WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hitting the road again.
And while a campaign event with a president who draws TV cameras and
raucous crowds can be gold for down-ballot candidates, these days its
value can be debatable.
Republican
Sen. Thom Tillis, facing a competitive North Carolina reelection
contest, “is looking forward to campaigning” with Trump, Tillis’
spokesperson said. GOP Sen. Steve Daines tweeted, “Montana can’t wait to
have you back, Mr. President!” after Trump promised to help him battle a
strong Democratic challenger.
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Yet a
spokesperson said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in the reelection fight
of her life, “was at work in Washington” recently as Trump visited her
state to open a marine conservation area to commercial fishing. The
Senate wasn’t in session that day.
And while GOP
Senate candidate John James appeared with Trump in May in Michigan,
where polls have trended against the president, James demurred when
asked about his 2017 comment that he backs Trump “2,000%.” James said he
supports Trump, adding, “I’m looking forward to running my own race,
being my own man.”
Trump is the
GOP’s unrivaled beast, commanding the unswerving fealty of nearly all
its voters. While some Republican candidates yanked their support late
in his 2016 campaign after a decade-old video showed him boasting about
groping women, he’s since proved that crossing him can be politically
fatal.
Yet Trump’s divisive law-and-order response to protests against police killings of African Americans,the untamed coronavirus pandemic and the worst economy in decades have wounded him. His job approval rating dipped to a dangerously low 39% in the latest Gallup poll.
That’s
jeopardized his November reelection, endangered the GOP’s Senate control
and made a Republican House takeover highly unlikely. It’s also left
nervous Republicans debating whether congressional candidates in tight
races should link hands with him or create distance.
For most,
there’s little question that homage to Trump is smartest. Sens. John
Cornyn, R-Texas, and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, seeking reelection in states
Trump will likely carry, have no incentive to rebel.
Sen. David
Perdue, R-Ga., is also not straying. “Bring it on,” Perdue spokesperson
Casey Black said of any efforts to attack his closeness with Trump.
Distancing
from Trump would be “a stupid strategy,” said GOP pollster Neil
Newhouse. “If the base sees you’re turning your back on the president,
they will cut you off.”
Others
Republicans face tougher choices. Tillis, Collins, and Sens. Cory
Gardner in Colorado and Martha McSally in Arizona are from states Trump
could well lose.
Republican
candidates are “hostages,” said Trump critic Tim Miller, an aide to past
GOP presidential contenders including Jeb Bush. But he said Trump’s
recent problems, like retweeting a false conspiracy theory about an
elderly Buffalo, New York, protester shoved to the ground by police,
offer an opening.
“I’m not
asking them to become Twitter trolls,” Miller said. “But I don’t see why
they don’t take opportunities to put a little distance between
themselves and the president.”
Trump has
pushed his Capitol Hill allies to keep rank-and-file Republicans in line
and vowed to retaliate against defectors, said three White House and
campaign officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they
weren’t authorized to publicly discuss private conversations.
White House aides bridled when Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally, tweeted support for Gen. Mark Milley.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had publicly defied Trump,
saying it had been a “mistake” to participate as the president was
photographed holding a Bible outside a church after peaceful
demonstrators were forcibly cleared away.
After GOP
Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska criticized
Trump’s tweet about the manhandled Buffalo demonstrator, he unleashed
his wrath at them on Twitter. Neither is running for reelection this
year.
Colorado’s
Gardner and Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, both in tough races, were
among Republicans who didn’t answer reporters’ questions about Trump’s
tweet.
“Anyone who wants to win in November should be running with the president,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Erin Perrine.
As Trump
continues prodding the country to a partial reopening from coronavirus
restrictions, he’s announced live rallies in Oklahoma, Florida, Texas,
Arizona and North Carolina.
The White
House will watch whether candidates attend and look for other signs of
discontent, such as coded distancing in ads saying they’ll stand up to
both parties.
No one expects
Republicans to break drastically with Trump because of the price they’d
pay with the party faithful. But some may feel freer to strike
contrasts with him once they clear primaries, which Trump voters
dominate. More candidates could stray if polling shows his prospects are
bleak as Election Day nears.
With swelling
public sympathy for the Black Lives Matter movement, some Republicans
have opposed Trump’s refusal to remove Confederate leaders’ names from
military bases. And some are preparing legislation changing policing
practices, despite uncertainty over his support, .
In the House,
Democrats hope to use allegiance to Trump that GOP candidates touted in
primaries against them in general elections. That’s likely in suburban
districts in states like California, Pennsylvania and Texas, in which
voters tend to be more moderate.
Underscoring
how candidates tailor their messaging, Tillis ran ads before his North
Carolina primary emphasized his endorsement by Trump. Now, his most
recent spot emphasizes the battered economy as he tells the camera, “My
job is fighting for your job.”
Arizona’s
McSally has appeared with Trump often and shown no signs of distancing
from him. Instead, she’s focused on accusing her Democratic challenger
Mark Kelly, the former astronaut, of being soft on China, whom she
blames for the pandemic.
It’s battleground state candidates like McSally whose tactics prompt debate about handling Trump.
He’s caused
“heartburn” for Republicans, “but that doesn’t change his political
control over the party,” said Scott Jennings, a GOP consultant.
Countered
former Virginia Rep. Tom Davis, another Republican tactician, “Some of
these senators have to be more than Trump’s twin brothers to win.”
___
Associated
Press writers Gary Robertson in Raleigh, N.C.; Paul Weber in Austin,
Texas; Bob Christie in Phoenix; Matthew Brown in Billings, Mont.; David
Eggert in Lansing, Mich.; Sara Burnett in Chicago; and Benjamin Nadler
in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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