Republican voters embrace Trump style candidates
SANFORD UPSET A STARK REMINDER MANY NOW DEMAND TOTAL FIDELITY TO THE PRESIDENT
Republican voters lashed out against traditional party leaders yesterday, ousting Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina and nominating a conservative firebrand for Senate in Virginia, the latest illustration that fealty to President Donald Trump and his hard-line politics is paramount on the right.
Sanford, a former governor once seen as a possible candidate for president, lost to Katie Arrington, a state lawmaker, in a closely contested primary.
Arrington had made the incumbent’s frequent criticism of Trump the centrepiece of her campaign. And the president endorsed her in an unexpected, and deeply personal, broadside against Sanford just three hours before the polls closed.
Concerns dismissed
In Virginia, Republicans dismissed the concerns of mainstream party leaders to nominate Corey Stewart, a local official who has made his name attacking unauthorised immigrants and embracing emblems of the Confederacy, the AP reported. He will challenge Senator Tim Kaine, the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate.
Party leaders fear that Stewart, a fervent Trump supporter who has mimicked his slashing style, could drag down other Republicans in a state that is key to control of the House.
But Republican primary voters appeared more eager to punish Trump’s enemies than to reward his allies: Even as they seemed poised to turn out Sanford, South Carolina Republicans forced Governor Henry McMaster, one of Trump’s earliest supporters, into a runoff election against a 39-year-old political newcomer.
It was the upset in Sanford’s Charleston-area House district, however, that represented the starkest reminder that many Republican voters now demand total fidelity to the president: Sanford, who resurrected his career in the House after conducting a much-publicised extramarital affair as governor, has repeatedly taken aim at Trump.
Sanford had demanded Trump release his tax returns while bemoaning what he calls “the cult of personality” gripping the GOP. Arrington’s surprise victory seemed to vindicate Sanford’s assessment of the party — at his own expense.
McMaster in run-off
Sanford remained defiant in the face of defeat, telling supporters in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, that he did not regret clashing with Trump.
“It may have cost me an election in this case, but I stand by every one of those decisions to disagree with the president,” Sanford said on Tuesday night as his chances appeared to grow more bleak.
Yet on the same night that Sanford struggled, McMaster, a staunch Trump ally, was forced into a runoff — a vivid illustration that the Republican base’s thirst for insurgency does not necessarily spare Trump’s supporters. McMaster, 71, garnered just 44 per cent of the vote and will face John Warren in the June 26 runoff.