He was chosen by the party at a district convention, beating out two other state senators. So the party picked him and I'm sure the establishment played a primary role.
Saccone wasn’t the problem, the messaging and campaign he ran, and the GOPe/National Committees and PAC sent was.
This election was lost PURELY due to electoral incompetence.
The message for Saccone, from all parties, and action committees was not remotely one that was going to motivate the voters who gave Trump the win here to show up.
The ads literally could have been for any R candidate in the last 15+ years.
Yet, those D and I voters who went Trump didn’t show up and vote R for those messages anytime in the past, yet somehow they were going to this time??? STUPID! STUPID ON EVERY LEVEL!
Basically they ran a Pre-Trump Rove campaign in a post Trump world... and as a result they lost, pure and simple.
If the messaging of this campaign is the messaging R’s and their PAC’s plan on using this fall, they will lose the house, handily. It won’t be 1994/2010 type of loses, but it will be more than enough to lose the house.
You are NOT going to beat back Democrat/Anti Trump enthusiasm with a Rove campaign... PERIOD. You need to get those I’s and D’s who voted Trump to be motivated to show up, at least up here in the rust belt, and they are not going to be motivated or show up based on the messaging this campaign ran.
It was the wrong message from the get go... Red meat for the base has its place, but it cannot be the only message you offer.
Stupid, stupidly ran campaign by everyone involved from Saccone’s campaign directly, the RNCC, and all the other PACs. This campaign was a perfect example why this part of the country has not been winnable since the 80s in a presidential race prior to Trump.