Trump-Backed Senate Candidates Have A ‘Good Chance of Winning’: McConnell

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Aug. 29 opined that GOP Senate hopefuls with former President Donald Trump’s backing have a “good chance of winning” in November.

McConnell has long had an adversarial relationship with the former president. That rift has only grown further in recent years as McConnell has tried to turn the focus of this year’s midterms away from Trump and toward criticizing President Joe Biden’s policies.

McConnell told reporters in his home state of Kentucky that he had decided to host fundraisers for three prime contenders in battleground states: Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is running for the open Pennsylvania Senate seat, Herschel Walker, who is trying to take Sen. Raphael Warnock’s (D-Ga.) seat, and Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), who is vying for the open North Carolina Senate seat.

McConnell explained that he had chosen to host the fundraiser for the Trump-backed nominees because they are “in critical states and [have] a good chance of winning.”

Absent from McConnell’s fundraising efforts are Trump-backed candidates Blake Masters of Arizona, who is competing for Sen. Mark Kelly’s (D-Ariz.) seat, and author J.D. Vance, who won the GOP nomination in Ohio after a drawn-out primary battle in a flooded field. The two identify most heavily with Trump’s populist approach to American politics, positions which may make McConnell skeptical of their chances of winning their seats.

These two may have been at the forefront of McConnell’s mind when he recently expressed concerns that “candidate quality” could jeopardize GOP chances of retaking the evenly divided Senate in November.

Despite general expectations that the GOP will reclaim the House after four years in the minority, the battle for the Senate is much tighter.

Because Democrats control Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote, they will retain the Senate even if they pick up no seats. Republicans,

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