Top Republican Senate leaders and staffers let loose on the Trump administration yesterday in Politico, blaming their abysmal recruiting for the 2018 midterms on the administration’s chaos and dysfunction.
Check out the lowlights:
NRSC Chairman Gardner vents about his bad recruiting record: “Appearing before a small group of donors and activists recently, NRSC Chairman Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) expressed concern about how the political environment is making it harder to get candidates into racesand said the wooing of potential Senate candidates was going slower than expected.”
The dangers and stumbling blocks for Senate Republicans are everywhere…
- In Nevada: “[Dean] Heller, the most endangered GOP incumbent up for reelection in 2018, was initially targeted with a surprise $1 million digital, TV and radio assault — an act of political retaliation that stunned senators and other top GOP officials…The offensive reflected Trump’s mounting frustration with Capitol Hill Republicans.”
- In Arizona: “Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, a Trump critic, is facing a difficult reelection, Trump-fueled primary worries are intensifying…Flake has already drawn a Trump-friendly primary opponent in former state Sen. Kelli Ward, and two other allies of the president — Trump 2016 campaign COO Jeff DeWit and former state GOP chair Robert Graham — could also try to unseat him.”
…even where they least expect it:
- In Alabama (!): “McConnell has also been stewing about another race: the Alabama Senate primary, which has turned into a personal priority for the Majority Leader. For weeks, McConnell and top political aides had been asking the Republican National Committee to release coordinated funding to help newly appointed Sen. Luther Strange…Yet after weeks of requests, no RNC expenditures have been granted.”
Bonus: McConnell’s Nightmare: “Mitch McConnell is delivering an urgent warning to staffers, Republican senators and even the president himself: If Obamacare repeal fails this week, the GOP will lose all leverage and be forced to work with Chuck Schumer.”
Published: Jun 28, 2017