By David Morgan and Jarrett Renshaw
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top Republicans in the U.S. Senate are trying to field high-quality candidates for next year’s election after untested candidates with fringe views cost them seats in 2022, with Pennsylvania being the next on their wish list.
Sen. Steve Daines, who chairs the Republican campaign arm of the Senate, has already endorsed candidates in three states where the party hopes to unseat vulnerable Democratic incumbents in 2024: Montana, West Virginia and, earlier this week, Nevada.
In Pennsylvania, Daines appears set to endorse former Republican hedge fund executive David McCormick, who may announce his candidacy later this year. Last year, McCormick narrowly lost a Republican Senate primary to famed doctor Mehmet Oz, a friend of former President Donald Trump who went on to lose the general election to Democratic Senator John Fetterman.
McCormick is expected to launch a Senate campaign in the fall, according to two sources familiar with his planning, though they cautioned he has yet to make a final decision.
“I’m very happy to see Dave think seriously. He has to get in the race first. But I think Dave would be a great candidate,” Daines, who represents Montana in the Senate, told Reuters.
“I want to see candidates who can win not only a primary election, but more importantly who can win a general election and appeal to independent voters,” Daines added. “David McCormick would fit that profile.”
The strategy marks a departure from 2022, when the Republican National Senate Committee took a hands-off approach in the party’s primaries. That pitted Republicans against candidates who had little political experience but were loyal to Trump and often willing to echo his false allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
The result was a 51-49 Democratic Senate majority that provided President Joe Biden with a firewall against efforts by the Republican-led House of Representatives to dismantle his agenda.
“In 2022, we lost in Arizona, Georgia and New Hampshire. It underscored that a high-quality candidate is crucial,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview.
“They have to be able to win in November or they go home. You can’t just rely on the base to win in states like Montana, West Virginia and Ohio,” McConnell added.
Thirty-four of the 100 US Senate seats will be up for grabs next year. Independent election analysts predict Democrats will defend seats in eight competitive states — Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin — while Republicans won’t defend any seats in states considered competitive.
THE ASSET EFFECT
A complicating factor for Republican strategy is that 2024 will be a presidential election year, with Trump currently leading the crowded field of Republican candidates for the party’s nomination to face Biden, who is seeking re-election. This may mean that Senate candidates will face daily questions about Trump’s words and actions.
In the 2022 congressional elections, Trump backed controversial Senate candidates, including Oz in Pennsylvania and former soccer star Herschel Walker in Georgia, both of whom lost to Democrats. Had the Republican candidates prevailed in those races, the party would have emerged with a majority in the Senate.
Senate Democrats hope to see a similar dynamic in the battleground states of 2024.
“I’m sure you’ll probably have people who are out of step with the majority of people in these states,” said Sen. Gary Peters, who oversees campaign strategy for Senate Democrats.
A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to questions from Reuters seeking comment on the former president’s plans for any role in the Senate races.
Trump is already a factor in Pennsylvania, where McCormick had early reservations about the race due to the possibility of having Trump at the top of the ticket, the sources said. Trump personally attacked McCormick during the race, and McCormick’s advisers fear Trump will ultimately be a drag at the polls.
“What it would mean to have Trump at the top of the ticket was at the forefront of his mind. But he knows there is a way to win with or without Trump at the top of the ticket,” a source familiar with the thought said. by McCormick. , speaking on condition of anonymity.
Trump holds a sizable lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that showed his support at 49% to 21% for his closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
So far, Daines has backed Republicans Tim Sheehy in Montana, Sam Bowman in Nevada and Republican Gov. Jim Justice in West Virginia.
Sheehy, aiming to unseat Democratic Senator Jon Tester, is a former Navy SEAL who founded the aerial firefighting company Bridger Aerospace.
“He’s got a great resume. This guy’s like a rock star,” Sen. John Thune, the House’s No. 2 Republican, told reporters. “It would be nice if we could clear the ground there.”
Sheehy could face primary opposition from U.S. Representative Matt Rosendale, a Trump ally and member of the radical House Freedom Caucus. Rosendale opposed Tester for the Senate in 2018 and lost.
(Reporting by David Morgan in Washington and reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia; Editing by Will Dunham and Scott Malone)