Trump’s Texas endorsements show he’s ‘risk-averse but vindictive’: report
Former president Donald Trump's Texas endorsements show he's "still nursing a grudge" — but he appears mainly concerned about his "batting average," according to a report from the Dallas Morning News.
Trump snubbed four GOP congressional incumbents from Texas -- who all voted to certify President Joe Biden's victory -- by declining to endorse them, but he also hasn't backed any of their challengers.
And nearly all 37 candidates of Trump's endorsed candidates in Texas — a number that reflects "a remarkable attention to local affairs for an ex-president" — are "prohibitive frontrunners," the Morning News reports.
"Seven of the 16 U.S. House incumbents Trump backs are unopposed on Tuesday," according to the newspaper. "The rest hold huge fundraising leads over little-known challengers. Most endorsements came after the filing deadline. All of which adds up to a pattern: Trump is more focused on his batting average than on reshaping the party."
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Josh Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, said: “Trump wants to portray himself as a winner who bestows winning on others, adding that the former president reinforces his control of the party “by both doling out and withholding endorsements, and then after the fact, by claiming the immense sway of these endorsements.”
The four GOP incumbents snubbed by Trump are Reps. Van Taylor, Chip Roy, Dan Crenshaw and Tony Gonzales.
“By continuing to play in these primaries and to play aggressively, Trump shows that he is not going to let bygones be bygones,” Blank said, adding that if the former president is reelected in 2024, “you should expect the party to be even more in lockstep with him than we saw during his first term.”
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