Republican Congressman Bob Dold’s dreams of reelection were effectively crushed last night, as Donald Trump crushed his Republican rivals in New Hampshire. Don’t just take our word for it: Bob Dold himself has serious concerns about the impact that a Donald Trump nomination would have on his prospects for reelection:
“Dold pointed to inflammatory comments, such as one where Trump said Arizona Sen. John McCain is ‘not a war hero.’ ‘That should be a disqualifier right off the bat,’ Dold said.” [Daily Herald, 1/04/16]
Whether Bob Dold likes it or not, Donald Trump is now the Republican Party’s frontrunner. Trump’s win last night was historic; it was the biggest victory in a New Hampshire Republican primary since at least at least 2000.
Dold’s fear of a down-ballot apocalypse is backed up by the numbers. According to POLITICO, an NRCC-commissioned poll indicated that “a plurality of respondents — 48 percent to 40 percent — would be less likely to vote for a Republican congressional candidate or incumbent if Trump were the nominee.”
“Bob Dold is definitely shaking in his boots right now, as the woman-hating, Latino-hating, and Muslim-hating Donald Trump emerges as the clear Republican presidential standard-bearer. There is no way Bob Dold will be able to separate himself from Trump’s calls for mass deportations and other discriminatory policies that ignore constitutional freedoms and alienate voters from both sides of the aisle,” said Sacha Haworth of the DCCC.