As the Final Months Before Election Day Begin, New Wave of Scandals Plaguing GOP Senate Candidates

Following months of reporting highlighting Senate Republicans’ candidate quality problems, a fresh wave of news stories is highlighting even more scandals plaguing GOP Senate candidates as the final months of the campaign begin.

See some of the new stories from the past weeks alone for yourself: 

• (AZ) Copper Courier: Kari Lake defends big pharma’s ability to price-gouge as vital to the free market. 

• (FL) Jezebel: Florida Sen. Rick Scott Thinks Abortion Is a ‘Healthy Baby Crying Itself to Death.’

• (MD) Semafor: Larry Hogan praised Donald Trump’s ‘incredible justices to the Supreme Court’ in 2022.

• (MD) Advocate: Larry Hogan, Maryland GOP Senate candidate, evades gay constituent’s question when asked about his record. “Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan…is actually no friend to LGBTQ+ people, say activists and elected officials from his state. In a recent teletown hall, he evaded questions on his record when asked by someone who identified as gay. At that recent campaign event, the gay Marylander confronted him about his failure to sign some bills that would protect LGBTQ+ rights and people.”

• (MI) Bridge Michigan: Mike Rogers vows to fight drug war, but urged opioid access in Congress. “A Bridge Michigan investigation revealed that while in Congress from 2001-2015, Rogers was a leading advocate for greater access to pain medications, which are typically variations of opioids. He received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the same drug companies that now are paying billions of dollars in national opioid settlements for their roles in causing the epidemic.” 

• (MI) Jezebel: Michigan Republican in Tight Senate Race Says He’d Respect Abortion Rights. His Record Suggests Otherwise. 

• (MT) Washington Post: Montana GOP Senate candidate touts his business. It’s losing millions. 

• (MT) NBC News: Tim Sheehy may turn the Senate red. But is he really a successful businessman? “The Trump-backed Montana Republican has touted his business savvy. Recent events, however, raise questions about his firm’s viability and its efforts to get government contracts…In seeking to win government contracts, one Bridger unit Sheehy headed after receiving an investment from Blackstone certified itself as a socially and economically disadvantaged company, according to federal documents filed with the Small Business Administration.”

• (MT) Daily Montanan: National parks, military dispute Sheehy’s claim that he parachuted into Glacier.

• (MT) Char-Koosta News: Senate Candidate Tim Sheehy Makes Questionable Racially-Tinged Remarks About Crow Reservation.

• (MT) Heartland Signal: Unearthed audio shows Tim Sheehy calling abortion ‘sinful,’ wanting it to ‘end tomorrow.’ Montana Republican Senate nominee Tim Sheehy told Republican activists last December he wished for abortion to “end tomorrow” as he called it “sinful.”

• (MT) Daily Montanan: Sheehy criticizes ballot measures, including initiative to protect abortion. “Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate Tim Sheehy criticized a ballot measure ‘trying to legalize abortion completely’ after making a claim about the medical procedure earlier found to be false. Abortion is legal in Montana.”

• (NV) Nevada Current: Like Trump, Senate candidate Sam Brown appears aligned with Project 2025. 

• (OH) NBC News: Ohio GOP Senate candidate plans new car dealership amid scrutiny of his businesses.

• (OH) Cleveland.com: Bernie Moreno got sued by an employee who said he didn’t get paid what he was promised. Here’s what happened. “During his previous career as a high-end auto dealer, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno was sued by an employee who said he was stiffed out of money that Moreno personally promised him before he was hired.”

• (OH) Mother Jones: Bernie Moreno Says He Built His Car Dealer Empire All on His Own. The Reality Is More Complicated. “His up-by-the-boostraps tale is central to his campaign pitch, but there’s more to the story of the Ohio Senate candidate’s rise…He drew the ire of rival dealers by collecting millions of dollars in financial assistance from manufacturers to open new storefronts, and he testified that Mercedes-Benz had pulled strings to get him a sweetheart deal on his very first Ohio dealership.”

• (PA) PennLive: McCormick Senate campaign, trying to score points, picks the wrong Philadelphia. 

• (TX) San Antonio Current: Feds ask Ted Cruz’s campaign to explain dozens of illegal donations it received. 

• (WI) American Journal News: Republican Eric Hovde’s company drove small businesses into bankruptcy. “Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde runs a bank that forced small businesses into bankruptcy. Hovde often highlights his banking experience as evidence that he knows how to support entrepreneurs.” 

• (WI) WisPolitics: Eric Hovde claims he knows Black culture because he had Black friends, lived in DC for 20 years. “‘Black culture? I lived in D.C. for 20 years,’ Hovde said. ‘Black colleagues, Black friends. I lived in Black culture.’”

• (WI) Washington Post: Wisconsin GOP Senate hopeful says Obama tried to stir ‘anger’ over race before elections. “Eric Hovde, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin, has accused former president Barack Obama of using conflicts between police and Black men to try to generate ‘maximum anger’ before elections.”

• (WI) Heartland Signal: Eric Hovde falsely says the morning-after pill is abortion, then compared it to narcotics. 

• (WI) HuffPost: This GOP Senate Hopeful Is Railing Against Electric Vehicles. He Made Big Money Off EV Stocks.

See also: Courier Newsroom: The source of Democrats’ Senate confidence? Flawed GOP candidates; DSCC: MEMO: Senate Republican Recruits Have a Candidate Quality Problem.

###