Is it true that McConnell tanked Senate races by not funding candidates like Masters?

Twitter ^ | 11/12/2022 | Luke Rosiak

[Zhang Fei]

Is it true that McConnell tanked Senate races by not funding candidates like Masters?

McConnell spent HUGE everywhere but AZ. Masters had Thiel so his outside spending was pretty good at $53M vs $57M for his opponent. But he got only 46% of the vote.
 

Is It True That McConnell Tanked Senate Races By Not Funding Candidates Like Masters? https://www.dailywire.com/news/is-it-true-that-mcconnell-tanked-senate-races-by-not-funding-candidates-like-masters

Some were rankled by McConnell spending $6M in an R-vs-R race in AK, which they imagine could have gone to AZ

But that's a negligible amount in the context of AZ spending & there's no reason it would have gone to AZ instead of NV, where the race was closer+the funding gap bigger

The $6M is nothing in the context of McConnell's $230M in total spending, which vastly beat out its Democrat counterpart. McConnell spent in every state that Trump did except AZ. Real issue is PA became a massive money-suck because of Oz being unpopular minus Trump's endorsement.

After getting candidates through primaries with his endorsement, Trump largely abandoned them in terms of super PAC spending. For example, McConnell's PAC spent $53M on Oz, whereas Trump's PAC spent $3M. Similar for the other races.

To the extent $6M from McConnell could have affected a 6-point loss by Masters, there are bigger financial factors at play. Masters' campaign was the worst among Trump endorsees in terms of raising their own funds. Theil backed out of a $10M investment.

But primarily, there's Trump. Trump has $70M in political funds in the bank. He could have made it so Masters had double the super PAC spending of his opponent

Instead, he created a "joint fundraiser" with Masters that actually gave $99 to Trump for every $1 that went to Masters

Many Masters supporters who used this option (unaware that 99% went to Trump because that was hidden unless you hit a toggle) may have refrained from donating directly to Masters because they were under the belief that they'd already done their part.

[Zhang Fei]

Earning some conservatives’ ire was the fact that the Senate Leadership Fund spent $6 million opposing Republican Kelly Tshibaka in an effort to help moderate Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski win. Because of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, the two Republicans are facing each other. Trump endorsed Tshibaka, but his super PAC did not pay for any ads in the race. Some Trump supporters believe that the $6 million would have been decisive if it was allocated to Arizona instead.

However, Masters already had a head start in outside spending thanks to billionaire Peter Thiel. Masters was supported by $53 million in super PAC spending, essentially tied with his opponent Mark Kelly, at $57 million. With spending so high already, it’s not clear that an extra $6 million would have made a difference. With 90% of votes counted as of Saturday night, DecisionDeskHQ has called the Arizona race for Kelly with a significant gap: 52% to 46%.

There was also no reason to assume that the $6 million would have been reallocated to Arizona instead of, say, Nevada, where Democrats were outspending Republican super PACs by a greater margin, and the race is far closer. Additionally, it was Thiel who reportedly backed away from an additional $10 million in spending he was contemplating.

Trump’s own financial contribution to the Arizona Senate battle was $3.7 million, making up only 6% of Masters’ outside cash. That’sa despite Trump’s main PAC, Save America, taking in $107 million in the 2022 cycle, and having nearly $70 million in the bank as of October 19. If he had spent most of that money supporting his chosen Arizona candidate, Masters could have had double the super PAC spending of his opponent.

Instead, Trump set up a web page that purported to raise money for both himself and Masters. But hidden from the user — unless they clicked a toggle in the fine print — was the fact that for every $100 donated, $99 went to Trump and $1 went to Masters. That’s despite Masters imminently facing a critical race and Trump not being on the ballot this year. Many donors may have refrained from giving directly to Masters after that, believing that they had already done their part.

[vivenne]

It was actually 9 million for Murkowski who the AK Republicans didn’t even support. Mitch is out for Mitch and doesn’t give a hoot about the country.

[kiryandil]

Yes, The Turtle threw the “election”.

[skeeter]

Hey everybody - McConnell, and Bush, and Ryan, and Romney, etc etc are playing for the other team.

Hello

[conservative98]

How much did Trump spend trashing Republican candidates? Less than McConnell that’s for sure. McConnell spent $5 trashing Buldoc. Then he spent $10m defaming Kelly in Ak. That’s $15m that could have went to AZ.

[TChad]

That’s despite Trump’s main PAC, Save America, taking in $107 million in the 2022 cycle, and having nearly $70 million in the bank as of October 19. If he had spent most of that money supporting his chosen Arizona candidate, Masters could have had double the super PAC spending of his opponent.

Does Trump have a response to this criticism? If so I have not seen it.

[Zhang Fei]

[Mitch is out for Mitch and doesn’t give a hoot about the country.]

