s, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State...No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!” Trump added, referring to GOP candidates Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
In Ohio, Republicans are certain to nominate someone more conservative than outgoing GOP Gov. John Kasich, a 2016 presidential candidate, moderate and frequent Trump critic.
Even Kasich’s former running mate, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, has pledged to unwind some of Kasich’s centrist policies, including the expansion of the Medicaid government insurance program following Democrats’ 2010 health insurance overhaul.
With Trump’s job approval hanging around 40 percent and the GOP-run Congress less than half that, the abandonment of the middle has some Republicans raising alarms.
North Carolina Republicans will weigh in on the fate of Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger, facing a primary challenger who almost upset him two years ago. Pittenger features Trump prominently in his campaign.
Challenger Mark Harris, a prominent Charlotte pastor, has tried to turn the table, saying Pittenger is a creature of Washington who refuses to help Trump “drain that swamp.”
In several of the Tuesday primaries, Democrats are watching with delight, and having less trouble aligning behind nominees. The chief beneficiaries would be Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, both sitting on healthy campaign accounts after avoiding their own primary fights.