GOP incumbents under attack from far right-wing opponents
OKLAHOMA CITY — Republican U.S. Sen. James Lankford would seem to have all the conservative credentials he’d need to coast to re-election in deepred Oklahoma.
A devout Baptist, Mr. Lankford was the director of the nation’s largest Christian youth camp for more than a decade. He speaks out regularly against abortion and what he describes as excessive government spending. And his voting record in the Senate aligned with former President Donald Trump’s position nearly 90% of the time.
But like several other seemingly safe GOP incumbents, Mr. Lankford, who didn’t even draw a primary opponent in 2016, finds himself under fierce attack by a challenger in his own party. The antagonist is a 29-yearold evangelical minister and political newcomer who managed to draw more than 2,000 people to a “Freedom Rally” headlined by Mr. Trump’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, at which Mr. Lankford was accused of being not conservative enough.
“When James [Lankford] certified the big lie, he joined the big lie,” Jackson Lahmeyer told the raucous crowd in Norman, citing Mr. Lankford’s failure to endorse Mr. Trump’s false claims about the election outcome. “The 2020 presidential election — that was a stolen election, and we will never, ever allow it to happen again.”
Similar scenes are playing out in other red states where ultra right-wing challengers are tapping into anger among Republicans over Mr. Trump’s election loss and coronavirus-related lockdowns. Some incumbents suddenly are scrambling to defend their right flank, heating up their own rhetoric on social media and ripping into President Joe Biden at every opportunity.
In Texas, GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who faces a contested re-election primary next year, is pushing looser gun laws than he ever previously embraced and proposing unprecedented state actions, including promises to build more walls on the Mexican border.
Some conservative incumbents are obvious targets for right-wing challenges — notably U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney in Wyoming and Anthony Gonzalez in Ohio, who voted to impeach Mr. Trump. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s offense was refusing to block Georgia’s electoral votes from being awarded to Mr. Biden.
But with the 2022 election cycle approaching, the backlash is also touching even those who backed Mr. Trump consistently. Texas’ Mr. Abbott echoed Mr. Trump’s partisan positions and has banked $55 million in campaign funds, more than any sitting governor in history.
But he has drawn a challenge from Allen West, who until recently was the chairman of the Texas GOP. West, a tea party firebrand and former Florida congressman, has attacked Mr. Abbott’s leadership after Democrats temporarily thwarted a GOP voting bill by decamping to Washington.
In Arkansas, Republican U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a two-term incumbent, has drawn several GOP challengers, including the owner of a gun range that drew national attention for banning Muslims. Another is a former Arkansas Razorbacks football player whose campaign kickoff ad shows him firing an assault rifle and complaining that Democrats in Washington have been “taken over by radicalsocialists.”
Mr. Boozman’s opponents have criticized him for certifying the presidential election results. He may also draw fire because he is unusually mild-mannered for such a highly charged time. While he has historically focused on the state’s agriculture industry, he now frequently mentions Mr. Trump in his campaign emails and even offered tickets to a Trump rally.
In Oklahoma, Mr. Lankford was jarred by the party chairman’s endorsement of his opponent, which he said wasan “unheard of” breach of traditionalparty neutrality.