The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-17)

TUESDAY, MAY 17 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU A

BY DAVID WEIGEL

AND JOSH DAWSEY

Former president Donald
Trump on Monday tried to push
his preferred candidate across
the finish line in the high-stakes
Republican primary for U.S. Sen-
ate in Pennsylvania, while a surg-
ing rival declined to endorse her
main opponents if she does not
win the nomination.
The developments under-
scored the chaotic finish to the
primaries in one of the most
closely watched Senate races in
the country. On the Democratic
side, the campaign of the leading
contender, Lt. Gov. John Fetter-
man, said Monday he will not
attend a primary-night rally
Tuesday after suffering a stroke
last week. Fetterman will remain
hospitalized, according to his
campaign.
Trump, who supports celebri-
ty-turned-politician Mehmet Oz
in the Republican primary, on
Monday criticized insurgent can-
didate Kathy Barnette, alleging
that she has not been fully scruti-
nized.
“People don’t know her,”
Trump said of Barnette in an
interview with The Washington
Post. “She hasn’t been properly
vetted. She ran for Congress fair-
ly recently, and she lost by about
20 points.” Barnette, who has
aligned herself with many of
Trump’s ideas despite not having
his support, participated in the
“Stop the Steal” rally in Washing-
ton on Jan. 6, 2021, the day the
U.S. Capitol was attacked by a
pro-Trump mob.
Barnette did not immediately
respond to a request for com-
ment on Trump’s remarks.
The former president reiterat-
ed that he was behind Oz “all the
way.” He said that he had a
personal relationship with Oz
and argued that he would give
Republicans the best chance of
holding the seat in November. “I
also think Oz will do best in the
general election,” Trump said.
Trump also recorded a robo-
call in support of Oz that dispar-
aged Barnette and another rival,
businessman David McCormick.
He called the latter “an insider
who absolutely sold us out to
China” and hit Barnette over a
proposal she made during her
losing 2020 campaign for a U.S.

House seat to erect a statue of the

Obama family in Washington.

“That’s no good,” the former pres-

ident said in the call. “These are

not candidates who put America

First.”

McCormick’s campaign did

not immediately respond to a

request for comment on Trump’s

attack. His campaign previously

responded to a similar Trump

attack by saying, “Dave’s battle-

tested experience will make him

one of the strongest Senators in

Washington in holding China ac-

countable and restoring pro-

growth, America First policies.”

Before running for Senate, Mc-

Cormick led a hedge fund with

significant investments in China.

Polls have shown a competi-

tive Republican race, with sup-

port for Barnette on the rise.

Adding to the tensions in the

race, Barnette said Monday she

would not support McCormick or

Oz in the general election. “I have

no intentions of supporting glo-

balists,” Barnette told Breitbart

News on Monday. “I believe we

have ran out of room on this

runway for this spaceship.”

Voters are heading to the polls

in five states Tuesday to pick

nominees for the November mid-

term elections. The vote will

serve as the latest test of Trump’s

influence over his party.

The Senate race in Pennsylva-

nia is one of several expected to

factor into which party controls

the upper chamber of Congress

next year. The retirement of Sen.

Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) trig-

gered the open race.

Fetterman, who polls have

shown is far ahead in the Demo-

cratic race, said Sunday that he

suffered a stroke late last week

and was recovering.

Doctors at Penn Medicine L an-

caster General Hospital were

able to “quickly and completely

remove the clot,” he added in his

statement. He said his doctors

told him he “didn’t suffer any

cognitive damage.”

The uncertainty surrounding

the specifics of his return to the

campaign trail loomed over the

race in the final hours before

voters were set to cast ballots.

Rep. Conor Lamb and state Rep.

Malcolm Kenyatta, two Demo-

crats running against Fetterman,

wished him a quick recovery.

Meanwhile, Trump’s c lout with

Republicans was also being test-

ed in other states.

In North Carolina, he defend-

ed Rep. Madison Cawthorn on

Monday even as members of his

party have denounced the GOP

freshman as a fame-seeking fabu-

list.

“Recently, he made some fool-

ish mistakes, which I don’t be-

lieve he’ll make again,” Trump

wrote on Truth Social, the media

site he launched this year but has

rarely contributed to. “Let’s give

Madison a second chance!”

Some local Democrats have

urged their voters to pull a Re-

publican ballot to beat Cawthorn,

and polling for state Sen. Chuck

Edwards has shown him with a

chance of forcing the congress-

man into a runoff. To avoid that,

Cawthorn needs to win more

than 30 percent of the vote.

