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This time around, the crafty Kentucky Republican has an expensive super PAC and he’s ready to use it.
“What I’m looking for is someone who can win in November,” McConnell told CNN. “I don’t care who they like or dislike. Can they win in November? So that’s not an ideological question. It’s not a question of ‘who do you think is going to be the nominee in “24”. It’s possible. you win in november? ”
And asked if his ally super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, will lose a lot of money in the primaries to help his favorite candidates, McConnell bluntly said, “Only if necessary.”
Republicans say it might be necessary. With the emergence of a growing number of messy primaries and Trump eager to back candidates who match his style of politics, leading Republicans are keenly aware that intra-party wars could produce weak general election candidates and undermine their efforts to regain a majority in the Senate, something that happened in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
Privately, GOP sources say McConnell is courting Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to consider a race even though the Republican Gov. – whom Trump has furiously attacked for certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory there – said he would not challenge Democratic Senator Mark Kelly.
In other states, McConnell and other high-profile Republicans are closely monitoring the decisions of candidates who could rally the warring wings of the party, like Gov. Chris Sununu in New Hampshire and former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt. , who, according to Republican sources, is considering considering a race against Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto.
Fears over a Missouri candidate
Scandal-ravaged former GOP Governor Eric Greitens has raised concerns among a range of Republicans in Missouri and Washington politics as he courted pro-Trump voices in the media and hinted at a potential application.
The Fear: The Greens could emerge from a crowded primary field and endanger a secure Republican seat, just as Republican Todd Akin did when he lost to Democrat Claire McCaskill nearly a decade ago.
“What has happened in the past is very concerning,” Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Republican from Missouri who is considering running for the seat, told CNN. “So I hope Missouri has someone where these issues are not distractions and focus on the priorities of the people of the state.”
Others avoided questions about the Greens’ perceived vulnerabilities and bragged about their own strengths.
“I think I am the best candidate,” said Rep. Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri who is considering a race, when asked about the Greens.
It remains to be seen how Trump reacts. Blunt told CNN the former president privately encouraged the senator in recent days to run again and said, “I’ll do whatever I can to help you” win, and called Blunt again afterwards. that the veteran Republican surprised politicians when he announced his retirement earlier this week.
After those calls, Trump was on the phone with Senator Josh Hawley, the junior GOP senator from Missouri and former spokesperson for the Greens, where the two discussed the open Senate seat.
In an interview with CNN, Hawley avoided criticizing the Greens – even though Hawley called on the governor to step down while serving as state attorney general in 2018.
“I think at this point I think it’s too early to tell,” said Hawley, when asked about the Greens’ viability as a general election candidate. “I don’t think the field has taken shape. I have no well-formed idea about the candidates.”
Hawley, who doesn’t know whether to back a candidate in the race, also says he’s unsure whether Trump will endorse a Republican for the Blunt seat.
“There’s no math for us that I can imagine where we lose Missouri and get back to the Senate – not with the other seats we have to defend,” Hawley said. “So we have to take this seat, and I think it’s fair to say that the former president shares that point of view.”
“For a lot of insiders, the cabal, the establishment, is their little profit system,” the Greens said. “It doesn’t surprise me that there are insiders, lobbyists and establishment people who don’t want to see us but we don’t work for them.”
Trump plans more Senate candidate recommendations
Even though Trump’s intentions in Missouri are unclear, the former president expects a wave of endorsements. He met with Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, chairman of the Republican National Senate Committee, at his golf resort on Thursday, and Trump plans to put his weight behind Republicans who he says fit his mold and have shown him his loyalty during that he was in office.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who speaks frequently with the former president, said Trump plans to be heavily involved in the GOP effort to regain control of the Senate.
“I think you’re going to see him endorse more and more Republicans for re-election,” Graham said. “There are a few he won’t go for, but there will be most, I hope.”
But when asked if Trump would change his mind and endorse Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska who voted to convict him in his second impeachment trial, Graham replied, “Well, I don’t dunno about this. ”
Trump has publicly and privately expressed his opposition to Murkowski’s re-election – even as McConnell has vowed to back her. Still, the moderate Alaskan veteran was shy this week when reporters asked her if she would run again.
“Well, I have to do it before 2022, right?” she said make a decision.
Last week, the former president accused McConnell of losing the Senate in 2020 and called him “the most unpopular politician in the country.” Trump then urged his supporters to donate to his own political apparatus and told Republican campaign committees in Washington to stop using his likeness for fundraising.
And Trump has offered former NFL backer Herschel Walker, who lives in Texas, to run for the Senate in Georgia, injecting a dose of uncertainty into the still emerging field there.
Trump called out former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler in February after announcing the creation of a new group called Greater Georgia, according to a source close to the call. Loeffler, former Rep. Doug Collins and other Republicans like Walker plan to run against Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia in 2022.
Republican strategists warn that the former president’s continued efforts to impose his will on the Republican Party, by holding primaries across the country with candidates most loyal to him, could hamper their efforts to win back the Senate.
Already, four Republican senators besides Blunt – Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Rob Portman of Ohio and Richard Shelby of Alabama – have decided to retire. And many Republicans running to replace them are even more beholden to Trump.
“We are losing real talent,” McConnell told CNN. “We will try to win back the majority with more new faces than I had hoped for.”
“But I think we have a good shot,” added the GOP leader. “I think this administration has turned out to be extremely leftist, which is a godsend for us in terms of checking the ’22 environment.”
Still, Democrats are hoping Republicans’ endorsement of Trump will help them win seats, even in states like Ohio which have tended to be Republicans in recent years.
“If Republicans continue to follow the route of Mr. Potato Head and Dr. Seuss, they are going to come off a cliff,” said Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat who told CNN he was “very interested” in a The Senate will operate and make a final decision “in the coming weeks”.
Officials from the Senate Leadership Fund said their attitude about intervening in the primaries had not changed from previous cycles.
But it’s different from Scott’s plan, with the chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee swearing he “won’t get involved in the primaries,” meaning his group won’t support candidates or spend money. money in races where non-holders present themselves to the primaries.
Despite Trump’s demand that GOP party committees not use his image in fundraising solicitations, while pushing money for his own political organization, Scott said the NRSC’s fundraiser in February was an “impressive blow” and that the Republicans’ positions would bring them back to power.
“The election of 22 will be a question of problems,” Scott said. “Americans don’t support these men who play women’s sports. They don’t want open borders. They don’t want to close schools. They don’t want to get rid of fossil fuels.”
McConnell publishes a textbook similar to the one he had as Minority Leader when Barack Obama was President, seeking to keep his party united against the Democratic agenda, as he did when all Republicans voted against the $ 1.9 trillion relief bill signed this week.
It remains to be seen whether this tactic will succeed in restoring him the title of leader of the majority.
When asked if he would run for president again in the next Congress, McConnell kept his cards close to his jacket.
“I don’t think I will answer that for now,” he said with a chuckle.
CNN’s Olanma Mang and Ali Zaslav contributed to this report.
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