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ATLANTA (AP) — Not long ago, Georgia gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson eagerly compared himself to his fellow billionaire in the Oval Office.
He promised to be Donald Trump “with a Southern tone.” And sharing a summer rally stage, Jackson pointed at the president and declared, “I’m going to be this man’s favorite governor.” On the debate stage this week with his Democratic opponent, however, Jackson discussed Trump only when Keisha Lance Bottoms brought him up.
And he assured his audience that he’d “stand up to anybody.” Jackson is not alone in his recalibration: Republican nominees for Senate, the U.S. House and governor’s offices across the country are sidestepping Trump or openly distancing themselves as they debate before Election Day.
Those tactics, not unlike Republicans scrubbing Trump from their campaign websites, are the latest signs of how much Trump’s standing has fallen because of voters’ frustration with inflation, the Iran war and other matters.
And the dynamics highlight the perilous options many Republicans face as they try to stitch together winning coalitions that go beyond Trump’s core supporters.
“Republicans right now are facing a voter turnout problem” in the ir own party, said GOP pollster Paul Shumaker, and must win “unaffiliated voters” who care most about the economy. “You have to have something significant to change this narrative,” Shumaker said.
But, he explained, that means “a significant victory in Iran” and seismic economic improvements — not something any Republican midterm candidate can force from behind a debate podium. Some Republicans are taking specific positions at odds with the president.
Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers said in his debate Thursday with Democrat Abdul El-Sayed that he’d urged the White House privately to reach a trade deal with Canada and end the president’s tariffs.
Canada is Michigan’s largest trading partner, as it is for many Great Lakes and Midwestern states. Days before, Rogers unveiled a new ad in which he said, “We know that Canada is not our enemy.
We need to end the tariff war — now.” That’s a noticeable departure from Rogers’ earlier, less specific statements praising Trump’s “America First” economic agenda while saying tariffs are not a “one-size-fits-all” solution. Another Michigan Republican, Rep.
Tom Barrett, already had bucked the president by voting for a war powers resolution int ended to assert congressional authority over military actions in Iran.
But debating Democrat Will Lawrence in their central Michigan district, Barrett added a criticism of Trump’s rhetoric Monday in Nebraska, where he floated the possibility of Iran attacking San Diego and Los Angeles.
The president mentioned those cities as part of his argument that higher gas prices because of his Iran war are a “small price to pay” to keep the country safe. But Democrats seized on the remarks, some insisting that Trump was calling for Iran to attack U.S.
cities. Barrett was asked whether Trump’s words were acceptable.
Given the opportunity to echo the White House explanation that Trump was offhandedly mentioning a worst-case scenario he was trying to prevent, Barrett offered no defense.
Reflecting the complex electoral balance, most Republicans have attempted to separate themselves without naming any firm difference with the president. Running for a promotion to the Senate, Iowa U.S.
Rep. Ashley Hinson tried in her debate Wednesday against Democrat Josh Turek to reconcile her earlier promises to be a Trump ally in Congress’s upper chamber.
She said it would be “really easy” to keep her word and still be bipartisan — a buzz word she’s already been featuring in her campaign.
“I’ll be President Donald Trump’s ally when it is important for Iowa, but I will push back on him — he knows this, because I talk to him regularly — on things that are wrong for our state,” she said. “That’s true no matter who’s in the White House.
That’s true no matter who is governing and who has the gavel.” That’s the same path Jackson took in Georgia, as he pivoted away from Trump by embracing outgoing Georgia Gov.
Brian Kemp, a Republican who has clashed with the president , starting with Trump’s false claims that he won Georgia in the 2020 presidential election. “I will stand up to anybody, just like Brian Kemp has done,” Jackson said.
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