The US midterm elections are fast approaching. And although he himself is not up for election, Donald Trump hovers like the sword of Damocles over the heads of his “Grand Old Party”. A look at the primary elections currently taking place in the individual states shows how great his influence among the Republicans still is. In the so-called “primaries,” Democrats and Republicans will nominate their respective candidates who will run for seats in the House of Representatives, the Senate and the governor’s post on November 8th.
Hardly any other election was followed as closely as the race in Wyoming between the most important inner-party Trump critic Liz Cheney and her opponent Harriet Hageman, who was supported by the ex-president (). The result: Cheney was severely punished with only 29 percent of the vote.
In the wake of the storming of the Capitol, Cheney became one of only 10 Republicans to vote to impeach Trump for his role as a mob instigator. The vote failed, but the ten women and men have since been branded. In the primary, only two – Dan Newhouse (Washington) and David Valadao (California) – managed to secure their party’s nomination. All others have been outperformed by Trump-backed candidates.
Donald Trump’s candidates on the rise
And there are quite a few. Donald Trump has assured more than 200 women and men of his financial and verbal support in the primaries. These included corona deniers, supporters of the right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon and a woman who made headlines during the election campaign because she quoted Adolf Hitler.
Many competed unopposed or had an easy time against little known, poorly financed opponents. Even if it didn’t always appear from the outside, Trump was quite strategic in his nominations. In several cases, he withheld his public endorsement until several frontrunners had established themselves in the race, only to give his preferred candidate the necessary momentum just before the finish line. As in Michigan with his last-minute endorsement of Tudor Dixon for governor.
So far he hasn’t been able to put all his favorites in position – especially in Georgia and North Carolina, Trump’s candidates have suffered severe defeats. Overall, however, the ex-president’s strategy seems to be working, as the particularly important victories of his preferred politicians in the two swing states of Arizona and Michigan show.
New speculation about Trump’s candidacy in 2024
At the beginning of August, Trump surprised the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) with a , which further fueled speculation about his own candidacy for the presidential election. But the FBI searches of Trump’s property in Florida, which became public almost at the same time, caused such a stir that people in the ex-president’s closest circle talked him out of announcing his candidacy.
Nevertheless, it is probably only a matter of time before Donald Trump himself is back on the ballot paper.
Source: Stern
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