Key Republican recruits hesitate to jump in if Trump is the nominee

[JoeOtterbein]

Politico

Potential Republican candidates in swing states and districts are reluctant to throw hats into ring.

By ALLY MUTNICK and HOLLY OTTERBEIN

05/22/2023 04:30 AM EDT

Less than a month after the midterms, Republican recruiters were already plotting how to persuade their prized 2022 Senate nominee to run for a Colorado congressional seat in 2024.

Joe O’Dea was popular, personally wealthy and had adopted the kind of moderate positions that would endear him to voters in a swing suburban district, perhaps more easily in a state that has quickly turned blue. He was — and still is — interested. But among his top considerations: what it would mean to share a ballot with Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with his thinking.

As Republicans start to assemble a crop of contenders that can retake the Senate and grow their excruciatingly thin majority in the House, they are running into a persistent complication. The current GOP presidential primary, and Trump’s early dominance, has spooked some potential down-ballot candidates, according to a dozen recruiters, operatives and congressional hopefuls who were granted anonymity to speak candidly with POLITICO about the recruitment process.

Many of their prospective recruits are wary of running alongside Trump, who dominates the spotlight, repels crucial independent voters and forces his fellow Republicans to answer for his unpredictable statements. It’s a dynamic that candidates don’t relish, and it has only come into sharper focus since Trump’s CNN town hall, when he spent 70 minutes on primetime television this month unleashing a torrent of incendiary remarks.

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more at link

[marble falls]

1. I just don't get the fear the Orange Shitgibbon engenders.

[BeyondGeography]

3. They fear their unreasoning muddle-headed base

They lost control of it a long time ago. They make what is for them an intelligent choice then they are at the mercy of Wingnut Media with nary a defender. Trump is good at one thing: sniffing out weakness. These never-Trumpers are easy pickings for him within the confines of Republican World.

Now of course a growing number of the knuckle draggers are at least dimly aware of Trump’s political problems. The fence sitters are most likely waiting for more indictments before they magically rediscover their principles, but that won’t be until the end of calendar ‘23 IMO.

[dchill]

2. It's hard out there for a Republican.

[Mad_Machine76]

4. They have nobody else to blame but themselves

There are several points they could have gotten rid of him, but they didn't, especially after 1/6, but they chose, once again, to support and protect him and his attempted coup, allowing him to run again in 2024.