Make America Great Again, a super PAC chaired by Trump’s former crusade manager, quietly acquired $300,000 in television advertising in Ohio. Tuesday.
The mid-summer race for Ohio’s historically Republican 15th Congressional District wouldn’t attract much national attention, but it suddenly becomes an important check on Trump’s approval power, which he used as a stick to silence opposition within the GOP.
Low-turnout special elections are not the best measure of Trump’s strength and he remains a GOP political force, revealing over the weekend that his political action committees are sitting on a huge pile of $100 million in money. weeks may shake up Trump’s prestige as a self-proclaimed kingmaker ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
“If this happens multiple times, applicants and political professionals, they’re not stupid, they’ll say they can win this race even if they don’t have Trump’s support,” ohio Republican Rep. Ryan Stubenrauch said.
In other cases, Trump’s resolution to put all applicants under his weight with luggage, adding several candidates opposed to Republicans who crossed paths with him by voting for his impeachment time, put him at odds with other party leaders. it will complicate efforts to regain majorities in the House and Senate next year.
In Ohio, Trump approved Mike Carey, a coal lobbyist who is among the 10 Republicans who updated former Republican Rep. Steve Stivers, who retired from Congress this year and faces a formidable team, adding 3 existing state lawmakers: state Sens. Bob Peterson and Stephanie Kunze and state Rep. Jeff LaRe. Former state Rep. Ron Hood is also a candidate.
LaRe is educated through Stivers, who held the position for a decade. Hood, meanwhile, has the benefactor of U. S. Sen. Rand Paul’s Political Action Committee, as well as devoted conservative Ruth Edmonds, a columbus minister and former NAACP chairwowoo.
In an interview, Carey described the speech he made to Trump when the two met for what he had thought of in a previous photo shoot this year.
“I said, ‘Look, Mr. President, you’ve been someone who has supported a lot of political hopefuls in your life, and a lot of them have let you down. ‘I said, “I’m in the same boat, I mean, on a much smaller scale,” Carey recalls. “After about an hour and 20 minutes, he said, ‘I’m in this. end line.
Trump, who led a rally with Carey in June, renewed his approval last week, denouncing applicants who woy his symbol or cited him in classified ads in an attempt to seduce voters. “I don’t know them, and I don’t even know who. ” But I know who Mike Carey is, I know a lot about him, and everything is fine,” Trump said in a statement. Let there be no further doubt as to who I approved!”
About 560,000 electorates are registered to vote in Ohio’s Republican-leaning 15th Congressional District. Half of his constituents live in parts of Franklin and Fairfield counties, most commonly suburban Columbus communities that Republicans may depend on for generations, but where Trump lost aid in 2020 In the rest of the sparsely populated district, Trump has stepped up from his 2016 performance. , as it did in rural Ohio.
It can be tricky to draw the company’s conclusions from a couple of low-turnout special elections, especially in Ohio, where the wide diversity of applicants can split the vote unexpectedly.
But Trump has put a wonderful non-public price on his endorsements and touted his record of victories. His formal help remains highly coveted, and applicants make pilgrimages to Trump’s homes in Florida and New Jersey to win his favor.
Some advisers have suggested to Trump that he be wiser in his possible options and enter careers where there is no transparent leader to maintain his reputation, and many expect Trump to be less susceptible to intervening in overcrowded primaries in the future.
In Texas, Trump had supported Susan Wright, the widow of Republican Rep. Ron Wright, who died in February after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Trump issued several statements touting his “total and general approval,” recording an automatic call at the end. of the time, and the Super PAC Make America Great Again made a $100,000 ad purchase.
However, he lost to fellow Republican Jake Ellzey, who sought to triumph over Trump’s slap by raising more cash and showing off his other supporters, adding Rick Perry, a former Texas governor who was also Trump’s secretary of power.
Since then, Trump has insisted the defeat was a victory and told Axios, “The big challenge is that we had two other very smart people who were Republicans. It was a win. “
In other cases, some party members worry that Trump will get hurt by supporting candidates who are likely to succeed in the Republican primary, where Trump’s supporters dominate but then struggle to win the general election.
Trump, for example, suggested to the wonderful soccer player Herschel Walker that he run for senate in Georgia, despite his giant background. A recent Associated Press review of tons of pages of public documents similar to Walker’s business ventures and divorce revealed allegations that Walker threatened. his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated accusations of monetary success, and business affiliates alarmed by unpredictable behavior.
Max Miller, a former White House aide and Trump crusader who challenges Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, an Ohio Republican who voted to impeach Trump, has also come under scrutiny. Gonzalez has overtaken Miller, and a recent Politico investigation found Miller had a problem. a history of speeding, underage drinking, and disorderly driving.
Trump also met with petitioners seeking to odist Rep. Liz Cheney, A Wyoming Republican, who has one of Trump’s most sensitive critics. The former president subsidized Kelly Tshibaka in her attempt to convince Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who voted to convict Trump. in his impeachment trial and is very likely to be re-elected next year.
It’s unclear whether the loyalty many Republican electorates feel toward Trump personally will carry over to the applicants he supports. On Tuesday, almost everyone was a Trump supporter; however, few said they cared about its approval.
Tim Ruzicka said he and his wife, Julie, who co-founded the group, are “totally Trump people,” but that he would not influence their choice. “That’s why not. They all defend themselves on their own merits. The productive candidate wins,” he said.
Julie Ruzicka echoed her husband’s feelings and said she planned to receive applicants all weekend before voting.
“I’m completely Trump all the way, but it’s not necessarily who I’m going to elect,” he said. “You know, the other bad people That Trump chose in the afterlife, it’s not his fault, however, they come back once they come in, so I have to look deeper. “
Mike Murray, an 80-year-old retiree, agreed that Trump’s approval doesn’t mean as much to him as the former president hoped.
“I mean, I like it, but I don’t rely on other people’s recommendations all the time,” he said. “I write mine, because most are, oh, ‘I’m going to fight for you,’ but what does that mean?I love Trump, but I have my own mind.
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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Colvin reported from Washington.
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