Mitch McConnell is campaigning to thwart Trump and take back the Senate. From The New York Times.
PHOENIX — For more than a year, former President Donald Trump has berated Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, savaging him for refusing to overturn the state’s presidential results and vowing to oppose him should he run for the Senate this year.
As Trump works to retain his hold on the Republican Party, elevating a slate of friendly candidates in midterm elections, McConnell and his allies are quietly, desperately maneuvering to try to thwart him. The loose alliance, which was once thought of as the GOP establishment, for months has been engaged in a high-stakes candidate recruitment campaign, full of phone calls, meetings, polling memos and promises of millions of dollars.
Last week, Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland announced he would not run for Senate, despite a pressure campaign that involved his wife. Ducey is expected to make a final decision soon, but he has repeatedly said he has little appetite for a bid. “No one should be afraid of President Trump, period,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who won in 2020 without endorsing the then-president and has worked with McConnell to try to woo anti-Trump candidates.
McConnell has been loath to discuss his recruitment campaign and even less forthcoming about his rivalry with Trump. In an interview last week, he warded off questions about their conflict, avoiding mentioning Trump’s name even when it was obvious to whom he was referring. “He’s made very clear that you’ve been there for Alaska, you’ve been there for the team, and I’m going to be there for you,” Murkowski said of McConnell’s message to her.
But McConnell has sometimes decided to pick his battles — in Georgia, he acceded to Herschel Walker, a former football star and Trump-backed candidate, after failing to recruit Perdue to rejoin the Senate. He also came up empty-handed in New Hampshire, where Gov. Chris Sununu passed on a bid after an aggressive campaign that also included lobbying from Bush.
“I’m very interested in changing the party, and that was the most effective argument,” said Hogan, who is believed to be considering a bid for the White House. In Pennsylvania’s open Senate race, Trump backed Sean Parnell, who withdrew after a bitter custody battle with his estranged wife. And in Alabama, the former president rallied to Rep. Mo Brooks to succeed Sen. Richard Shelby, who’s retiring. But Brooks, who attended the rally that preceded the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, is struggling to gain traction.
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