Republicans ramp up support for candidates snubbed by Trump
Republicans are growing increasingly bold in their support for a handful of candidates snubbed by former
President Trump in hotly contested GOP primaries.
While Trump remains the most coveted endorser among Republicans, his picks in some races have stirred concern and frustration within some corners of the GOP, with some Republicans questioning whether the former president is picking the strongest candidates in potentially competitive races.
In most cases, Trump has prioritized a candidate’s loyalty and willingness to back up his claim that the 2020 election was stolen when deciding whom to endorse. And while Republicans acknowledge that the former president’s support matters, his endorsement also has its limits.
“I think people are, rightfully so, paying attention to who he’s endorsing,” said Saul Anuzis, a longtime Republican strategist and former Michigan GOP chairman. “But it’s important to note that, in general, endorsing a candidate doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to determine who the winner is.”
“They still have to be credible candidates, they still have to run good campaigns, they still have to raise the money and do what they need to do to win,” he added.
Keith Naughton, a veteran Republican strategist, also noted that Trump has been reluctant to spend money backing up his endorsed candidates. While Save America, the former president’s leadership PAC, ended February with more than $110 million in the bank, it didn’t make any donations to the candidates he is supporting.
“He’s not spending it,” Naughton said. “That’s his money and he wants to reserve it for himself.”
In fact, several of Trump’s preferred candidates have struggled to keep up with their top primary rivals in the money race. Britt, for instance, raised more than three times as much as Brooks in the final three months of 2021 and has more than twice as much money in the bank as the Alabama congressman.
Trump’s endorsement also hasn’t always translated to success in the polls. In Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial primary, former Sen.
David Perdue has routinely trailed Gov.
Brian Kemp in public polling and fundraising despite having Trump’s support.
Kemp, meanwhile, has been singled out for particularly aggressive criticism from the former president for rejecting his pleas to toss out his electoral loss in the 2020 presidential race in Georgia. In a break with Trump, the Republican Governors Association launched an ad in support of Kemp last month — the first time in its history that the group has financed a TV buy boosting a GOP incumbent facing a primary challenge.
Trump has continued to insist upon the strength of his endorsement, arguing that he’s “almost unblemished in the victory count.” Still, there are signs that his influence over GOP voters may be loosening, at least a little bit.
An NBC News poll released in late January found that most Republican voters — 56 percent — see themselves as more supportive of the GOP overall than Trump, while 36 percent said that they see themselves as more supporters of Trump than the party itself. By comparison, a similar poll from 2020 found that 54 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents considered themselves more supportive of Trump than the party as a whole.
“The bottom line is he’s getting stale,” Naughton said. “He’s not offering anything new. It’s like his TV show ‘The Apprentice.’ After a while, people stop watching because it gets boring.”
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