Veteran DC Reporter at Washington Examiner, David Drucker, Reports “Republicans considering a 2018 Senate bid are being advised to meet with President-elect Trump to ensure they have his seal of approval.”
Top Senate Leader Says “I think that Would Be Smart.”
If Meehan Run for Senate it will be because he Kissed Trump’s Ring.
A new report by veteran D.C. reporter David Drucker in the Washington Examiner finds that “Republicans considering a 2018 Senate bid are being advised to meet with President-elect Trump to ensure they have his seal of approval.” A top Senate leader, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) said, “I think that would be smart.” We know that, according to his own words, “lots of rich people” are urging Pat Meehan to run for U.S. Senate but now we know that a Senate bid will only be done with President-elect Trump’s blessing.
“If Pat Meehan runs for Senate it will be because President-elect Donald Trump has signed his permission slip,” said Preston Maddock, Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesman. “It won’t be long before we see Pat Meehan trekking through the lobby of Trump Tower to receive his blessing.”
Washington Examiner: Kiss the ring! GOP Senate candidates told to make nice with Trump
Republicans considering a 2018 Senate bid are being advised to meet with President-elect Trump to ensure they have his seal of approval.
Trump isn’t demanding that potential Republican Senate candidates and incumbents seek his blessing before running. But GOP leaders, concerned that he could firebomb a sitting senator or top Senate recruit with a critical tweet and blow up their prospects, are urging them to reach out to the new administration to make sure the president-elect is on board with their candidacy. That is especially the case for Republicans who opposed Trump or were perceived to be odds with him during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“I think that would be smart,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said Tuesday during a brief interview with the Washington Examiner.
It’s not uncommon for congressional leaders to consult the White House on candidates it plans to field in high profile races. Republican operatives around when President George W. Bush was in office say it was common for his political lieutenants to weigh in on targeted House and Senate campaigns.
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A typical White House political operation might check in with congressional leaders, and relay concerns about a candidate quietly, allowing any issues about loyalty to the president to be resolved behind closed doors.
But Trump is unconventional. The incoming president hasn’t hesitated to jab at members of his own party, either during a political rally or on social media, especially those that crossed him in the contentious 2016 campaign.
That dynamic is forcing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, to take pre-emptive action to protect the incumbents and prized recruits they believe are best positioned to pick off Democrats in the midterm elections.
The last thing they want is for Trump to urge Republican voters in those races to support another candidate in the GOP primary, just because their prized recruit might not have been as supportive of the president in 2016.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who refused to endorse Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton, hasn’t reached out to the incoming president specifically to mend fences.But he is trying to show his support for the new Republican honcho by vocally supporting his cabinet nominees, including Rex Tillerson, picked for secretary of state.
Flake also is leveraging his strong friendship with Vice President-elect Mike Pence to reset his relationship with the incoming administration. Flake and Pence served in the House together and spoke regularly during the 2016 campaign, even as the senator and Trump argued with each other in public.
“What I’m doing is, I’m supporting [Trump] when I agree,” Flake said. “You assume the best, and look for the good, and move ahead.”
Flake isn’t the only incumbent with Trump issues.
Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada also declined to endorse Trump, although he kept his opposition to his party’s nominee quieter than did his colleague from Arizona.
Republican sources said they expect incumbents that crossed Trump last year to repair relations through votes on the Senate floor that will largely be supportive of the new president’s agenda.
And, with Republicans holding just 52 seats — a two-seat majority — Trump can hardly afford to alienate members of his own party over old feuds. He needs their votes, Republicans insiders say.
“It’s 52-48, they’re going to need every vote they have, a normal person wouldn’t come after a Republican,” a senior GOP Senate aide said.
For Republican challengers on the wrong side of Trump, smoothing things over could require a more direct approach, GOP sources say.
Trump in the past few weeks made calls into Ohio to pick sides in the race for chairman of the state party.
Matt Borges, the incumbent, by any measure accomplished his job as Ohio GOP chairman. Trump won the state big and Republicans were successful down ballot. But Borges was an ally of Gov. John Kasich, who never endorsed Trump over Clinton, and Borges was therefore perceived as insufficiently loyal to the president-elect.
Trump called members of the Ohio GOP state central committee and was successful at swaying enough of them to elevate Trump loyalist Jane Timken over Borges. That was the case even though most of the committee was presumed to be loyal to Kasich.
If Trump is willing to intervene in a contest for state GOP chairman, Republicans figure he wouldn’t hesitate to do the same in a Senate primary.
That could be a problem for Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, who is thinking of challenging Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Tiberi is another Kasich ally, and he backed Borges in the chairman’s race.
If he runs, he has to get through Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican who ran in 2012 and is running again this cycle. Mandel was a consistent supporter of Trump once he secured the nomination and did not endorse a candidate in the chairman’s race.
Even some Republicans who are solid with Trump, like Mandel, are keeping in contact with his team to make sure they have his support, or at least don’t earn his opposition, in the primary.
“We’ve been talking with the trump folks at Trump Tower,” said a Republican strategist advising a GOP Senate hopeful. “Our candidate has a good relationship with all of them.”