HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Republicans have found success in Democratic strongholds like Maryland and Massachusetts as they drafted moderate candidates who could appeal to voters in either party. With Democrats battling headwinds this year, Republicans had hoped the strategy would once again pay off.
But Republican voters have nominated former President Donald Trump loyalists in several Democratic states, including Maryland and Connecticut, further increasing the GOP’s chances of winning those general election races. Massachusetts will face its own test next month as GOP voters choose between a Trump-backed conservative and a more moderate Republican for the party’s governor candidate.
“It can’t go on,” said former Connecticut US Rep. Christopher Shays, a moderate Republican and Trump critic, referring to the GOP electing pro-Trump candidates. “One of the things that will happen is that many of the Trump candidates who won the primaries will lose the general election. And there are many hapless Republicans now in office who believe the Senate is now in danger of being democratic to stay .”
Trump’s influence was fully visible earlier this month when his last-minute endorsement helped Leora Levy, a member of the Republican National Committee opposing abortion rights, to victory in a Republican US Senate primary in Connecticut over the the party’s approved candidate, the former House of Representatives. Minority leader Themis Klarides. Klarides supports abortion rights and said she will not vote for Trump in 2020.
“Sad day for CT…,” tweeted Brenda Kupchick, Fairfield’s first Republican select woman and former state representative, after the August 9 race was called up for Levy. Days earlier, after Trump approved Levy on the loudspeaker at a GOP picnic, Kupchick tweeted, “How does that help the general election in CT?”
Kupchick’s tweets sparked criticism in both GOP camps. Trump supporters accused Klarides of not being a “true conservative”. Moderate Republicans predicted that Levy’s nomination would see Democratic U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal sail to victory in November, despite a Quinnipiac poll in May that registered his lowest job approval since he took office in 2011.
The last Republican to represent Connecticut in the U.S. Senate was Lowell P. Weicker Jr., who served from 1971 to 1989, although Connecticut didn’t elect a moderate Republican governor until 2006, along with M. Jodi Rell.
Levy, who has never served in an elective position before, claims her message about controlling high inflation and energy prices, stopping “government interference between parent and child” and tackling crime will resonate with a wide range of voters. .
A similar dynamic has unfolded in liberal Maryland, where Dan Cox, a Trump-backed far-right state legislator, won the Republican primary for governor over a moderate rival backed by outgoing Republican administration Larry Hogan, a Trump critic. And in heavily Democratic Massachusetts, Republican voters voting in the Sept. 6 gubernatorial election will choose between Geoff Diehl, a Trump-backed former state representative, and Chris Doughty, a moderate-minded businessman. Centrist Republican administration Charlie Baker, a critic of Trump, decided not to seek a third term.
The Democratic nominees in Maryland and Massachusetts are seen as strong favorites to flip the governor’s mansions in those states.
Trump’s support has also propelled his candidates to victory in top races in battlefield states, boosting Democrats’ optimism about winning the general election. In Arizona, former TV news anchor Kari Lake, who said she would not have certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, defeated attorney and businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson, who had been backed by former Vice President Mike Pence and outgoing GOP Governor Doug. Ducey. In Wisconsin, Trump-backed businessman Tim Michels defeated former Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, who had been backed by Pence and the state party. However, both Michels and Kleefisch falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged.
In Connecticut, Levy’s nomination is already being used as a rallying cry for Democrats, who claim she stands outside the mainstream for a state where Republicans are outnumbered by unaffiliated voters and by Democrats. Aside from her opposition to abortion rights — reversing her stance years ago from supporting abortion rights — Levy has spoken out against work-related COVID-19 vaccine requirements and transgender rights. Levy thanked the former president profusely during her acceptance speech, promising, “I won’t let you down.”
A day after the primaries, Blumenthal’s campaign sent out a fundraising message warning: “First results are in, and I’m officially up against Trump’s hand-picked general election candidate — a radical Republican who will be nothing else.” than a mark on Mitch McConnell’s disastrous agenda.”
Levy, in turn, has tied Blumenthal to Biden, blaming him as a “rubber stamp” for the Democratic president’s “failed policies” as president and Blumenthal for playing a “key role in creating virtually every challenge facing our country is facing today.”
“Dick Blumenthal wants this election to be a referendum on a president. Donald Trump is not on the ballot in November, but Joe Biden is,” she said in a press release issued after the primaries.
Shays, who now lives in Maryland, said he believes a Trump endorsement is disqualifying. He said he contributed to the campaign of Wes Moore, the Democrat who is fighting Cox in Maryland, and would vote for Blumenthal if he still lived in Connecticut.
“I will vote against anyone seeking Donald Trump’s support because that tells me so much about their character and what they intend to do if elected. That’s the bottom line for me,” Shays said.
Connecticut Republicans President Ben Proto rejected any suggestion that Levy’s primary victory marked a political evolution within the GOP state. Instead, he said, this year’s party has “candidates across the board who have differing opinions on certain issues.”
But what they have in common, he said, is the goal of controlling inflation, making Connecticut more affordable, tackling crime and making parents the “primary stakeholder” in their children’s lives.
“Ultimately, we’re pretty solid on the issues that matter to the people of the state of Connecticut,” he said.
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