4 Red State Democrats Turn Down Trump Invitation To SCOTUS Pick Announcement

Red state Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (Indiana), Joe Manchin (West Virginia). Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota), and Doug Jones (Alabama) were invited by Trump to attend his Supreme Court nominee announcement at the White House. They all turned him down.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram reported:

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

Democrats are showing a united front

The Trump brand is so damaged, and Democratic incumbents are generally doing so much better than expected in many of these red states, that the Democrats don’t have to beat a path to the White House. Republicans are especially disappointed that Manchin and Heitkamp have looked so strong in their reelection campaigns. Not going to the White House is not the same as not voting for the nominee, but the message being loudly sent to the White House is that Trump will not be able to count on any Democratic votes to get his Supreme Court nominee confirmed.

The Republican Party’s whole strategy since Trump took office has been to try pressure red state Democrats into supporting this president. It hasn’t worked before, and it isn’t working now. If Trump wants to destroy Roe v. Wade, he will have to do it with Republican votes, because so far, Democrats are showing zero interest in playing along.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association