Trump plunges into GOP primaries with risky picks
Trump’s decision, against the advice of some of his advisers, plunged the former president deep into a messy primary — sparking an internecine fight among some of his own advisers along with considerable backlash from many other Republicans.
“I’m a gambler,” Trump said, explaining to one adviser why he wanted to get into the Pennsylvania race, according to a person who heard his comments and who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal private discussions.
With his endorsements of Oz, Senate candidate Ted Budd in North Carolina, gubernatorial hopeful David Perdue in Georgia and, on Friday, author and Senate candidate J.D. Vance in Ohio, Trump has leaped into the middle of several competitive primaries that could put his desired image as a kingmaker at risk.
In key contests, Trump’s statements have not cleared the field like they once did — and some advisers fear he has diluted his endorsements by backing hundreds of candidates, some for low-level positions, because of their willingness to support his false claims of a fraudulent election.
The fate of his candidates is being closely watched by his own party, including potential rivals for the 2024 presidential nomination, as a measure of how strong a force he remains in the GOP. Trump has taken a different tack than many other presidential hopefuls, jumping into messy races and angling for fights in critical states, instead of making safe endorsements and staying out of charged Republican primaries. At times, he has picked candidates trailing in the polls and has taken advice from a hodgepodge of informal and formal advisers, real estate friends, consultants, Mar-a-Lago members, and others to make selections.
“The biggest way to defeat him is to electorally chip away at the notion he is the most powerful endorsement in the country. He still is, but smart operatives need to play against him in races where he’s made dumb endorsements,” said Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House communications director under Trump, who has become a critic.
In at least one high-profile case, Trump has shown caution, dropping Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks as an endorsee when Brooks faded in the polls, after watching his first Pennsylvania endorsement, Sean Parnell, withdraw from the race.
But in other races, he continues to lean in. He is likely to endorse candidates in several more competitive primaries, even as some people around him say he is willing to take risks they would not. Advisers say he wants to hold rallies in almost every key state where he has made an endorsement.
Trump endorsed Vance in Ohio on Friday afternoon against the wishes of some of his advisers — who are working for other candidates in the race and argued against an endorsement by citing negative comments Vance made about Trump in the past. Candidates and operatives also lobbied more than two dozen GOP county chairmen in Ohio to sign a letter opposing a Vance endorsement. Trump received so many calls that he stopped taking them Friday, an adviser said.
“I don’t want him to make a misstep for his sake,” said Dave Johnson, the chair of the Columbiana County Republican Party and a Trump supporter who makes ceramic tiles with the former president’s likeness on them. “I think it will backfire on Trump, and if he’s running in 2024, I want Ohio to stay strong Trump country,” he said.
It is a crowded race, and Vance has trailed in many polls. But Vance has the backing of the president’s namesake son and billionaire tech guru Peter Thiel, among others, and Trump was willing to take the risk because he believes he can get Vance over the top, an adviser said.
“It is all about winning! … Like some others, J.D. Vance may have said some not so great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades. He is our best chance for victory in what could be a very tough race,” Trump said in a statement.
He added, “This is not an easy endorsement for me to make because I like and respect some of the other candidates in the race — they’ve said great things about ‘Trump’ and, like me, they love Ohio and love our Country.”
Trump’s endorsement maneuvers have also pit many of his longtime advisers — including several on the payroll for the uber-wealthy McCormick — against his preferred candidates in other races. The Pennsylvania and Ohio nods effectively place his name on the ballot in two of the hottest primaries in the country.
Several advisers said his myriad endorsements were posing challenges to his political operation, which has a small number of employees. Even though Trump has more than $120 million in his PAC, he has a bare-bones staff and is loath to spend money, advisers say. “Hopefully he will slow down now,” one person close to him said.
But Trump has been described by multiple advisers as determined to keep his dominant status in the GOP — and believing that he can affect races like no one else can. He also likes endorsing against candidates, advisers say, just to see their numbers go down.
The former president trumpeted the cavalcade of endorsement-seekers in an April 6 interview with The Washington Post at Mar-a-Lago, ticking through how many visitors he had — and how much they wanted from him. “I’m the king of endorsements,” he said, with unverified numbers about how much political candidates both foreign and domestic go up in the polls when he backs them. “Everyone wants one.”
While he says he has not made a decision on running for president in 2024, he has signaled to advisers that he will — and that he believes the key to keeping his foothold in the party is showing that he can buttress his favored candidates and vanquish his enemies. “Rice is getting crushed in South Carolina,” Trump said in the Post interview, speaking of Rep. Tom Rice (R), who voted to impeach him. He then bragged about how he was defeating, or would defeat, everyone who voted to impeach him, but did not address the struggles of some of his backed candidates.
Even his critics say Trump’s endorsement remains the most influential in the Republican Party. The intense jockeying for his backing among candidates and operatives has only heightened in recent months, as those looking to kiss Trump’s ring flock to visit him in Palm Beach, Fla. Those with his endorsement often tout it repeatedly in advertisements.
“I’m the Trump-endorsed candidate for governor,” Kari Lake, the Arizona candidate who has espoused Trump’s false claims about the election, said when introducing herself in one ad.
In Georgia, David Perdue, Trump’s recruited and endorsed candidate for governor, is struggling to raise money and trailing Gov. Brian Kemp by a large margin.
“I think a lot of Trump supporters are willing to forgive Trump being mad at you as long as you don’t fire back. Because if you attack Trump you are no better than the left,” said one Republican operative loyal to Kemp.
The Trump endorsement, even in states with significant Republican power, is not a slam dunk. A recent poll by the University of Georgia found little change in Republican primary voters’ preference in the governor’s race when people were informed of Trump’s endorsement. Kemp’s support declined by 1.7 percentage points among voters told of Trump’s backing, still leaving him with a seven-point lead over Purdue.
The governor’s race in Georgia is not the only contest in the state where a Trump endorsee could go down when Republicans go to the polls on May 24. Trump’s endorsed candidates for lieutenant governor, insurance commissioner, attorney general and Congress are all facing tough primary challenges. Trump’s candidate for secretary of state, Rep. Jody Hice, is also fighting a tough race to topple the incumbent, Brad Raffensperger.
“It’s notable in Georgia, which is still a pretty Republican state, he’s probably going to get Herschel Walker, and that may be it out of all his endorsed candidates. Brad…
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