Republican senate candidates running in states the president won are racing to out-Trump one another. Indiana’s contest is probably the best example of this phenomenon, but it’s happening in other states too. (See: West Virginia and Wisconsin, though it’s unfolding more quietly in the latter, where President Trump’s margin of victory was slim).
The obvious drawback to deploying such a strategy, however, is that by the time primary voters cast their ballots, the nominee may be aligned too closely with a polarizing president. That, in turn, could rally Democratic voters eager to diminish Trump’s power come November. It could also depress turnout among, say, center-right suburban voters in certain areas, contributing to the enthusiasm gap of which many early elections have shown evidence.
For his part, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner, R-Colo., thinks a Trump-centric strategy is actually the antidote to potential enthusiasm gaps.
Asked in a Wednesday interview with the Washington Examiner’s editorial board whether he worries primary candidates’ races to out Trump one another will hurt them in general election match-ups, Gardner fully disagreed.
“No,” he explained, “because I think the second you walk away from it, your voter intensity is going to go down.”
The NRSC head went further, expressing skepticism about the existence of an enthusiasm gap to begin with. Asked more broadly about the surprising outcomes of races in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Gardner argued, “I don’t think you can compare any snapshot-in-time special elections and try to apply that to a race in the future.”
Though the senator did acknowledge more specifically there “could have been a lack of enthusiasm in those special elections.”
Gardner cited a Washington Post-ABC News poll released this week that found an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, 68 percent, are certain they will vote. “To me, that’s the number that matters,” he maintained.
Even so, Gardner is still paying attention to the warning signs. “I think it shows that we have to have a mobilization effort and make sure voter enthusiasm is high for Republicans,” he said.
