Will Trump (& His Toxic Agenda) Act As An Albatross Around The Necks Of GOP Senate Candidates Again?

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is running for Congress again. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy may not. In fact. He hasn’t decided whether or not he’ll even finish out the current term or just call it quits any time now. Over on the Senate side, McConnell is hanging on by his fingernails. He’s sickly, disliked by a small but powerful set of Republican senators on the far right and hated by the Republican base. The latest Morning Consult ratings of all the senators shows that 65% of Kentucky voters disapprove of him (compared to 29% who approve). He’s the most disliked senator in the whole country.

As long as we’re talking about who's unpopular in their own states in the Senate, here are the bottom dozen:

• McConnell- 65%

• Susan Collins (R-ME)- 50%

• Ron Johnson (R-WI)- 49%

• Joe Manchin (D-WV)- 48%

• Bob Menendez (D-NJ)- 48% (before the gold bars were reported)

• Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ)-45%

• Joni Ernst (R-IA)- 45%

• Chuck Grassley (R-IA)- 45%

• Lindsey Graham (R-SC)- 44%

• Ted Cruz (R-TX)- 43%

• John Fetterman (D-PA)- 43%

• Mitt Romney (R-UT)- 43%

And these are the dozen most popular:

• John Barrasso (R-WY)- 73%

• Brian Schatz (D-HI)- 66%

• Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)- 65%

• Jon Tester (D-MT)- 61%

• Angus King (I-ME)- 60%

• Bernie (I-VT)- 59%

• Peter Welch (D-VT)-59%

• John Thune (R-SD)- 58%

• Dan Sullivan (R-AK)- 58%

• Jack Reed (D-RI)- 57%

• Mazie Hirono (D-HI)- 56%

• Chris Murphy (D-CT)- 54%

And then the ones in the worst “who the hell is that?” category:

• Laphonza Butler (D-CA)- 47%

• Alex Padilla (D-CA)- 27%

• Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)- 27%

• Ted Budd (R-NC)- 25%

• Katie Britt (R-AL)- 25%

• Gary Peters (D-MI)- 25%

• Ben Cardin (D-MD)- 25%

• Todd Young (R-IN)- 24%

• JD Vance (R-OH)- 24%

• Thom Tillis (R-NC)- 23%

• Tina Smith (D-MN)- 23%

• Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)- 23%

Among the senators up for reelection next year, the two in the worst overall shape are Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ), both underwater (as is John Manchin, who isn’t running for reelection). Totally rockin’ in the free world are '24 reelectioncandidates: Barrasso, Tester, Bernie, Hirono and Murphy.

It's also worth noting that only 13 of the 49 Republican senators have endorsed Trump so far. Other than unabashed asslickers like insurrectionist Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), JD Vance (R-OH), Steve Daines (R-MT) and Rick Scott (R-FL), most know he’s going to win the primary but would rather just not get involved at this point.

Yesterday, Alexander Bolton reported that Senate Republicans are pissed at Trump for “making extreme statements on health care, immigration and other issues unlikely to play well with swing voters in key states,” like repealing the Affordable Care Act… [Trump’s Nazi] immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, told the New York Times this month that if elected, Trump would ‘unleash the vast arsenal of federal powers to implement the most spectacular migration crackdown.’ Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who is trying to negotiate a deal with Democrats to stop the flood of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, said while Trump’s rhetoric on immigration may play well with the GOP base, it’s likely to be a liability with moderate and independent voters in the general election… ‘To me, honestly, mass deportation is probably good primary rhetoric. Not good general election rhetoric,’ he warned. ‘You have to be careful.’”

Trump has rattled GOP senators with other proposals, such as his call to pause U.S. assistance to Ukraine until federal agencies turn over to congressional investigators “every scrap” of evidence on what Trump insists are the “corrupt business dealings” of President Biden and his son, Hunter.

Senate Republicans led by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell have championed U.S. support for the war in Ukraine as a top national security priority.

The party that doesn’t control the White House usually follows the lead of its presidential nominee on major policy questions in the run-up to an election. But GOP senators say that’s probably not happening next year if Trump wins the nomination.

“He throws so much spaghetti on the wall, I don’t think any of it really makes any difference,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT). “If Republicans try to defend against all the things he says, that’s all they’d spend their time doing.”

Romney dismissed Trump’s call to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“I’d love to see his proposal. He served as president for four years, never put a bill forward, never put even an outline of a bill forward,” he said. “If it’s more than an empty promise, put some teeth into it and show us what you got.”

Please consider helping keep the Senate from falling into Republican hands by clicking here and contributing what you can to the 3 candidates Blue America has endorsed so far. Taking back Missouri and Florida and holding West Virginia would be a serious check on Republican aspirations to turn back the hands of time… to the 1920s.