Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently told the lobbyist on a call, “According to someone familiar with the comments,” he urged loyalists to help close the gap on the campaign’s weakest days.
But the difficulties in raising GOP funds could be indicative of what party leaders can see from the current national and state-level polls: the president and the Republican Party are losing ground – and running in time to get it back. Is.
Anxiety is spreading in the Republican class, especially in the Senate’s main race, which is crucial to sustaining the party’s majority. The alarm went off on the night of the first presidential debate, as many top Republican strategists saw Trump’s performance in “astonishing horror” in the words of the Senate’s top-level senior adviser.
“The president made no argument for a second term. He made no argument about why voters should choose Republicans,” said PN GOP, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid being sidelined from the White House. Consultant CNN “He didn’t help himself, but he certainly didn’t help the Senate meeting.”
Recent polls in Iowa and Arizona state that Trump won in 2016, showing the president walking with his anti-democratic former vice president Joe Biden. In those same states, Democratic Senate candidates have more or less the lead in Republican positions.
“The enthusiasm on the other side is clear,” said a Republican opera operative. “The fact that we’re talking about being tied to Kansas, a seat we haven’t lost since 1932, tells you exactly what you need to know. It’s a really bad atmosphere.”
The basics of a general election have changed little over the last few months. Biden has consistently led in national and crucial-state elections as voters have been sour in handling the coronavirus epidemic by the president. The major shift in public perception of Biden or the epidemic that Republicans had hoped for never came.
That has been made clear by recent events – Trump’s belligerent debate performance and his positive Covid-19 test – that failed to change direction and instead further aggravated the conditions within the presidential race.
The money gap of GOP is illustrative. Dan Reza executive Dan Eberhart says the party’s Senate leadership is sounding the alarm about the Democratic lead for Republican donors like himself.
“The benefit of raising funds has allowed Democrats to expand the map and even secure Republican seats to make this cycle more competitive. These costs are overwhelming for GOP employees and force them to abandon their strategy in favor of negative attack advertising.” Said Eberhart.
Republicans’ fortunes are tied to the president, party strategists say, because every senator needs the president’s support. The results of the 2018 midterm elections showed the dangers for Republicans without Trump on the ballot.
“It’s impossible to distance yourself from the president,” Neil Newhouse, John McCain and Mitt Romney’s lead campaigner for the Republican presidential campaign, told CNN. “It’s better to determine the differences with your opponent.”
Endangered Republicans are working hard to draw these differences. Graham, for example, told CNN that Harrison’s large fundraising in the last quarter was “very impressive,” but predicted a “reaction” to his Democratic rival.
“Liberals hate me after helping Kevanoff and Trump,” Graham said. “There’s a fixed building back home about this, I’ll tell you – about the money, I’ll try to buy the state.”
“I’m proud to be fighting for Arizona on things like your tax cuts,” Maxley said. “I’m proud to fight for Arizona every day,” he added.
One of the protected Republican tactics in Washington, McConnell has instructed his sensitive members to do whatever it takes to win their race, arguing that if the Republican-led Senate provides a check on Biden, should he be elected in November? . That approach has been used fairly, say people familiar with the matter, for fear of getting away from the White House.
Privately, McConnell has expressed frustration with some members of the Washington establishment for failing to increase funding for Republican senators. But the recalcitrant G.O.P. Going to the donors party election day is hardly the biggest problem.
“Money is not everything, but Trump is proving to be the safest anchor in the neck of the most secure Senate Republican,” Eberhart said.
CNN’s Frederica Chauten and Manu Raju contributed to this report.
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