Republicans poised to stop Donald Trump’s ‘goofballs’

Mitch McConnell has privately told party donors that he is leading a rearguard battle to stop Trump-backed candidates.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell speaks to reporters.

Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, has privately told party donors that he is leading a rearguard battle to stop “goofball” candidates for the chamber backed by Donald Trump.

Senator McConnell, 79, is joined by allies including the former president George W. Bush to encourage “establishment” candidates in primary contests as the remnants of the party old guard detect a weakening of Mr Trump’s grip.

A poll of Republican voters and those who lean Republican found that 50 per cent wanted Mr Trump to be presidential candidate for 2024 and 49 per cent wanted someone else – although they could not decide who. In November a Marquette University poll of Republican voters found that support for Mr Trump as nominee was at 60 per cent.

The new poll, by SSRS for CNN, also found that only 45 per cent of Democratic voters or those who lean Democrat wanted President Joe Biden to run, and 51 per cent preferred someone else.

Mr Trump, 75, has been trying to keep his hold on the Republican Party with endorsements for candidates in elections for the Senate and the House, for governors and in some state races. A survey by the Ballotpedia politics website put the success rate of his candidates in 2020 at 77 per cent.

Mr Trump has vilified Senator McConnell as “the old crow” and is thought to be seeking assurances that candidates will vote to replace Senator McConnell as Senate leader before giving them his endorsement.

Senator McConnell has warned that Mr Trump may endorse candidates who are too far to the right or too weak to win a statewide election against a Democratic opponent, as Tea Party nominees contributed to the failure to win control of the Senate in 2010 and 2012.

“We changed the business model in 2014, and have not had one of these goofballs nominated since,” Senator McConnell told donors in a private conference call, according to The New York Times.

Among the battlegrounds are primaries for this year’s Senate elections in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire, all held by the Democrats. The Republicans need to gain only one seat to control the 50-50 chamber.

Senator McConnell is also worried that Trump-endorsed candidates will make it harder to keep seats where Republican senators are retiring, in North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

In Arizona, Senator McConnell and Mr Bush have been urging Doug Ducey, the governor, to stand but Mr Trump is opposed because Mr Ducey refused to help overturn the state’s 2020 vote for Mr Biden.

In Alaska, Mr Trump wants to oust Senator Lisa Murkowski, who voted to convict him in his second impeachment. The seat should not be at risk if Kelly Tshibaka, who has Mr Trump’s backing, wins the primary but she would weaken the anti-Trump group in the Senate.

The Times