Particular bellwethers were the Alabama and Minnesota primaries. Name recognition and endorsement were not the winners of the night, but the Republican voter’s ability to interpret the information and make their own decision won it.
How else to explain six-term Congressman Mo Brooks pulling out enough votes to force a runoff for retiring Senator Richard Shelby’s seat? Brooks and his opponent, Shelby’s Chief of Staff Katie Britt, will face off again on June 21.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate is going to a June runoff between Katie Britt and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, who overcame losing former President Donald Trump’s endorsement to remain a contender for the GOP nomination.
These candidates will be running for the Senate seat currently held by U.S. Senator Richard Shelby who is retiring. Britt is Shelby’s former chief of staff and the former leader of the Business Council of Alabama. Brooks, a north Alabama congressman who has served six terms.
Despite Brooks’ strong support of Trump in the past, and himself becoming a target of the January 6 goon squad, Trump decided to pull his endorsement of the Congressman, believing Brooks was back-peddling on what Trump considered clear 2020 Election fraud. Brooks had strong supporters in the Senate and House who continued to endorse him. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a conservative stalwart, was able to win her primary win, as well as Dr. Kelli Ward (Ariz. GOP Chair) and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
It was an honor. I’m proud to support @MoBrooks. He’ll be an important ally of liberty in the senator! https://t.co/MdmQiOqDm0
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 23, 2022
However, this raises the question of whether endorsements are still relevant in terms electability. Governor of Virginia, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s clear mandate, to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s election challenges and the fact that they did not agree with any one candidate, those citizens were open to other options. Instead they listened, let the opinion leaders and talking heads weigh in and then made their own decisions and voted as they wished. Georgia’s Kemp was upheld by the Georgia electorate, which voted for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as well as Herschel Walker.
Allow that to sink in.
It is also evident from the Pennsylvania Senate race. Trump had endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz as senator, but the electorate was overwhelmingly in favor of Kathy Barnette. They then voted for David McCormick with numbers that led to a statistical tie. As the race is being retold, they have less than 1000 votes each.
This shows that people voted in favor of the Republican and Conservative candidates so far. TheyThey are wanted and not those that were picked for them, or told that they should vote.
Minnesota is no exception. The race wasn’t covered much because it was an election for the special District 1 seat to replace Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn who was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Despite having Democratic challengers on its ticket, this area is still considered firmly blue and was not given much attention by the legacy media.
According to TwinCities.com, Hagedorn’s widow Jennifer Carnahan ran for the seat, but was roundly batted down, only garnering around eight percent of the vote. Carnahan was not without controversy. Her tenure as Chair of the GOP of Minnesota was short-lived. She was removed in August 2021, when an important donor was arrested on charges of child sex slavery.
The Lincoln Project is a reference to her, which was apparently the death sentence for her candidacy. Ex-staffers complained about a toxic workplace environment at the same time.
Just this month, Carnahan is being sued by Jim Hagedorn’s mother, stepfather, and sister over money they loaned Carnahan to help cover his medical bills. Minnesota’s GOP voters saw this, and decided not to pursue the impending drama and trailing.
Despite the fact that Minn. State Representative Jeremy Munson was leading Tuesday night after he left the Minnesota House GOP Caucus to become Ultra MAGA, Brad Finstad won the District 1 race on Wednesday morning. Munson quickly conceded the race.
According to some reports Munson was the preferred choice among District 1 Republicans but failed to receive the full endorsement of the Minnesota GOP. Finstad is a well-known commodity. Finstad was formerly a state representative. Finstad was the US state director for USDA Rural Development under Trump.
What this race indicates is that voters chose a candidate with Republican credentials and experience, over candidates whose experience was too “on the nose” to Trump and America First-like candidacies.
You will find out more about whether the candidates made wise choices in August’s Minnesota primary. The primary will provide an indicator of the positions and pivots that all GOP candidates need to make for November.
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