Lt. Gov banks on Trump endorsement to best Gov. Brad Little in Idaho race
Idaho’s gubernatorial race will show once again how powerful the Trump endorsement can be in 2022.
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Former teammates turned political rivals. Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin (R-Idaho) looks to unseat incumbent Gov. Brad Little with some help from the former president.
“Donald Trump has been consistently very popular,” said American University political professor Capri Cafaro.
She explained that Idaho is friendly territory for Trump. He won the state handily with 63% of the vote in 2020.
“Donald Trump’s endorsement does have sway,” said Cafaro. “However, I believe there is a caveat here, because I think it’s really contingent upon who the audience is.”
In Trump-leaning states like Ohio, where he won in 2020 with 53% of the vote, a Trump endorsement proved to be make-or break in the Senate primary.
“If you take Ohio as a litmus test, the fact that J.D. Vance was consistently running third, at least, for months and then with two weeks to go, Donald Trump comes in and endorses,” said Cafaro.
J.D. Vance narrowly won the race to be the Republican nominee for the open Ohio Senate seat. But Trump doesn’t always have the Midas touch. In Nebraska, where Trump won with 58% of the vote, his pick for governor lost.
So while McGeachin has Trump’s endorsement, Little is counting on his four year record as governor to win voters.
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