Democrats, Democrat water carriers in the media and members of the Republican Party who’d like Donald Trump to exit, stage right, and quit the political limelight would have it believed the midterms were unkind to conservative candidates seeking reelection who also — a la DJT — dared to disagree with the results of the 2020 White House race. But data shows differently.
By the numbers, Trump-supporting, election-denying and Trump-endorsed congressional candidates won big at the ballot box.
According to OpenSecrets.org, of the 124 House members who refused to certify Joe Biden’s victory and who sought reelection this year, 118 won. Yes, many ran in solidly Republican areas; true, some didn’t face stiff competition. But that doesn’t change the fact that “[o]verall, the vast majority of House election objectors running for reelection with Trump’s endorsement won their races,” OpenSecrets.org wrote.
It also doesn’t change the fact “[o]nly one Trump-endorsed [House] election objector lost a reelection bid in the general election,” OpenSecrets.org wrote.
This is interesting, given the headlines, post-midterm, that have painted Trump as a party pariah and his ongoing 2020 election denial narrative as the nail to Republican candidates’ coffins.
“Trump’s biggest midterm bets don’t pay out,” Politico wrote, adding this bit to a second headline: “The former president wanted a big night celebration at Mar-a-Lago. He ended up with a new round of questions about whether he’s the GOP’s future.”
And this, from NBC News: “Did Trump hurt Republicans in the 2022 elections? The numbers point to yes.”
And this, an analysis from The Washington Post: “In election 2022, the party of Trump pays for being the party of Trump.”
And this, from The Associated Press: “Candidates who backed overturning Trump [2020] loss are rebuffed.” The story focused on state candidates — for governor, for secretary of state, for attorney general. And of these races, “nearly one-third of the [Republican] party’s candidates for governor, secretary of state and attorney general embrac[ed] Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 loss.” Roughly half of those candidates, all but one of whom was an incumbent, won, according to AP. But still, the takeaway pushed by the media was Trump lost. The takeaway was GOP candidates who stuck by Trump and stuck with an election denial message lost.
Trump’s lost his touch — we’re told.
Trump’s shiny star has faded — we’re to believe.
Yet in House races, the numbers show quite the opposite.
“An overwhelmingly majority of the 129 Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives who voted against certifying the 2020 election results ran for reelection in 2022, with more than 95% of those who ran winning their bids,” OpenSecrets.org wrote.
That was beneath the headline, “2020 election objectors overwhelmingly won reelection, but largely raised less money than the average incumbent Republican,” OpenSecrets.org wrote.
So what’s it all mean?
It means that these Trump-backed congressional candidates who to this day have doubts about the 2020 election results won big at the ballot boxes — and won without having to raise much money, to boot.
It means that Americans in large pockets of the nation see election integrity as a top issue.
It means that the media and Democrats and RINOs and Trump haters are selectively picking midterm numbers and purposely skewing polls to push a narrative that Republican voters are overwhelmingly weary of The Donald and want somebody else to run in 2024 — a point of view that curiously ignores common sense. How ‘bout those rallies? Polls may say this, but Trump’s ability to pack a stadium say that. Americans, after all, generally don’t flock to a loser.
But more than anything, it means this: No matter how hard the anti-Trump faction tries to show Trump’s days are at an end, American conservatives don’t really agree.
Trump still has a magic touch that can win him the White House in 2024.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
If the Dems and Rhinos are in a frenzy to keep Trump out of the White House, makes me want to vote for him even more.