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Sheehy’s hole card was the benefactor who got him through, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Daines has been working behind the scenes for months to avoid a potentially bloody internal party primary in his home state. Daines has had Sheehy meet with Trump twice so far, once at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and at a rally in South Dakota. Mr. Daines has texted and spoken with Mr. Trump numerous times about the importance of Sheehy’s support.
Rosendale officially announced his campaign to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in the Montana Senate the next day, but was blindsided by President Trump’s endorsement of Sheehy hours later. NRSC communications director Mike Berg quickly posted a meme that read: Pallbearers dancing while carrying a coffin Rosendale’s campaign logo and “Feb. September 9, 2024 to February 9, 2024.”
The moment capped a monumental year for Daines and his reinvigorated NRSC, effectively restoring the power of party executives to shape Republican primary battles long before voters had a say. .
Daines’ predecessor, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a former NRSC chairman, was fond of saying that voters don’t want “Washington picking their candidates.” Daines bet on the opposite proposition for the 2024 cycle. Rosendale abandoned his Senate campaign after just a week.
“People are tired of losing,” Daines told The Washington Post in an interview Tuesday explaining his strategy. “I’ve always said that filing day is more important than election day.”
In just over a year in office, Mr. Daines has completed almost all the races for Republican candidates in Indiana, Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Montana. He has hired former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to promote the state’s policies. He has discouraged several candidates, including former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R), from participating in the primaries, appealing to quiet states such as Michigan and Ohio. Most importantly, he forged a close relationship with Mr. Trump, bridging the still-worsening rift between the former president and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Brutal primary campaigns and questionable candidates have been the bane of Republican Senate leadership since the first signs of the Tea Party in 2010 and 2012. At that time, the Missouri Republican Party nominated a candidate for the Senate who argued that “legal rape” rarely results in pregnancy, and Delaware received a candidate: She campaigned under the slogan “I’m not a witch.”
The 2022 election proved a spectacular continuation of that losing theme, with Georgia’s hapless candidate Herschel Walker holding a gun to his wife’s head. Mehmet Oz’s struggling Pennsylvania TV doctor candidate. And Arizona’s mystery candidate Blake Masters praised the Unabomber as an underrated “disruptive thinker.” Even before Election Day, McConnell warned that “the quality of the candidates has a lot to do with the outcome.”
Mr. McConnell now proudly praises Mr. Daines’ accomplishments. “I think we have a good chance of getting a majority,” McConnell said in his recent interview. “Mr. Daines is part of my group of people who believe we need quality candidates.”
Democrats still insist the 2024 Republican field remains problematic.Several Republican candidates in Wisconsin, Montana and Pennsylvania are vulnerable to attacks Because they have lived and worked out of state.
“Senate Republicans have adopted an unvetted, carpet-smeared list of losers with enough baggage to sink the ship,” said David Bergstein, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “By the time voters know the truth about their disqualifying flaws, they won’t be able to dog-pick elections.”
Voter concerns about new abortion regulations also remain an issue for Republicans. Daines also ran for governor of Arizona while denying the legitimacy of the 2020 election and is currently appealing some of his 2022 losses in court, including Kari Lake. supports candidates.
J.B. Porsch, chairman of the Senate Majority PAC, the largest donor to Democratic TV advertising, said, “There is no candidate that we don’t have lock, stock and barrel on when it comes to abortion.” “You can give them credit for trying to avoid the records they already had. But Mr. Daines and Mr. McConnell could not hire a candidate without a proven track record in this area.”
Mr. Daines responded by giving his candidates clear marching orders on the issue of abortion, insisting that all candidates would accept exceptions to legal restrictions on rape, incest, and the life of the mother, leading to a mass rally in the party. He called for his return. The IVF process began after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children and that anyone who destroys them can be held liable.
Daines said the party is preparing for a Democratic attack.
“They’re going to lie about us being against abortion in every possible way,” he said. “We’re not going to leave them alone.”
Such tough talk has emboldened Republican donors and leaders who are once again trying to believe that the Senate majority is within their grasp after two disappointing election cycles. Daines, who spent years as an executive at Procter & Gamble, has been pitching to donors in private, arguing that Republicans have the best chance of winning the seat for years to come.
