Frustrated with a lack of political will among Republican officials to overturn the results of the presidential election, President Trump is demanding loyalty and encouraging primary challenges against those who refuse to take further action.
But some of his primary targets are pushing back or getting cover and support from their Republican colleagues.
The president’s latest target: South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who as Senate majority whip is the second-ranking Senate Republican, said earlier this week that attempts to challenge the legitimacy of President-elect Joe Biden in Congress will “go down like a shot dog.”
“I just don’t think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be,” Thune told reporters.
“Republicans in the Senate so quickly forget. Right now they would be down 8 seats without my backing them in the last Election,” Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday night. “RINO John Thune, ‘Mitch’s boy’, should just let it play out. South Dakota doesn’t like weakness. He will be primaried in 2022, political career over!!!”
A top possibility for a primary challenge against Thune would be South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a rising star in the Republican Party who has refused to implement strict coronavirus restrictions such as a mask mandate.
But Noem, who is also a possible 2024 presidential contender, quickly shut down the idea of challenging Thune.
“.@johnthune is a friend of mine, and I will not be challenging him,” Noem said in a tweet on Tuesday night. “I’m honored to be Governor of South Dakota and will ask the people to give me an opportunity to continue serving them as Governor in 2022.”
.@johnthune is a friend of mine, and I will not be challenging him. I’m honored to be Governor of South Dakota and will ask the people to give me an opportunity to continue serving them as Governor in 2022.
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) December 23, 2020
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, another frequent target of Trump’s in the aftermath of the presidential election, is also pushing back on Trump’s attacks and primary threats.
Trump, frustrated with Kemp for not doing more to support his attempts to overturn the razor-thin results of the presidential election in Georgia, has in recent weeks called the state’s governor “hapless,” a “fool,” and told his supporters to vote Kemp out of office. At a rally earlier this month for the Georgia runoff elections in support of Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, Trump suggested that Rep. Doug Collins run against Kemp in the 2022 gubernatorial race.
“No one’s worked harder down here in Georgia to support this president’s reelection than myself,” Kemp said in a Fox News interview on Wednesday, adding that he supports the right of any candidate to challenge election results, but that he also has a responsibility to uphold the law.
“As far as me getting primaried, I could care less about that right now,” he said. “The biggest thing we all need to do, regardless of what you think about what’s been going on in Georgia, we’ve got to support David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, another Republican who received public criticism from Trump after saying on Fox News that Biden was the president-elect, took a similar stance after Trump tweeted that the 2022 Ohio governor’s race will be “hotly contested.”
“I intend to run a winning campaign for governor in 2022,” DeWine said in a statement last month. “I’m confident I’ll be renominated,” he later told reporters.
DeWine, though, hasn’t gotten the same cover from his fellow state Republicans that Noem gave Thune. Supporters of the president have urged Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan to mount a primary challenge against DeWine, and Jordan (a critic of DeWine’s coronavirus restrictions) has not shut down the idea. Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson, another critic of what he calls “Orwellian” coronavirus rules, is another person who Trump supporters suggest may run in a primary against DeWine, though he has not expressed interest in that possibility himself.
“I do feel because of the unpopularity in his policies broadly in my district, he will have a challenge in a primary,” Davidson told the Cincinnati Enquirer earlier this month.