Trend Watch: Republican Candidates Trip Over Each Other In Desperate Attempt To Win Coveted Trump Endorsement

GOP Primaries Consumed By Messy Battles To Earn “Trump’s Blessing”

A series of recent reports from Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina detail how Republican primaries in key battleground states are being consumed by a messy, all-out competition to appease Trump: 

• In Ohio, the Associated Press reports that “Republican contenders already are working furiously to cast themselves as Trump’s favorite in the open race” and the field is positioning themselves “frantically in hopes of being deemed the Trumpiest of them all.”

• In Pennsylvania, reporting from The Hill details how Republicans are “bracing” for a “heated Senate primary…that will see candidates competing to tie themselves to former President Trump.”

• And in North Carolina, the News & Observer is reporting that GOP primary rivals are “courting” Trump, with two of the three major candidates having “already made trips to see Trump in South Florida” and bragging about their relationship with the disgraced former president.

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AP: Republicans vie for Trump’s blessing in Ohio Senate primary

• One candidate has been circulating a who’s-done-more-for-Donald Trump scorecard. Footage of a waving Trump was dropped without context into a TV ad for another. A photo posted to Twitter gushes over the ex-president and his wife stopping by a third candidate’s fundraiser just to say hello.

• Republican contenders already are working furiously to cast themselves as Trump’s favorite in the open race. That work can be awkward and far from subtle.

• Despite all his pride in playing kingmaker, Trump has been reticent in his endorsements — in some cases even waiting until after the primary to give his approval. That leaves the field in Ohio positioning frantically in hopes of being deemed the Trumpiest of them all.

• Ohio’s Democratic U.S. senator, Sherrod Brown, had a different take: “The five Republican candidates for Senate are like kids on a playground sticking their tongue out and saying Donald Trump loves me more than he loves you,” he said.

• In late March, Mandel, Timken and two wealthy businessmen in the race, Mike Gibbons and Bernie Moreno, made pilgrimages to south Florida and suddenly got summoned to a group meeting with Trump before a fundraiser he headlined at his West Palm Beach golf club. The candidates were asked to make their case for Trump, in a bizarre scene reminiscent of Trump’s reality TV show, “The Apprentice.”

• But no endorsement has followed and the campaigning for Trump’s affection has continued.

• Earlier this month, an outside group, the USA Freedom Fund, linked Mandel to Trump in a TV commercial aired during Kentucky Derby coverage. It showed Trump speaking at a pre-2016 rally, even though Mandel was nowhere in sight. The spot also attacked Vance for past criticisms of Trump.

• Timken has declared herself an “unwavering fighter for Donald Trump,” and circulated a scorecard comparing all the ways she is the most Trumpian in the field. Gibbons and Moreno point to their past financial backing of Trump and other Republicans. A Moreno supporter last week posted photos of the candidate being greeted at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser by Trump and his wife, Melania.

• “The danger is painting yourself into all-in on Trump right now and then you have to sell yourself in the general election,” Abernathy said. “How much of how you tie yourself to Trump now are you going to to wish you could untie a little bit? The general election is a different story.”

The Hill: Republicans vie for Trump’s mantle in Pa. Senate primary

• Republicans are bracing for a potentially heated Senate primary in Pennsylvania that will see candidates competing to tie themselves to former President Trump.

• A number of candidates with ties to the former president are considering runs, including Trump’s former ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands. Meanwhile, former congressional candidate Sean Parnell, who is close with Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., announced his candidacy on Tuesday.

• Real estate developer and former lieutenant governor candidate Jeff Bartos was the first top-tier candidate to jump into the race and has also voiced his support for Trump.

• The primary comes as the GOP faces historic divides across the country, including in the Keystone State. 

News & Observer: Budd, Walker court him, but ‘too early’ for Trump to make pick in NC’s US Senate race

• Donald Trump, no longer president and no longer able to post to social media, remains the most powerful Republican in the country.

• And two of the three major Republican candidates in North Carolina’s 2022 U.S. Senate race have already made trips to see Trump in South Florida.

• Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker visited Wednesday, posting a photo of himself with Trump on Twitter and saying he “appreciated his encouragement in our U.S. Senate run.” U.S. Rep. Ted Budd visited with Trump before entering the race and said he thought Trump would support him — so long as daughter-in-law Lara Trump, a North Carolina native, doesn’t get in the race.

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