| New reporting from Roll Call reveals that Brinker Harding isn’t even attempting to run from his MAGA roots, openly embracing Trump even as his approval continues to take a nosedive. From “eagerly await[ing] the president’s endorsement” to “invoking one of the president’s trademark phrases,” Harding is going full MAGA – and he isn’t hiding it.
In an area like Omaha, Harding’s MAGA ties “come with risks,” with race raters noting that Trump’s endorsement “isn’t ideal” in this political environment. Not to mention that Harding has repeatedly praised Trump’s unpopular agenda.
REMINDER: Inside Elections rates NE-02 ‘Tilt Democrat’ and Cook Political Report rates the district as ‘Lean Democratic’ as Nebraskans make clear they want a representative that will actually put their needs first, not just be a rubber-stamp for the extremism coming from Trump and House Republicans.
DCCC Spokesperson Madison Andrus:
“Brinker Harding knows that he is out of step with the voters of NE-02, he simply doesn’t care. Harding is running for Congress to become a part of the D.C. Republican extremist elite. And he doesn’t care if he has to betray or lie to Nebraskans in order to get there.”
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Roll Call: Republican hopefuls in swing seats aren’t walking away from Trump
- Voters in Nebraska’s open 2nd District have twice rejected Donald Trump, but the presumptive Republican nominee for the seat is “humbled” to have the president’s backing.
- Trump has been “doing great things,’’ said Brinker Harding, an Omaha City Council member seeking to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon. “We’ve got tax relief for families. We’ve got ‘no tax on tips.’ I can go through the list.”
- Trump’s public embrace of Harding came in the middle of another chaotic week for the president, one marked by a spat with the pope and continued high gas prices driven by an unpopular war.
- In competitive GOP primaries, a Trump endorsement is widely viewed as a golden ticket that can lift a candidate to victory. But in purple-shaded battlegrounds like Nebraska’s 2nd District that are key to the GOP’s effort to maintain its House majority, Trump’s seal of approval comes with risks as well as rewards.
- “Being a Trump-endorsed candidate in a battleground district in this political environment isn’t ideal,’’ Roll Call elections analyst Nathan L. Gonzales of Inside Elections said in an email. But “even though Trump isn’t popular in battleground seats right now, GOP candidates need Trump voters to vote in order to have any chance of winning.”
- Nebraska’s 2nd District is closely divided, with a narrow plurality of registered Republicans and a sizable chunk of independent voters.
- “It’s not a district where you can count on your party carrying you over the finish line,” said Kevin Smith, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “You’ve got to appeal to those independents.’’
- Harding is pitching himself as a deficit hawk and a pro-business conservative with a long record of public service and a reverence for Ronald Reagan. His campaign website scarcely mentions Trump, though Harding pledges to help usher in a “new Golden Age for America,” invoking one of the president’s trademark phrases.
- But Harding had eagerly awaited the president’s endorsement, which came on a Tuesday afternoon as he was heading to City Hall for a meeting.
- “The president doesn’t just blanket endorse all Republican candidates,’’ Harding said. “To have his endorsement, knowing what this district is, says a lot about the confidence that the White House and leadership have in me and our campaign.”
- Trump’s support, he added, “will be a benefit to our campaign.”
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