With the May 17 primaries looming fast, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travels to Keystone State Wednesday to support Dave McCormick, a candidate he supports in a very crowded, flammable, and expensive race for nominations. Republican Senate.
Pompeo backed McCormick in early February, more than two months before his former boss – former President Donald Trump – entered the race, supporting McCormick’s main rival, Mehmet Oz.
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McCormick, a former hedge fund director, West Point graduate, Gulf War veteran and Treasury official under President George W. Bush, and Oz, a cardiac surgeon, author, and celebrity physician who, by the time the Senate campaign began late last year, of the year, he hosted the popular TV show “Dr. The Oz Show, ”is the voting leader and the largest expense in the race for the success of retiring GOP senator Pat Toomey.
The state’s key battlefield contest is one of the few that may determine whether Republicans regain a Senate majority in the November mid-term election.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (left) joins the annual Lincoln-Reagan fundraising dinner hosted by district president and RNC member Chris Ager in Manchester, New Hampshire, April 7, 2022 (Fox News)
“Dave is honored to have the continued support of West Point colleague Pompeo’s secretary, and grateful to Pompeo that he is the right candidate to fight on behalf of Pennsylvania,” McCormick said in a statement prior to their Frosty Valley Danville Resort, Pennsylvania.
Pompeo has traveled the country over the past year, campaigning and helping raise money for his compatriots running for this year’s semesters, forging friendships that could pay off if a former Kansas congressman, director of the CIA, and America’s top diplomat under the Trump administration decides to run for the presidential election 2024 GOP.
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While Pompeo’s endorsement is helpful, Trump’s endorsement remains the gold standard in the GOP. The former president, 15 months away from the White House, remains the most influential and popular politician in the Republican Party as he continues to play the role of king in the party’s primaries and flirts repeatedly with the launch of another White House in 2024.
Former President Donald Trump addresses a January 15, 2022 rally in Florence, Arizona. (Photo AP / Ross D. Franklin)
But some high-profile Trump candidates who have backed this cycle have so far been unable to catch fire.
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Among those struggling with the polls or fundraising are former Georgian Senator David Perdue, who challenges GOP governor Brian Kemp; former Alaska Department of Administration Commissioner Kelly Tshibaka, who challenges Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski; and in Alabama, the former president recently withdrew support from representative Mo Brooks, an ally of Trump who is fighting in his state’s primary elections.
“There is no question that Trump’s endorsement is helping Republican primaries, but it proves it doesn’t clear the field or ensure a victory,” longtime Republican consultant Ryan Williams told Fox News.
Williams, a veteran of numerous presidential campaigns for the GOP, noted that he “gives other potential candidates a license by 2024 to go out and support whoever they want. They believe there are no consequences for separating their own support from that of President Trump.”
Pompeo is not the only potential contender for 2024 to back a candidate who faces a Trump-backed candidate.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas also supports McCormick as well as former Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel in the divisive and costly primaries in the Ohio Senate. Like Pompeo, Cruz backed him long before Trump competed in any race.
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Cruz, who finished second behind Trump in the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and who is considering another round in 2024, is set to join Mandel on the campaign path later next week. Trump travels to Ohio this weekend to campaign with JD Vance, a venture capitalist and bestselling author that the former president backed last Friday.
Senator Ted Cruz speaking at the Conservative Conference on Political Action (CPAC) on February 24, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo AP / John Raoux)
In the same race, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem – whom experts see as a possible White House hope – supports former Ohio GOP chairwoman Jane Timken.
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Trump and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie are on opposite sides in Georgia. Christie, the 2016 GOP presidential candidate who has publicly said he is considering another White House run in 2024, supports Kempa. And former Vice President Mike Pence’s advisers, who are taking the early steps that could lead to the presidential series of his own next cycle, have helped Kemp’s team behind the scenes.
Trump and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, another potential candidate for 2024, are on opposite sides in the GOP Congressional primaries in her home state. Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, supports Republican Nancy Mace in the Republican primary in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, while the former president supports challenger Katie Arrington.
In Nebraska, Republican Governor Pete Ricketts, whom some consider possible hope in the White House, backed University of Nebraska Regent member Jim Pillen as his successor, and Trump backed republic businessman Charles Herbster.
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Trump’s intra-party clashes with other potential presidential candidates in 2024 could be a snack for things that will come after the end of terms and the intensification of competition for another White House.
“People remember who supported them in difficult fights,” Ryan noted. “If you’re a potential candidate for 2024 and support someone who wins their primaries, that person owes you, and if they’re in a key state like Ohio or Pennsylvania, that could be a valuable support for your own run.”
