Trump’s Primary Victories Continue

by Newt Gingrich: Tuesday’s primaries had three big lessons.

The first is that President Trump’s power in the Republican primaries continues to be extraordinary.

The second is that the Republican State Leadership Committee’s (RSLC) continuing investment in state legislators is giving the Republican Party a farm team that is providing candidates for many key races. In the process, Matt Walter and his team at the RSLC have devastated the Democrats’ farm teams (losing more than 900 Democratic state legislative seats during the Obama years).

Third, the radical extremist wing may do well in Democratic primaries but could pose big problems for the entire Democratic ticket in the general election.

The best example of the Trump effect on Tuesday was the upset victory by former Minnesota state legislator and current Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, who had won the state’s GOP convention endorsement in June, over former Governor Tim Pawlenty. As Barry Casselman, one of the most insightful observers of Minnesota politics told me following Johnson’s win:

“[The race was a] big upset: The GOP-endorsed candidate for governor, Jeff Johnson, defeating former Governor Tim Pawlenty. Polls indicated that Pawlenty was ahead and better-known, but Johnson ran social media ads asserting he was the only true supporter of President Trump in the race, citing a Pawlenty criticism of candidate Trump in 2016. Johnson apparently ran better-than-expected in outstate areas where Trump support is still strong.”

Casselman’s other observations about Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa can be found here.

Pawlenty had been a very able two-term governor of Minnesota, and this primary was a further wakeup call about the mood of Republican voters. Johnson had campaigned in a RV with the slogan “Overthrow the Status Quo” emblazoned on its side. It was a compelling example of the impact Trump conservatism and demands for real change are having on the GOP.

The growing weight of state legislators in the GOP is also continuing to grow. Consider that Johnson was a former state representative in Minnesota. The GOP nominee for Al Franken’s former Senate seat, Karin Housley, is a state senator. Next door in Wisconsin, State Senator Leah Vukmir is the GOP winner of a very tough primary for the Republican nomination to take on Senator Tammy Baldwin. This impact is a big deal.

The third big story coming from this week’s primary is the potential general election disaster of radical extremist nominees on the Democrats’ general election campaigns.

In Minnesota, radical Congressman Keith Ellison (someone who is comfortable wandering around in a T-shirt proclaiming “I don’t believe in borders” and advocating for a radical extremist Democratic Party) won the nomination for Attorney General. Ellison is so far to the left of the state that he may endanger the entire ticket for Democrats.

One Democrat from the iron range country of northern Minnesota commented to me that the Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) party was being replaced by a Twin Cities Socialist Democratic Party and driving the rest of the state into an unofficial Republican Farmer Labor Party.

Ellison’s radical views already created the easy target of asking each Democratic candidate if he or she agreed with him on open borders, $15 minimum wage, government-run healthcare, and other left-wing issues. This is going to be a special problem for the appointed replacement for Senator Franken, former Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith, who is up for election this November. She cosponsored Senator Feinstein’s open borders bill, and that position is a distinct minority among ordinary Americans – even in traditionally liberal Minnesota.

The weekend before the primary, a new story broke that Ellison was accused of physically abusing a former girlfriend. In a party which has driven Al Franken out of office and become extraordinarily intense about males bullying or harassing women, Ellison is going to become a problem. There will likely be pressure for him to resign from the race. Every Democratic nominee will be asked if they support him.

The fall campaign in Minnesota is going to be interesting, and according to Casselman and other experienced observers, it has the potential to become similar to the kind of meltdown which cost the Democrats two senators and a governor in 1978 (although no one thinks Senator Amy Klobuchar is particularly vulnerable).

Tuesday’s primaries were incredibly didactic. Come November, in almost every state, the general election is going to be fascinating.
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Newt Gingrich is a former Georgia Congressman and Speaker of the U.S. House. He co-authored and was the chief architect of the "Contract with America" and a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional elections. He is noted speaker and writer. The above commentary was shared via Gingrich Productions.

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