The January 6 committee hearings did not change anything. They may have shown that Donald Trump himself was not unaware that he had lost the presidential election of 2020, a significant fraction of the Republican Party continues to profess that the election was stolen from him. Since the beginning of the primaries for the general elections of November 8, 2022, a new term has also appeared in the political landscape to designate Republican candidates who have never accepted defeat: « election deniers » or “election deniers”.
Some analysts believed they had detected a cooling off in support for Donald Trump, in the wake of the hearings: the Wall Street Journal and the New York Posttwo newspapers of Rupert Murdoch, did they not consider that the ex-president was “ not worthy to occupy the Oval Office again? However, the Republican primaries which took place on Tuesday August 2, in five states (Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, Washington, Arizona), showed that the base is not so categorical.
The primaries so far have established that the former president’s supporters remain firmly entrenched. According to a count established on July 18, by the site FiveThirtyEight, nearly half of the Republican candidates who will present themselves in November in the Senate, in the House, and for the posts of governor, attorney general (Minister of Justice) or secretary of State (i.e. some 120 candidates) are « deniers » : they questioned or denied the legitimacy of the election of Joe Biden.
Tuesday, the ballot did not clarify the balance of power within the Republican Party. Donald Trump could find a few reasons to be satisfied. Peter Meijer, one of the members of the House of Representatives who had voted in January in favor of his impeachment, was guaranteed to be eliminated in Michigan. The Democrats had supported his rival, having calculated that a shock Trumpist would be easier to beat in November than an elected official who had the courage to defend the institutions. In Washington State, two other supporters of impeachment, Dan Newhouse and Jaime Herrera Beutler, seemed on the other hand to be able to pass the first round, because of the voting system in this State, which favors the two candidates who came first whichever. whatever their party.
Several reasons for satisfaction
In total, out of the group of 10 representatives who voted against Mr. Trump, and whom he has since reviled, the results – without including Tuesday’s ballot – are in his favor: 4 preferred not to stand again, one been beaten (Tom Rice in South Carolina). Only one so far has won his primary: David Valladao, in California. Liz Cheney, who has become his most frontal opponent, is a loser in the Wyoming primary on August 16.
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