---

The Senate Leadership Fund is bound to support incumbent Republican Senators. It was the price of getting Murkowski’s vote on critical bills and nominations. What’s Trump’s excuse for contributing zero dollars to Tshibaka, his hand-picked candidate? Did Trump send money to O’Dea, who bashed him? Actually, he called O’Dea stupid, possibly driving down his vote total.

Fact is - Trump picked Masters over Brnovich, the sitting Arizona AG who, unlike Masters, had won a statewide election before. It was up to Trump to support his guy with money. He chose not to, in spite of a $70m war chest, raised on the pretext of helping to create a Congressional majority.

Trump being Trump, we know this is going into his 2024 campaign. And that’s fine. But to take whacks at other people for Masters’s loss - that’s neither here nor there. Ultimately, Blake Masters has one person he should blame for his loss - the guy he sees in the mirror every morning. The secondary players? Rick Scott, who mentioned Social Security cuts, and Lindsey Graham, who proposed a Federal abortion ban.

[conservative98]

That is his take and has to keep something. Trump raised $500 million for these fools. $70 out of the $500 is less than 15%. Trump did the work, but didn’t run these campaigns.

[ilgipper]

Yes. They criticized and abandoned candidates early to set the narrative. Even where they put money it was late in many cases. Everyone in the party acted like they were playing with house money with a big winning margin inevitable. Total complete failure on the shoulders of all.

Zero adjustment to the election changes of 2020. Lack of messaging and lack of funding. Let the democrats off the hook when they were down.

[Zhang Fei]

[Does Trump have a response to this criticism? If so I have not seen it. ]

---

It’s unanswerable. This is stuff you can look up on the Federal Election Commission website. Trump is keeping money aside for his 2024 run. And that’s fine. That’s the way he’s always been. But the way he lashes out at other people, it’s annoying. He kind of has to, because admitting the truth reflects badly on him. Trump is who he is. We’ll see how his 2024 run shapes up. This election is over - we’re just doing a post mortem.

[AnthonySoprano]

.
Republican Controlled Senate = 1,460 days with zero Subpoenas enforced to Investigate Joe’s family business.

They are Biden-republicans

.

[Howie66]

Hmmmm...did all of those In Person Rallies across the country not count at all for supporting those candidates that he endorsed? Did McConnell (or McCarthy) do anything remotely close to that, or do y’all have James Carville writing your “Take Down Trump At All Costs” talking points for you?

[Howie66]

These Fraud Deniers are as loathsome as any democrat.

[AnthonySoprano]

.
Please explain why Republican Presidents are Investigated by and with Congressional Approval?

It’s quantifiable that the Republicans have no interest in having Joe’s family business investigated.

[WeaslesRippedMyFlesh]

That is just the tip of the iceburg.

[bray]

China Mitch has got to keep the gravy train rolling.

[PIF]

Regardless of spending - prior to the election, all the polls said crime, inflation, border, etc were the defining issues, while at the same time, 73% of voters also said the country was going in the wrong direction.

The election proved that:
1) Democrats continue to cheat;
2) Voters said regardless of prior sentiments, things are not yet bad enough for them to change horses and get rid of Democrats & their misguided policies.

All future elections (2024, 2026, 2028) elections will, in the absence of any real push back from GOP elected politicians, continue as they have been going until they can’t.

[Zhang Fei]

[Hmmmm...did all of those In Person Rallies across the country not count at all for supporting those candidates that he endorsed?]

---

Those rallies are like Grateful Dead concerts - the people who attend are the equivalent of Deadheads who follow the band everywhere. They are not a signifier of his popularity with the electorate any more than a sold-out 50,000 seat Bruce Springsteen concert would mean that the Boss would win a statewide election, let alone the White House. The rallies don’t do anything. If rallies meant anything, Romney would have defeated Obama. Mittens had some pretty big ones, leading people to predict that he would surely beat Obama. He lost - by 4%.

The kind of person who would show up for one of these multi-hour events would crawl over broken glass to vote for the GOP on Election Day. I attended one. 4 hours start to finish, from finding parking to getting out of my spot. I went out of curiosity, but it’s clear that the people attending were serious diehards, festooned with Trump paraphernalia.

What these rallies are is a monument to his own ego and a way to launder campaign donations back to companies he controls. And that’s fine. Trump is who he is - a package deal. But those tens of millions he wasted on rallies - they could have been used to employ door knockers in red areas within the geographies contested, to get out the vote.

[MinorityRepublican]

The election proved that: 1) Democrats continue to cheat; 2) Voters said regardless of prior sentiments, things are not yet bad enough for them to change horses and get rid of Democrats & their misguided policies.

One more. You have many conservative voters fleeing blue states. So the blue states got bluer while Florida is the capital of MAGA.

[WeaslesRippedMyFlesh]

It’s a criminal enterprise.

All the candidates are la familia politica.

The electiion is a show wherein the soldiers are made.