Interesting story today in the LA Times about the race for Governor in Idaho:
The reward for McGeachin’s performance is Trump’s “Complete and Total Endorsement,” which followed her pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago and makes Little one of only two Republican governors in the country seeking reelection to be openly opposed by the ex-president.
Not that the endorsement — make that Total Endorsement — seems to be doing much good. Less than two months before the May 17 primary, McGeachin (pronounced Mick-GHEE-hin) is fighting for credibility and traction in a race that polls show her losing badly.
She is not alone in facing those difficult straits.
Trump coaxed former Georgia Sen. David Perdue into the Republican primary against Brian Kemp after the governor committed the heresy of refusing to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state. But Perdue is also struggling ahead of the May 24 GOP primary, as are candidates Trump endorsed in Senate primaries in North Carolina and Alabama.
(On Thursday, Trump rescinded his endorsement of Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama, seeking to cut his potential losses.)
All of which suggests Trump’s sway over Republican voters — and, by extension, the Republican Party — is diminishing the further he gets from the White House.
I encourage you to read the entire thing.
This all brings us to Dan Cox. Cox is virtually predicting his entire gubernatorial strategy on the fact that he is endorsed by Donald Trump.
However, this strategy is not based necessarily on facts and reason. To go back to our Idaho example, 63% of Idahoans voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 general election. Yet Lt. Gov Janice McGeachin, Trump’s hand-picked choice, trails the incumbent by 40%. All in a state that is ostensibly predisposed to support Trumpism in its purest form.
Maryland however is not one of those states. Maryland voters, including an overwhelming majority of Republican primary voters, support the job that Governor Larry Hogan and his administration have done. Poll after poll has confirmed this, notwithstanding whatever the Cox propaganda machine wants you to believe. And yet Cox feels comfortable dismissing the data and hanging his hat solely on the endorsement of Trump and other fringe elements.
I will be interested to see how or even if Cox’s strategy changes on the way to the July 19th primary as Trump-endorsed candidates like McGeachin go down.
Brian - will you support Dan Cox if he wins the nomination?