(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Senate Republicans seek secret sauce to neutralize Trump's glorious impact on GOP candidate quality [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-12 Take Arizona, for example, where diehard Trumper and MAGA election denialist Kari Lake is eyeing a Senate bid this cycle after dooming the GOP's chances of maintaining possession of the governor's mansion last cycle. CNN reports that Lake already privately visited the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters in February to talk about a potential Senate bid for the seat of erstwhile Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema. (Progressive Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego has also announced his candidacy for the seat.) During the meeting, top Republicans reportedly tried to discourage Lake's fixation on rigged elections, pushing her instead toward more "viable" campaign themes in a general election. Lake took that advice in stride before joining One America News this week to discuss her potential candidacy. “I am seriously considering a run for Senate,” Lake said. “I’m so dangerous to the status quo that they’re willing to steal the election to stop me. I’m not letting them get away with that," she added, claiming that "all the polling" shows she would win. Actually, Gallego is currently polling better than any of his potential rivals, including Lake. But you know what Republicans say: Never let the facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory. Another wild card is West Virginia, where Sen. Joe Manchin is one of very few Democrats who still occupies a red state seat. Senate Republicans’ preferred challenger to Manchin is Gov. Jim Justice, a former Democrat who matches up nicely against Manchin in terms of name recognition, temperament, and political know-how in the state. But GOP Rep. Alex Mooney, a MAGA enthusiast who secured Trump's backing in a competitive GOP House contest last year, also plans to run with the powerful backing of the Club for Growth. Then there's Pennsylvania, where MAGA lovers still yearn for failed gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Doug Mastriano. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are pulling for MAGA-lite business guy David McCormick, who barely got edged out in last cycle's Senate GOP primary by Trump-endorsed celebrity grifter Mehmet Oz. Neither Mastriano nor McCormick has announced, but Mastriano—who lost his 2022 gubernatorial bid to Democrat Josh Shapiro by a whopping 15 points—is "praying" on it. Whatever Senate Republicans may want, Keystone State GOP voters have different ideas. A Public Policy Polling survey last month found 39% of Republican voters prefer Mastriano, while 21% favor McCormick and 11% back MAGA extremist Kathy Barnette, who turned in a strong third-place finish in last year's Senate GOP primary. Despite Trump landmines already littering their path to the majority, Senate Republicans think they've cracked the code. Their silver bullet? Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, who's helming Senate Republicans' takeover effort. Daines, who is friendly with both Trump and McConnell, is planning to play big in GOP primaries this cycle to avoid being saddled with another slate of MAGA extremists. Last cycle, Senate Republicans faulted National Republican Senatorial Conference Chair Rick Scott for effectively letting Trump handpick a cohort of lackluster candidates who crashed and burned at the ballot box. “You need to learn from your past mistakes,” explained Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a perennial Trump booster. “If you don’t make adjustments, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome, it’s insanity.” Do these people have any idea how ridiculous they sound? Republican Sen. John Cornyn also offered some choice insights about opting for viable candidates. “Republicans need to make up their mind. Do we want to win, or do we want to lose?" Cornyn posited. "I think that it’s that simple, and I think people are tired of losing.” But apparently not tired enough to sack Trump altogether. On today’s episode, Markos and Kerry are joined by a friend of the podcast, Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg. Rosenberg was one of the few outsiders who, like Daily Kos, kept telling the world that nothing supported the idea of a red wave. Simon and the crew break down his strategy for Democratic candidates to achieve a 55% popular vote in all elections—a number that a few years ago would have seemed unattainable, but now feels within reach. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/12/2163371/-Senate-Republicans-seek-secret-sauce-to-neutralize-Trump-s-glorious-impact-on-GOP-candidate-quality Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/