Do some of these MAGA candidates seem too good to be true? It’s because that’s who they are. They violate a rule created by the behind schedule William F. Buckley, Jr., known as the “Buckley Rule.” He talks about supporting the candidate furthest to the right who is electable. This is why many conservatives give up and stick with the GOP rather than defect to an unrecognized third party where no one gets elected.
But the left, always one step ahead of us, outsmarting us, has figured out how to make unelectable fringe candidates look so attractive that people forget the rule. They pour money – $44 million this year – for our primary elections to support candidates who are likely to be unelectable in the general election re-register to vote in our primary elections. Washington Examiner decided in July “Democrats were extremely active in the 2022 Republican primaries.”
While pollsters once confidently predicted a GOP sweep this fall, perhaps taking back the U.S. Senate, that is no longer the case. Democrats realized they could support fringe candidates falsely label solid conservatives as RINOs. They were helped in several races by Donald Trump, who thought he was doing the right thing by endorsing candidates in some of those races, but people he trusted gave him bad information.
In Illinois, Democrats spent millions attacking a black Republican mayor running for governor, Richard Irvin, to boost state Sen. Darren Bailey’s position. Irvin campaign he said Democrats spent more than $31 million on attack ads, including at least $13 million from the Democratic Governors Association and $6 million directly from Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Once Bailey got Trump’s endorsement, it was all over and he defeated Irvin. One of the few polls in this race shows Bailey trailing Pritzker by nine points.
In Maryland, the Democratic Governors Association spent money to support Dan Cox defeat former Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz. Schulz worked in the administration of Gov. Larry Hogan, who was unexpectedly elected in a Democratic state, so she was expected to have a good chance of maintaining the GOP legacy. Instead, Cox gained Trump’s support and won, and that’s how it is widely expected lose to charismatic Democrat Wes Moore, who, if elected, would become the state’s first black governor. Hogan he lamented“Trump is trying to get into races across the country where the people he supports are crazy.”
In Pennsylvania, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is running for governor, used $840,000 to support his GOP challenger, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, in his fight against former U.S. Republican Lou Barletta. Trump supported Mastriano and won easily. Fox News vote from just over a week ago shows Mastriano ten points behind Shapiro.
There were Democrats unsuccessful However, in Colorado, millions were spent supporting crass candidates, which led nowhere as all three lost primary races. And some of their spending actually attacked truly terrible Republican candidates like Reps. Peter Meijer of Michigan and David Valadao of California, two of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. Valadao won despite their efforts, but Meijer lost to former Trump official John Gibbs.
Democrats only needed to change Arizona’s voter registration to ensure that one of the extreme candidates would win. After years of the behind schedule Senator John McCain’s administration, conservatives there are so wary that they are quick to jump on the bandwagon by calling everyone a RINO. For example, Rep. David Schweikert, who has earned a stellar 96 American Conservative Union rating during his career, is often called a RINO even though he managed to maintain that voting record in what is currently the most competitive district in the state.
Financed by four out-of-state billionaires, train-wrecked U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters sharply criticized his original primary opponent, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, portraying him as a RINO and used his boss Peter Thiel to gain Trump’s endorsement. After he won, the betting markets knocked over and began predicting that Republicans would not take back the Senate this fall. Incumbent Democrat Senator Mark Kelly does lifted up over $50 million and appears on track to raise $100 million, similar to 2020.
Kelly defeated Sen. Martha McSally, an underdog candidate who was appointed to the Senate seat over conservative objections by Gov. Doug Ducey, by more than two points in 2020 at this point in the election cycle two years ago surveys he had McSally behind by just two points. In contrast, surveys currently show that Masters is doing much worse, losing by double digits, and a poll commissioned by his own supporters shows him five points behind.
According to CNNTrump almost stopped endorsing candidates in the May primaries because of the substantial problems and held off on endorsing candidates in the primaries until June. Republicans broke voting records in the Arizona primary due to all the Democratic votes crossing over. In fact, in 2022, so many Democrats registered as independents again to vote in the GOP primary that the number of independents not only numerical superiority But Democrats even outnumbered Republicans in Maricopa County, and while Republicans and independents increased their share statewide, Democrats decreased.
Other candidates who managed to attract Trump’s support but who could lose in the general election include Senate candidate J.D. Vance in Ohio and Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania. Vance, who like Masters has gained Trump’s support thanks in part to Thiel, is final In the latest poll, Republican Tim Ryan has a nine-point lead. Mehmet is final Mayor John Fetterman by 14 points.
These candidates could cause other solid Republican candidates to lose. Independent swing voters who don’t necessarily vote will react violently to some of the worst GOP candidates, forcing them to vote anti-Republican all the way down the ballot.
It’s time to stop rushing to support and support anyone who calls themselves MAGA or America First just because they have money, insider connections, and label their opponent a RINO. Don’t be fooled, we are playing.
