Senate GOP lines up behind Trump-backed candidatesThe Hill, Oct 28, 2021
Republican leaders are getting on board with Donald Trump’s growing list of Senate endorsements after months of hand-wringing over the former president’s picks.
Despite early concerns that Trump could tip the scales toward untested primary candidates who could jeopardize the GOP’s mission to recapture control of the Senate next year, many Republicans are now expressing ease — even excitement — about the former president’s endorsements.
"Six months ago, I would have told you that he should stay out of it, just let the primaries play out,” one Republican consultant who has worked on Senate campaigns said. “I don’t see a lot of daylight anymore between who he’s picked and who can actually win.”
In the latest sign that GOP leaders in Washington are coming around to Trump’s slate of candidates, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) endorsed former football star Herschel Walker’s Senate bid in Georgia on Monday, calling him “the only one who can unite the party” to defeat Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) next year.
That endorsement came two days after the No. 2 Senate Republican, Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), became the upper chamber’s first GOP leader to officially back Walker, who jumped into the Georgia Senate race in August after months of prodding by Trump.
The endorsements from the top rungs of Republican leadership embody the GOP’s willingness to quickly coalesce behind a candidate in what is expected to be one of the most competitive Senate races of the 2022 midterm elections.
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