Defiant GOP impeachment voters gear up for Trump-backed primaries

It was getting a little embarrassing for all of them to be begging for endorsements.

Most GOP operatives agree that Rice and Cheney are in the greatest danger of being reelected. Rice's biggest problem is South Carolina's existing rules for primaries, which require a primary if no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote. Rice can't take advantage of votes split among his opponents.

Even though Trump has waded in to clear the field, several Republicans are running in the June 14 primary, which will likely break the anti-incumbent vote. He endorsed Russell Fry and another contender dropped out.

Fry said Trump's support had earned him a surge of volunteers and endorsements, including one from the state House speaker. There are still many people competing in the primary and a top-two runoff is likely on June 28.

Fry told POLITICO in an interview that he would like to be in a one on one race.

I think the vote that Tom gets in the primary is the vote that he will get in the second round. He said that if he finished in one of the top two slots, he would make overtures to supporters of the other non-incumbent candidates.

Fry said that they never went to Mar-a-Lago.

David Valadao is the only House GOP impeachment voter who hasn't gotten a Trump-endorsed challenger. Chris Mathys raised less than $9,000 last quarter and ran for Congress in New Mexico in 2020, placing third in a GOP primary. There is a person named Yvette Herrell.

Party officials think that Valadao is the only Republican who can carry his Central Valley district, which President Joe Biden carried by 13 points. They have not shown any signs of abandoning him for crossing Trump.

According to sources close to his campaign, Valadao is close to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who represents a neighboring district, and he has had planning meetings with the House GOP campaign arm. The filing deadline for his district is fast approaching, giving other challengers less time to get involved.

Valadao avoided criticism of Trump and impeachment.

One adviser to his campaign said that David got back to work after the big vote. He didn't want to talk about, litigate, or let the vote define who he is as a congressman.

Rudy Salas is a state Assemblymember who has represented much of the current district in the state legislature.

Biden carried his seat by 9 points in the swing district where Rep. Peter Meijer is the only other member. He has not been as successful in avoiding Trump's attention as Valadao has been.

The former president endorsed a man with a history of promoting conspiracy theories and who has pledged to investigate an advisor to Biden if elected.

I'll let my facial expression speak for itself, when I was asked if Gibbs could win a general election in a blue district.

According to polling conducted for the Democratic group, there is an opportunity for the group to choose one of its candidates. The incumbent leads an initial primary against Gibbs with 26 percent to 13 percent. A survey of 400 likely Republican voters showed 50 percent of them view him unfavorably, while 34 percent have a positive view of him. A majority of people said they would back another GOP candidate.

Impact Research conducted a poll to see how the primary would change after voters learned that Trump had supported the impeachment of Meijer. The scenario was boosted by Trump's high numbers among Republicans.

The National Republican Congressional Committee can offer support to its members. The result of the primary could affect the chances of other establishment-aligned groups to win.

The NRCC is very supportive of what we're doing, said John Katko, a pro-impeachment Republican who decided to retire rather than run again.

There is a deep blue seat that is being targeted by the Democrats. The seats of two retiring pro-impeachment Republicans were lost.

A fourth member is at the top of retirement watch lists. Each year before the filing deadline, he plays a guessing game. A sign that he could be running is the huge amount of money he raised at the end of the year. He would have to challenge Huizenga.

A new map was put in place before a challenge was launched by state Rep. Steve Carra, who was endorsed by Trump. The person remained in the race.

Huizenga said that there were people within the organization that were trying to get the endorsement.

Trump endorsed a former police chief in the fight against Newhouse. He backed Army veteran Joe Kent against Rep. Beutler. In August, the state will hold an all-party primary, where the top two candidates will advance regardless of party. It is likely that only one Republican will make it to the general election in Beutler's district, which has more Democrats than Newhouse.

Kent says polling shows that the Republican will be him. The internal poll showed him leading Newhouse, but both advanced to the general election. A person familiar with that polling said that a survey conducted by a pollster aligned with the incumbents found both members advanced from the all-party primary ahead of their Republican opponents.

In an interview, Newhouse said he believed the top-two system produces a more moderate electorate and that he had no remorse about his vote.

There are some people who don't like what I did, but they agree with me.

Newhouse and the other pro-impeachment Republicans gain some cover from Trump's obsession with ousting Cheney because he has less time to punish others. The former president personally lobbied Republicans in Wyoming to introduce a bill that would prevent Democrats from changing their party registration at the last minute to vote in the Republican primary for Cheney.

It is not clear if there are enough Democrats to save Cheney or if this will stop them from helping her.

The bill would have limited effect because it only prevents a change of registration in the three months before the primary, according to the Senate Minority Leader. Many Wyoming Democrats are registered as Republicans so they can vote in the general election.

The reality is that this will lead to more of those types of voters.

An earlier version of the report misstated the year that Rep. Fred Upton was first elected to Congress. The year was 1986.