Posted on 05/24/2022 8:58:40 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., won the Republican primary in Arkansas on Tuesday, fending off efforts by challengers on the right after relying heavily on his endorsement from Donald Trump, conservative groups and the state's top GOP figures.
Boozman's reelection bid has not garnered the attention nationally of other top campaigns like Senate races in North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but it could be another test of Trump's influence in an extremely red state.
Natalie James, a realtor from Little Rock, took an early lead among the three Democrats running in Tuesday's primary hoping to challenge him in the fall.
A soft-spoken eye doctor who has served two terms in the Senate, Boozman adopted a more combative tone in his campaign ads that tout the support of Trump and other GOP figures. Former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who won the Republican nomination for governor Tuesday, and fellow Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., have recorded ads playing heavily in the state backing Boozman.
"I know John Boozman as a champion of President Trump's America-First agenda," Sanders says in one ad.
But the lawmaker faced an onslaught of attacks from a super PAC funded by a shipping executive backing former NFL player Jake Bequette's effort to unseat Boozman. Conservative activist Jan Morgan and pastor Heath Loftis also sought the Republican nomination.
One of the ads by the pro-Bequette group refers to Boozman as "Biden's favorite Republican."
Boozman's rivals labeled him a RINO — Republican In Name Only — even though the incumbent voted more than 91% of the time with Trump, according to the website FiveThirtyEight. Boozman has voted with Biden 34% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight's tally, and his challengers say that is too often.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Boozman, ugh.
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