| Across the country, Republicans are stuck in self-destructive, messy primaries — and with several key primary dates approaching, the attacks are only going to heat up. Republican contenders are slinging mud at each other, weakening the eventual winner while Democrats remain focused on November. Republicans are wasting money, resources, and time battling each other in a series of never-ending cage matches.
National Journal: Senate Republicans Brace for Series of Unsettled Primaries
By Kimberly Railey | April 3, 2018
- “The Republican contests next month in Indiana and West Virginia will kick off a four-month stretch of unpredictable primaries all key to the party’s hopes of holding and expanding its Senate majority. In a couple of the nastiest intraparty fights on the map, those May 8results will set the tone for the remainder of the most closely watched nomination fights in Montana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona.”
- “But there is mounting concern about the primary in West Virginia, where some Republicans fear that a victory by ex-con coal magnate Don Blankenship could torpedo the party’s odds against Sen. Joe Manchin.”
- “Of the party’s four other unsettled primaries to watch, Republicans worry most about Arizona, where the polarizing Kelli Ward and Joe Arpaio are squaring off against Rep. Martha McSally, the establishment favorite.”
- “Republicans are also staring down a jumbled primary in Wisconsin, where state Sen. Leah Vukmir and Marine veteran Kevin Nicholson are fighting to take on Sen. Tammy Baldwin. And in Michigan, a state viewed as a reach for the GOP, neither Sandy Pensler nor John James holds a commanding lead for the chance to challenge Sen. Debbie Stabenow.”
- “Republicans pointed to Democratic Sen. Doug Jones’s stunning victory in Alabama as an example of the instability in the current political landscape. The nomination, they add, of alleged child molester Roy Moore in that race—and the fallout that ensued—underscores how strongly candidates matter.”
Read the full story here. |
