The seven House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump are up against a vindictive former president, his enraged followers, and a summer of primary elections. Their message was simple: We're ready to fight.
Rep. Liz Cheney, the most vociferous of the group, has infuriated so many Wyoming Republicans that they are preparing to change state election laws to shut off one possible path to political survival.
McCarthy Snubs Liz Cheney, Endorses Rival
However, they spent 2021 preparing for a fight, accumulating campaign cash, determining which local activists could be persuaded to change their minds, and, in some cases, preparing for their first difficult election in years. Two of Cheney's colleagues will have to defend Democratic-leaning districts against far-right candidates in the summer and again in the fall.
If he doesn't resign first, another Republican incumbent and a Trump-backed state lawmaker may have to fight for the GOP candidacy. And, in certain places, due to all-party primary and runoff legislation, two others may have to defeat the same opponent twice to keep their seats in Congress.
Even as Trump has poured his support behind opponents in all but one district, helping to clean and consolidate the GOP fields trying to replace them, they are preparing to run again, according to Politico.
Cheney's Republican opponent for Wyoming's single congressional seat has taken the extraordinary step of participating in a party primary to unseat a one-time comrade who has become the main target of former President Donald Trump.
In a campaign that has become a litmus test for the Republican Party, McCarthy announced he was endorsing Harriet Hageman, a pro-Trump candidate who has echoed the former president's baseless allegations that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
It was a bold step from a leader who hopes to become Speaker of the House if his party wins control of Congress in November's midterm elections and who has attempted to strike a balance between his far-right supporters and more moderate conservatives.
McCarthy's move was the latest escalation of the Republican Party's effort to exile Cheney for speaking out forcefully against Trump and participating in a House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Congressional leaders rarely get involved in primary races against sitting members.
McCarthy's endorsement came just two weeks after the Republican National Committee decided to condemn Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, for their roles in the investigation into the tragic Capitol brawl. The resolution stated that the two were participating in "persecution of ordinary individuals engaged in lawful political dialogue," which was the party's strongest assertion to yet that the violence and the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election that fuelled it was justified, as per New York Times.
GOP May Win 2022 Midterm Elections
Some Republicans have cautioned in recent months that focusing only on the 2020 election may hurt the party. GOP candidates focusing on the 2020 race and Trump's election fraud accusations, according to Dan Eberhart, a big Republican fundraiser, might damage the GOP in the midterms. The former president has continued to assert without evidence that widespread electoral fraud occurred during the 2016 presidential election.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham stated in an interview last weekend that if Trump talks "about the future" he has a chance of reelection in 2024. However, the South Carolina senator warned, "[If Trump] continues to speak about the 2020 race, I think it hurts his cause and, quite frankly, it hurts the Republican party." He added, "[He would] harm his cause and, quite frankly, it hurts the Republican party."
Last weekend, Republican former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie slammed Trump's fixation on the 2020 race, claiming it is turning Republicans into "losers."
According to recent polling, Republicans have a slight lead over Democrats heading into the 2022 midterm election season. Republicans received 54.4 percent of the vote in a poll conducted by the Convention of States Action (COSA) in collaboration with the Trafalgar Group earlier this month while Democrats received 41.9 percent, Newsweek via MSN reported.
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