GOP fears extreme Senate candidates will ‘fumble the ball on the five-yard line’: report
Republican hopes of winning control of the U.S. Senate in the 2022 midterms may be dashed by the nominations of extremist candidates in GOP primaries.
"Top Republicans, once confident about winning control of the Senate in the midterms, fear they'll blow it after nominating several deeply flawed candidates in winnable states, according to conversations with GOP strategists, pollsters and other officials," Axios reported Thursday. "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been sounding this alarm for months: electing fringe candidates with checkered pasts could squander a golden chance to reclaim power."
Axios spoke with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who chaired the National Republican Senate Committee during the 2010 red wave when the GOP picked up six seats.
"The environment is excellent for us. We just can't fumble the ball on the five-yard line," Corny said.
It was an interesting metaphor as former running back Herschel Walker continues to stumble in his campaign against Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA).
"Despite a political climate that favors the Republican Party nationally and in Georgia, some in the GOP are expressing concern the must-win Senate race in the Peach State is in danger of slipping away, thanks to nominee Herschel Walker’s liabilities as a candidate – and a campaign that has failed so far to figure out how to neutralize them," CNN's Michael Warren reported Thursday evening.
Walker won the nomination with the endorsement of Donald Trump.
"Multiple Georgia Republicans told CNN they worry about Walker’s string of verbal gaffes and unfocused strategy. Some said they fear he is ill-equipped to go up against Sen. Raphael Warnock, his well-funded and disciplined Democratic opponent in one of the marquee races of the 2022 midterms," Warren reported. "Warnock, who was elected to the Senate in the January 2021 runoff months after Joe Biden narrowly won Georgia, remains one of the more popular politicians in the deeply divided state. A recent Quinnipiac University poll even showed Warnock leading Walker among registered voters by 10 points, 54% to 44% – despite the fact that the same poll found Biden’s approval in Georgia at a dismal 33%."
One Georgia GOP operative predicted Walker might be the only Republican on the ticket to lose.
“Any time he speaks publicly, it not only does not inspire confidence, it inspires a crisis of confidence," the operative explained.
Another Peach State GOP operative warned of the coming ad blitz by Warnock, who recently reported having a $22 million war chest, while Walker only reported having $7 million cash on hand.
“I still don’t think that Warnock’s team has let loose the hounds of war to attack Herschel,” the operative said. “That’s not gonna be a pretty picture. Those ads are pretty easy to write.”
Meanwhile, NBC News reported that Trump's potential 2024 comeback attempt announcement is rattling Republicans focusing on the midterms.
Watch the segment below or at this link.
And in Pennsylvania, Republicans who think prominent election denier Doug Mastriano is too extreme are organizing an advertising campaign against the GOP nominee:
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