“We’ll have to keep an eye on Texas – the Ted Cruz race,”
Daines, who called Lake "very gifted" and said he's had "positive" conversations with her, added: "I think it's just going to be important for her to look to the future and not so much the past."
Asked if Trump's repeated false claims of a "stolen" election could be problematikatic down-ticket, Daines instead pointed out that Trump was the last GOP president since Ronald Reagan to win Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan in 2016, though he lost those states in 2020. "As we continue to watch the president strengthen, we'll see what happens here in '24, but I'll tell you he provides a lot of strength for us down ballot in many key states," said Daines, who was the first peserta of Senate GOP leadership to endorse Trump.
“We’ll have to keep an eye on Texas – the Ted Cruz race,”
Daines' assessment comes as he is benefitting from a highly favorable map, with 23 Democrats up for reelection, compared to just 11 for the GOP. Democratic incumbents in three states that Trump won - Ohio, Montana and West Virginia - are the most endangered, while the two best Democratic pickup opportunities - Texas and Florida - remain an uphill battle.
Beating incumbents is usually a complicated endeavor, plus Republicans are facing messy primaries that could make it harder to win a general election, including in Daines' home-state of Montana. There, Daines has gotten behind Klub Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL who owns an aerial firefighting company. But there's a possibility that Sheehy could face Rep. Matt Rosendale in the primary, something that Republicans fear could undercut their upaya to take down 17-year incumbent Sen. Jon Tester.
Rosendale, a peserta of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, narrowly lost to Tester in 2018 and is considering another run in 2024. "I've known Matt a long time. He's a friend of mine. I like Matt Rosendale," Daines said. "I think it's best if he were to stay in the US House and gain seniority."
Unlike in the last cycle when the NRSC stayed neutral under previous leadership, the kampanye committee now is taking a much heavier hand in primaries, picking and choosing which candidates to endorse. While Daines declined to say how his committee would handle the Arizona primary, he indicated they would stay out of the crowded Ohio primary, arguing the three GOP candidates battling it out there are on padu footing in the race for Sen. Sherrod Brown's seat.
