Silent Senate Dems Avoid Trump’s Conviction

Mum’s the word on former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict for most Senate Democrats facing swing-state reelections next year, a departure from their progressive colleagues who welcomed the historic conviction.

The strategy on such a contentious issue underscores the potential vulnerabilities presenting more than a half-dozen Democrats in battleground Senate races, any one of which could determine control of the chamber.

Neither the offices nor campaigns of Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Bob Casey (D-PA) responded to requests for comment Friday to the Manhattan jury convicting Trump on Thursday of 34 felony counts in his New York hush money trial.

A spokesperson for Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) told the Washington Examiner in a statement, “Sen. Tester respects the judicial process and believes everyone should be treated fairly before the courts, and voters will have the opportunity to make their voices heard at the ballot box in November.”

Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf, who’s advised former President Bill Clinton, told the Washington Examiner that a quiet approach is a smart political tactic clearly designed to avoid turning off voters.

“Why put your neck in a noose if you don’t have to?” Sheinkopf said. “If you’re in trouble in the first case, why would you do something that would alienate a significant portion of the population?”

The campaign arm of Senate Republicans pummeled with criticism Tester and Brown, both red-state Democrats whom the GOP sees as their best path to a Senate majority. The National Republican Senatorial Committee urged them both to leave the Democratic Party over a “corrupt show trial.”

“Two-Faced Tester voted to impeach President Trump twice and encouraged physical violence against Trump,” NRSC communications director Mike Berg said. “Now, Two-Faced Tester is trying to fool voters into thinking he isn’t the Trump hater he was so proud to be for the last five years.”

On Brown, NRSC spokesman Philip Letsou suggested he “kiss his political career goodbye” unless the Democrat leaves the party.

“Staying silent like a coward isn’t an option,” Letsou said.

Senate Democrats’s campaign arm, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, did not release a statement on the verdict. A spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Democrats running for Senate in open seats were more outspoken than the incumbents.

In Michigan, leading Democratic candidate Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) called Trump’s verdict “an unprecedented moment, and a sad one for our country.”

“Presidents should be leaders we look up to; now, one of them is a convicted felon, found guilty by a jury of his peers. That’s nothing to celebrate,” Slotkin said. “The only good news is that our justice system worked, even under enormous pressure. Every American, even a former president, must be held accountable under the law. That principle is foundational to our country and more important than any one president, candidate, or campaign.”

In Arizona, leading Democratic candidate Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) offered a similar but more concise message.

“I respect our justice system and the rule of law,” Gallego said. “The process played out, and we should always demand accountability from our elected leaders.”

Republicans and Trump were quick to denounce the guilty verdict on Thursday, assailing the process as “corrupt,” “rigged,” and a “two-tiered system of justice.” In a campaign fundraising email, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee declared himself a “political prisoner.”

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Democrats professed the outcome was a win for “the rule of law” and the American justice system.

Trump will face sentencing July 11 at 10 a.m., just four days before the Republican National Convention commences.