His meddling in midterms not only cost us the Senate but down-ballot races
Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears has become at least the second prominent Republican conservative elected in Virginia (the other being Del. Tim Anderson) who have come out bravely and said the Republican Party has to get away from Trump because he is costing us elections, notably a 2022 “Red Wave.”
I don’t believe the anti-Trump sentiment hurt us in Virginia – because Trump’s involvement here was minimal. Sen. Jen Kiggans won the 2nd district CD, despite having to blow almost all her cash to withstand Jarome Bell in the primary, who was backed by Democrats with ads labeling hi the MAGA candidate.
Yesli Vega was a great candidate in the 7th but was outspent and came up short. Hung Cao, in the 10th, also was underfunded, and was not the best candidate , but didn’t do bad considering.
As we sit today, it seems the Democrats are celebrating potential U.S. Senate victories in Arizona and Nevada, this giving them at least 50-50 control pending the runoff in Georgia Dec. 3.
Not only did Trump-backed candidates fail in key pivotal races for Senate and Governor, but this also hurt down ballot races, notably in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
In Pennsylvania, Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, both lost – and with that, so did the GOP control of the Pennsylvania legislature. Democrats now control the Pa. lower house for the first time in a decade
Mastriano lost by 14 points — the biggest gubernatorial margin in an open race since the 1940s.
Political scientist and Republican consultant Sam Chen told a Pennsylvania news service I linked above:
“Top of the ticket matters,” “This is a year where Republicans did not put strong candidates on the top of the ticket in Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz.”
In Michigan, Fox News and Trump favorite, the very telegenic Tudor Dixon, lost to incumbent Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (54.5 percent to 43.9). We thought “Witchmer” was vulnerable due to her COVID lockdown policies.
Not so. Not only did Dixon lose badly, but the Republicans lost control of BOTH houses of their state legislature for the first time in 40 years!
This “Detroit News” article is based on a memo written by Paul Cordes, the chief of staff for the Michigan Republican Party. In it, he writes:
“Tudor’s efforts focused largely on Republican red meat issues, in hopes of inspiring a 2020 like showing at the polls…There were more ads on transgender sports than inflation, gas prices and bread and butter issues that could have swayed independent voters.
In addition, big donors avoided Dixon who had only $524,000 coming out of the Aug. 22 primary vs. Whitmer’s $14 million. As such, she faced “millions of dollars in unanswered advertisements” using her own words on the subject of abortion.
Dixon, a former political commentator, fired back on social media blaming the Michigan Republican Party for the Democrat blowout.
This is the same old chicken-and-egg issue – is the loss due to the candidate or the party not “doing enough?” In my view, the answer is often “both,” but in this midterm election perhaps the real factor was Donald Trump.
Imagine, for a minute, if Republicans nominated Trump in Heels State Sen. Amanda Chase for governor of Virginia last year. First, she never would have matched the fundraising of Democrat Terry McAuliffe and she would have been a liability for House of Delegate candidates running down ballot. In my view, McAwful would have won, and we would have lost seats in the lower House versus taking control, which we did with Glenn Youngkin at the top of the ticket – who Trump just ridiculed (for no reason).
Loyal trump backers will say that Nevada and Arizona were “stolen.” Yes, this endless counting of mail in ballots can get one suspicious but are Democrats claiming we stole elections from them in key tight house races we won? In addition, aren’t there Republican and Democrat volunteers watching the count in these states? I think so. Hence, it’s a knee-jerk emotional reaction to suspect fraud. Democrats did that in 2000, 2004 and 2016.
And the way to obviate this excessive early and absentee voting is to elect Republican legislators!
It’s clear that Trump backed candidates like Mastriano, Oz, Dixon, Adam Laxalt in Nevada and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire all lost. What’s more, Democrats knew this and put millions in primary ads to fool voters to nominate weaker “ultra MAGA candidates” against the Democrats – like they tried to do in the Virginia 2nd CD.
Trump’s continued efforts to be “relevant” after leaving office and demand fealty from candidates or else they are RINOs is a poisonous attitude and it has cost us dearly with independent voters. Yes, Trump is Gold in very Red areas, such as Ohio with his preferred Senate candidate JD Vance winning.
But not so in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and many other states where we need to win independent voters to win statewide races and the presidency.
I was a Day One Trump supporter in 2015 when I was a Loudoun Supervisor. I endorsed him the DAY he announced, meaning I may have been the first elected official in Virginia to do so.
I campaigned feverishly for him in 2016 and again in 2020 and was a National Convention delegate for him twice . Nobody can call me a “Never Trumper.”
But as Del. Tim Anderson said: “it’s time to put trump in our rear view mirror.” However, I will say that it’s important for Republicans to embrace his very successful “America First” anti-socialist policies. It’s vital to separate that from the polarizing poisonous character of this man.
Trump supporters should start helping other presidential candidates, get off the election integrity anger and get involved in a serious way to elect GOP candidates – not sitting inside polling areas watching people vote, but working outside to get folks to vote Republican.