Also in North Carolina, Trump

has endorsed Rep. Te d Budd in

the GOP primary to replace Sen.

Richard Burr, a Republican who

is retiring. Polling in the race’s

final weeks found Budd building

a lead over former governor Pat

McCrory.

In Idaho, while Trump had

endorsed Lt. Gov. Janice

McGeachin’s challenge to Gov.

Brad Little (R), he had not cam-

paigned there, and McGeachin

had raised little money to fund a

far-right c ampaign t hat called for

a complete ban on abortion —

and included a recorded v ideo f or

attendees of a white-nationalist

conference.

Idaho conservatives were

more hopeful about their

chances of unseating a different

Republican, Rep. Mike Simpson,

who is on the ballot for the first

time since voting against GOP

challenges to the 2020 election

and since supporting last year’s

bipartisan infrastructure bill.

One challenger, Bryan Smith, has

loaned his campaign nearly

$330,000 to fund ads ripping

into Simpson.

Many of Tuesday’s most expen-

sive races have unfolded in safe

Democratic districts, where the

party’s left wing is trying to

expand its influence and where

well-funded centrist PACs have

poured in resources to stop them.

In Kentucky’s 3rd Congres-

sional District, which covers L ou-

isville, retiring House Democrat

John Yarmuth has endorsed state

Senate Minority Leader Morgan

McGarvey (D) to succeed him.

McGarvey entered the race after

state Rep. Attica Scott (D), who

would be the commonwealth’s

first Black member of Congress,

had set up a campaign.

Both candidates supported lib-

eral priorities such as Medicare-

for-all and legal marijuana, but

McGarvey had raised far more

money than Scott, spending

more than $1 million while she

spent less than $200,000. And

McGarvey benefited from the

support of Protect Our Future, a

new PAC largely funded by 30-

year-old cryptocurrency billion-

aire Sam Bankman-Fried.

Protect Our Future spent heav-

ily in other Tuesday primaries,

making its biggest splash in Or-

egon, where it spent at least

$11 million to support pandemic

preparedness researcher Carrick

Flynn over a crowded Democrat-

ic field in the new 6th Congres-

sional District, outside Portland.

A number of liberal groups have

gotten behind state Rep. Andrea

Salinas, along with the Congres-

sional Hispanic Caucus, which

has attacked the PAC for trying to

keep Oregon from electing its

first Latino member of Congress.

Outside money has also

shaped the primary in the state’s

new 5th Congressional District,

which stretches from Salem to

Bend. Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-

Ore.), a leader of the conservative

Blue Dog Democrats, is facing

Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a liberal

attorney and emergency-re-

sponse expert.

Four of the district’s five coun-

ty Democratic parties have en-

dorsed McLeod-Skinner, who

calls the incumbent the “Joe

Manchin of Oregon,” based on h is

support from pharmaceutical

companies and his vote to re-

move a prescription drug plan

from last year’s House-passed

social spending bill.

The party’s left is facing an-

other test in Pennsylvania, where

the American Israel Public Af-

fairs Committee and its PAC have

spent heavily to help attorney

Steve Irwin in a close race with

state Rep. S ummer Lee. The Pitts-

burgh-based 12th Congressional

District was drawn to elect a

Democrat, and Irwin, a moderate

who has occasionally donated to

Republicans, is endorsed by Rep.

Mike Doyle (D), who is retiring.

Lee, a democratic socialist who

would be the first Black woman

to represent Pennsylvania in

Congress, has run as a potential

ally of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

The ad campaign against her has

portrayed her as a disloyal Demo-

crat who would not get anything

done in Washington, an argu-

ment Sanders flew to Pittsburgh

last week to refute.

In North Carolina, outside

spending has shaped two races

for open Democratic seats — the

competitive 1st Congressional

District and the deep blue 4th

District. In the 1st, liberal groups

have supported former state sen-

ator Erica Smith over state Sen.

Don Davis, with NARAL Pro-

Choice America and other Smith

endorsers attacking Davis’s anti-

abortion voting record.

AIPAC is backing Davis in that

race and gotten behind state Sen.

Valerie Foushee in the 4th Dis-

trict.

Annie Linskey in Charlotte

contributed to this report.

Trump looks to push Senate pick over finish line in Pa.

Primaries: For complete coverage

of today’s elections, go to

washingtonpost.com/elections.

KEITH SRAKOCIC/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Precinct inspector Cecelia Peterson and clerk Fred Peterson set up voting areas at the Cranberry

Township Municipal Center in Butler County, Pa., ahead of Tuesday’s primary in Pennsylvania.

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