McConnell says primaries ‘worked out very well’
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that he was pleased with the outcome of Tuesday’s Senate primaries, as he expressed confidence about upcoming contests and pointed out that a candidate who attacked him fell flat.
“Worked out very well. We’ve got a nominee that can win in November,” an upbeat Mr. McConnell, RKy., told reporters in the Capitol, speaking of West Virginia. State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won the Republican nomination there, defeating Rep. Evan Jenkins and controversial former coal executive Don Blankenship.
Mr. McConnell wasn’t the only one taking a victory lap Wednesday — President Donald Trump also was emboldened by Tuesday’s results.
In fact, Republican leaders were encouraging Mr. Trump to intervene in competitive primaries, concluding that he is a powerful force to energize GOP voters and help the party hold its Senate majority in the midterm elections. The decision is a notable reversal for top GOP senators, some of whom feuded with Mr. Trump during the first year of his presidency and saw his erratic behavior and low approval as potential liabilities.
But they were thrilled Wednesday with the outcome of primaries in three states where their preferred candidates closely aligned with Mr. Trump won — thanks to some help from the president.
“I think the president did an outstanding job, and I think the president will do more of it because he understands the need to win,” said Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, the head of the Senate Republican campaign arm.
Republicans said they expected Mr. Trump to reprise the role he played in West Virginia, where they say his last-minute plea to GOP voters to reject Mr. Blankenship helped ensure that the former coal executive with a criminal record lost on Tuesday.
For Mr. Blankenship, his strategy was to launch relentless and sometimes racial attacks against Mr. McConnell and his family. He called Mr. McConnell a “swamp captain” and referred to his father-in-law, who was born in China, as a “wealthy China person.” Mr. Blankenship also branded the Senate majority leader “Cocaine Mitch” in his ads, a reference to a drug bust on a ship owned by a company his father-in-law started.
“Didn’t seem to work too well, did it?” Mr. McConnell said.
Republican leaders also got nominees aligned with them in two other Senate races they are targeting. Wealthy businessman Mike Braun won in Indiana after running on a Trump-like outsider platform, and Rep. James Renacci — who had the president’s endorsement — was the victor in Ohio.
“Last night was a very big night for the Republican Party,” Mr. Trump said at the White House. “Every candidate that we wanted won, and they did very well. There was tremendous enthusiasm.”
West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana are part of a GOP firewall of 10 states where Mr. Trump won and Democratic senators are up for reelection.
The GOP is defending a 51-49 Senate majority. Party leaders are increasingly casting the Senate as the last line of defense against a Democratic takeover of Congress, as hopes of holding the House have faded amid Mr. Trump’s unpopularity in suburban and exurban areas.
Mr. McConnell said Republicans learned from the mistakes of 2010 and 2012 and have done an effective job of fielding electable Senate contenders.
“In ‘14, ‘16, ‘18, after the malfunctions of 2010 and 2012, we were determined to have nominees on the general election ballot who could actually win,” Mr. McConnell said. “Pretty simple. You don’t nominate somebody who’s appealing to the broader audience, you can’t win.”
Mr. McConnell said, “the only place that didn’t work out well was Alabama.” In a special election there last year, Republicans nominated Roy Moore, who ran as a hard-right outsider hostile to Mr. McConnell. Mr. Moore lost a seat that was long under GOP control after The Washington Post reported that he made sexual advances toward teenage girls when he was in his 30s.
In West Virginia, an organization with ties to McConnell allies ran ads criticizing Mr. Blankenship, as worries about a repeat of Alabama emerged in the party.
Mr. McConnell allies funneled money into West Virginia through a group they called Mountain Families PAC to saturate the airwaves with anti-Blankenship ads. The Kentuckian also persuaded Mr. Trump during a phone call over the weekend to attack Mr. Blankenship on Twitter.
The GOP will face similar tests in the coming months in Arizona and Mississippi. Contested Republican fields in those states include controversial candidates party leaders fear could hurt the chances of victory in November.
“We’re in the process of getting fully electable nominees in all of the primaries this year, which gives us the best chance possible,” Mr. McConnell said.
Mr. Morrisey will face Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
“Mr. President, if you’re watching right now, let me tell you, your tweet was huge,” Mr. Morrisey said in his address, referring to Mr. Trump’s election eve call for voters to shun Mr. Blankenship’s candidacy. “You’ve been to the state now four times. I’d like you to come back as many times as you can between now and November.”
At the same time, Mr. Braun will take on Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. Mr. Renacci will face Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
Asked whether he feels confident about defeating Mr. Manchin, Mr. McConnell responded: “We’re certainly going to be competitive. Yeah, we’ve got a nominee who’s clearly competitive and I think that happened in Indiana as well.”
Also, in Ohio’s governor’s race, Democrats nominated Obama-era consumer watchdog Richard Cordray while Republicans selected state Attorney General Mike DeWine.
And Mark Harris — a Baptist minister who opposes gay marriage and is critical of his party’s leaders in Congress — beat Rep. Robert Pittenger in a Republican primary in North Carolina after running a shoestring campaign, making Mr. Pittenger the first incumbent from either party to lose his seat in Congress due to a primary challenger this year.