Ignore Trump visits

GOP Senate campaigns ignore Trump visits

Republicans can’t seem to get far enough away from their presumptive nominee.

By Scott Bland

Two weeks into the general election, just one major Senate candidate from a swing state has dared appear onstage with his party’s presumptive nominee: Ted Strickland.

Indeed, when Strickland, the Democrats’ Senate hopeful in Ohio, lavished Hillary Clinton with praise at a rally this week in Columbus (and said it was “wonderful to be here” with one of the most unpopular nominees in modern political history), the moment was remarkable precisely because it was so unique.

As for Republicans, they can’t get far enough away from Donald Trump.

So far, the only notable battleground GOP Senate candidate to attend a local event with Trump is Kelli Ward, Sen. John McCain’s tea-party primary challenger. Since closing out the primary season in California, the brash real estate mogul has given speeches in four states with major Senate races — New Hampshire, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada — without an appearance by a GOP senator or Senate nominee.

Senate Democrats haven’t made it to many of Clinton’s swing-state visits yet either — little-known North Carolina nominee Deborah Ross missed Clinton’s event in Raleigh Wednesday, for example. When Strickland appeared with Clinton, Republicans torched him over Clinton’s recent comments about the coal industry and her unpopularity.

But the Democrats who have missed Clinton’s trips also announced they want to campaign with her soon. For GOP Senate candidates looking to localize their battleground races, appearing onstage with Trump is not even close to a priority right now — a departure from the norm for down-ballot campaigns that are often eager to borrow a crowd.

“If [Trump]’s in a state or a part of a state where he’s going to do well, they might do it. But if not, why would they go?” said a GOP strategist.

Sens. Kelly Ayotte and Richard Burr’s offices said they had to be in Washington when Trump came to their states last week. McCain and Rep. Joe Heck, who just won a GOP Senate primary, had scheduling conflicts when Trump was in Arizona and Nevada over the weekend. As Trump rallied at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, McCain was preparing for the “Swaggies,” a local chamber of commerce awards dinner 20 miles down the road.

“As you can imagine, the senator’s schedule is filled far in advance, especially when he is in Arizona since he is campaigning across the state,” McCain campaign spokeswoman Lorna Romero said.

Several Republican governors, including North Carolina’s Pat McCrory and Arizona’s Doug Ducey, appeared at Trump fundraisers, but not at the public events, when he was in their states.

Multiple campaigns did not answer questions about whether the Senate candidates would appear with Trump during future visits to their states. (Down-ballot Democrats, like North Carolina gubernatorial hopeful Roy Cooper, who missed Clinton, have been quicker to declare that they will appear with her in the future.) The stage is set for future GOP absences: A Heck campaign source noted that his “schedule is very tight and booked well in advance.”

Trump rallies, meanwhile, are often scheduled just days before they happen, and invitations to GOP officials have been spotty.

“To my knowledge, the Trump campaign has not reached out to any individual campaigns about their plans in North Carolina,” said Paul Shumaker, a GOP strategist who works with Burr and several House campaigns in the state.

“I don’t really think anyone’s yearning to step up to the plate and be involved, but I also don’t think they’re really asking anyone in these states to participate, either,” said an Arizona Republican operative.

But Senate Republicans aren’t sweating the split campaigns right now. Trump gave GOP senators his blessing to run separately from him in a meeting with Senate leaders last month, according to a source familiar with the conversation. National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Ward Baker wrote last month that Republican senators want to run for reelection like local sheriffs, not federal legislators — and not appearing with the presidential nominee fits into that framework.

Some recent Senate polling has shown GOP incumbents running ahead of Trump or voters declaring that Trump’s candidacy will not change their Senate vote. (One example: Quinnipiac’s most recent survey of Florida showed Trump trailing Clinton by 8 percentage points while Sen. Marco Rubio, who just announced a reelection bid, ran 7 points ahead of his closest Democratic challenger.)

Meanwhile, Democratic Senate candidates have missed several Clinton events — but their campaigns have pledged to be there in the future. “Deborah won't be in Raleigh ... because she has a long-scheduled community event in the Triad,” Ross spokesman Cole Leiter wrote in an email, adding: “She is sending staff and supporters to this rally and looks forward to being there in the future.”

Pennsylvania Democrat Katie McGinty, who is also trying to build name recognition for a tough race, missed Clinton’s Pittsburgh speech last week to attend a gun-control event in Philadelphia. “Two young women from Philadelphia were shot in the Orlando shootings, and one was killed, so she wanted to be there for the community,” spokesman Sean Coit said.

Republicans say they welcome the opportunity to tie Democratic Senate candidates to Clinton, though. Despite all the attention to Trump’s campaign trouble and unpopularity, more voters still view Clinton unfavorably than favorably, and her polling against Trump worries some down-ticket Democratic campaigners. Democratic candidates around the country have dodged questions about Clinton’s email scandal and support for her in recent weeks.

The NRSC, which has run advertisements attacking Clinton, linked Strickland to her before Tuesday’s event. The committee sees Clinton’s March comments about coal companies going out of business as a major negative in several key Senate races, including Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“What better way to pretend to be a friend of coal than to campaign with Hillary Clinton?” the NRSC wrote in a statement.

But Strickland’s campaign sounds eager to talk about the presidential race.

“The reason Rob Portman is ducking for cover every time Donald Trump even mentions the idea of coming to Ohio is he’s running alongside the most toxic and divisive presidential candidate in history,” Strickland spokesman David Bergstein said.