With the retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-Virginia), Democrats are almost certain to lose at least one of their 51-seat majority, and many of the party’s incumbents are red-elected this cycle. and is facing re-election in purple states. Victories in Montana and Ohio in November are also key for the Republican presidential nominee, creating a tough headwind for Tester and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who are seeking re-election. Democratic-held seats in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan will also be at stake, as Democrats seek to gain a foothold in only two Republican-held states, Texas and Florida.
McConnell ally Stephen Roe, who runs the Senate Leadership Fund, the largest super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates, is working with Republican strategist Karl Rove in 2022 to help voters support policies. He said he joked about how many times he thought he needed to “hold his nose.” Vote Republican. This time, he says, NRSC has established a completely different playing field.
“We saw a consistent workmanlike focus that put us in the best position to win as much as possible,” Law said.
Much of Mr. Daines’ work has not been shown publicly. He sought to prevent Daniels from running against Republican Rep. Jim Banks in the Indiana Senate race, fearing the fight would expose the discord in the race for the safe red seat. Mr. Daines also took a tough stance against former Michigan congressman Peter Meyer, who ran against Mr. Daines’ choice for the Senate, Republican Sen. Mike J. Rogers.
Meyer is still running, but Rogers is considered the favorite in the state’s primary. Daines also hasn’t tried to block a contentious primary in Ohio, although he has hurt the party’s 2022 nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). He implored local candidates to avoid scorched-earth negativity that did not lead to derailment.
Perhaps the biggest coup for the NRSC was the hiring of Hogan, who turned down a similar offer of help in 2022. Over the Christmas break, Mr. Daines’ chief of staff, Maryland native Darin Tucker, wrote a personal petition asking Mr. Hogan to run for the open seat. Mr. Hogan immediately responded asking for a meeting, according to a person familiar with the exchange.
Daines then commissioned a poll in January that showed Hogan with a clear path to victory in the heavily Democratic state. President Trump is not expected to be involved in the Maryland primary, according to people familiar with the discussions, but no agreement has been brokered between the two camps. Hogan, a longtime critic of Trump, announced his campaign this month.
Daines’ ability to work with former presidents is also a key part of the job.
“He recognizes that Trump is a powerful man,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.C.), who is close to President Trump. “Steve is really smart. He played all the moving parts really well.”
Daines visited Mar-a-Lago in February 2023, posed for the obligatory thumbs-up photo with the former president, and months later became the first member of the Senate leadership to endorse Trump’s presidential bid. Before the Iowa caucuses, Daines worked to get his colleagues on board with the Trump campaign. Six Senate Republicans did so in the first few weeks of January.
“There’s a closeness between the two,” said a Republican strategist familiar with President Trump’s relationship. “The president has a lot of respect for Sen. Daines, and Sen. Daines is not pompous. He’s very simple. He’s a senator from a western state in the United States.”
Mr. Daines has also managed his relationship with Mr. McConnell well, a change from 2022, when Mr. Scott was in an all-out war with Senate Republican leaders. As a result, the Senate caucus was nearly united. Daines has rejected all questions about whether he is interested in continuing to lead the Senate beyond November, when McConnell, 82, may step down from his leadership role.
“My sole focus is to make sure we have a discussion about the future majority leader,” Daines said.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, RN.D., praised Daines’ ability to attract high-quality candidates in his home state of Montana, deter less persuasive candidates, and “control the Trump factor.” He said it was shown at once.
“Any one of these can cause a burn to most people,” Kramer said.
Meanwhile, Democrats have not retreated from Montana, which could be the party’s last stand to maintain control of the Senate. Millions of dollars in ad spending from both sides is expected to flow into the state later this year, with Democrats hoping they will have more money to influence voters.
“The resource gap is a concern to me,” Daines admits.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said he believed Rosendale’s withdrawal “changes nothing” about his campaign.
“They’re literally trying to do the same thing they’ve done the last three times.” [cycles]” said the tester. “They try to make me into something I’m not so they can compete with that person, because they can’t beat me.”
Paul Kane contributed to this report.
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