The 2022 midterm elections should provide a favorable national environment for Republicans in the middle of President Joe Biden’s first term, but Republicans keep making the situation harder for themselves.
The latest example of this is in Missouri, where disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens has declared his candidacy for the GOP nomination. Greitens resigned amid a series of scandals stemming from an extramarital affair that Greitens has confirmed took place.
Greitens was never convicted of a crime, but his resignation as Missouri Republicans considered impeaching him has made him damaged goods. Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt raised the possibility that Greitens could repeat the disastrous campaign of GOP nominee Todd Akin in Missouri in 2012, which helped Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill hold her seat for another term.
Greitens’s announcement jeopardizes what should be an easy open seat for the GOP in a 2022 map that is becoming increasingly tougher for Republicans. Republicans are already facing the prospect of defending three other competitive open seats thanks to retirements in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, plus a presumably easier one in Alabama.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson has repeatedly beclowned himself in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol building, attempting to absolve former President Donald Trump of all blame. Johnson is pondering retirement as well, but whether he stays or goes, he is offering Democrats another pickup opportunity in a state Biden carried last November.
As Republicans have realized, the party can’t rely on West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to serve as a reliable bulwark against terrible Democratic policies. The GOP will have few pickup opportunities, including one of the Georgia seats that it handed to Democrats three months ago.
Republicans can’t afford candidates such as Greitens or Ohio’s 2012 Senate loser Josh Mandel giving away winnable races. Even in a 50-50 Senate, Republicans have been paying the price for Trump throwing away the Georgia Senate runoffs, as Democrats confirmed culture warrior Xavier Becerra to Biden’s Cabinet, passed a boondoggle stimulus bill, and are now looking at overhauling the tax code.
Republicans have sabotaged their Senate chances enough in recent years between Trump’s temper tantrum in Georgia and the train wreck that was Roy Moore’s 2017 Senate run in Alabama. With Biden already embracing the worst tendencies of the liberal wing of his party, the GOP can’t afford to get in its own way next year.
