Posted on 08/31/2022 8:43:36 AM PDT by Drew68
Yesli Vega, a Republican running for the U.S. House in a competitive Virginia district, no longer mentions her connection to former president Donald Trump in the bio section at the top of her Twitter page.
Colorado state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, also running in a battleground House race, has stopped promoting language defending the “Sanctity of Life” on her campaign website. Now, there is no mention of abortion at all, a review of the website showed.
And the campaign of Blake Masters, Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Arizona, has removed from his campaign website references to strict antiabortion positions he once championed, along with references to false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
At least nine Republican congressional candidates have scrubbed or amended references to Trump or abortion from their online profiles in recent months, distancing themselves from divisive subjects that some GOP strategists say are two of the biggest liabilities for the party ahead of the post-Labor Day sprint to Election Day.
“The Dobbs decision has clearly energized Democratic voters to the point where they have closed the enthusiasm gap with Republicans,” said Whit Ayres, a longtime GOP pollster, referencing the Supreme Court ruling that ended the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. Asked whether it hurts the GOP to have Trump back in the news, Ayres replied, “The best case for Republican candidates in the midterms is making the upcoming election a referendum on the Biden administration.”
He added: “Anything that distracts from that focus weakens the Republican position.”
Tracking back to the political middle after a primary is common practice long used by candidates of both parties. But the attempts by Republicans in competitive contests to pivot away from abortion and Trump have emboldened Democrats to mount an aggressive offense on those issues...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
All of these people mentioned in the article are campaigning in states that Trump either lost in 2016, 2020, or both elections (with the exception of the candidate running in North Carolina, a state with a Democrat governor).
Far too many people here just automatically assume things that make them uncomfortable must therefore be untrue. I’ll bet the complainers on this thread did no research at all nor did they read the article.
You can believe Fake News, knock yourself out.
The base will stick directly to Blake:
https://omny.fm/shows/the-mike-broomhead-show/blake-masters-candidate-for-u-s-senate-1
in states Trump was cheated out of you mean?
The homepage for his website has a giant “Trump Endorsed”.
… definitely distancing himself… lol
Why raise such a minimal, if not zero, probability?
Waste of discussion effort... It's the washington slimes!
Even after I provided evidence, they still say the Post is lying.
Look, I hope every (R) candidate wins. I honestly do. Even the worst RINO is better than any Democrat. And if these candidates think they need to change up their messages, that's fine.
If they need to distance themselves from Trump in places where Trump isn't popular (and, yes, there are places where Trump isn't popular) then do it. If they need to modify their message on abortion in light of the recent Kansas debacle, then do it.
But understand, every one of these candidates is going to be asked why they changed their webpages so they'd better be able to intelligently answer these questions, --or deftly sidestep them.
Whatever works is fine by me.
My local GOP was telling people that overturning Roe would make difficult headwinds in tight races (most women are pro infanticide).
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