Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:11 pm
House Republican Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that the GOP could lose the 2020 election due to Trump’s fight against mail-in voting.
We could lose based on that,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) told me at a diner in Salt Lake City last week, during a campaign swing that began in the Pacific Northwest. McCarthy said the party can’t afford for Republicans to sit home, afraid of getting COVID-19, while Democrats flood the field with mail-in ballots.
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McCarthy is particularly worried about deterring senior citizens.
McCarthy said he’s spent hours telling Trump that this preoccupation will hurt the President’s own re-election, as well as Republicans running for Congress.
“I tried to show him … you know who is most afraid of COVID? Seniors. And if they’re not going to go vote, period, we’re screwed,” McCarthy told me.
Republicans have been sounding the alarm for months that Trump’s efforts to deter mail-in voting were backfiring on the party. Democrats and Independents aren’t listening to Trump, but his most devoted supporters are reading the President’s message loud and clear.
Before Trump, the Republican Party spent decades promoting voting by mail, but they are watching Trump burn their advantage to the ground, as he is more concerned with providing himself an excuse for losing the election than he is promoting a constructive effort to get more votes.
Trump is hollowing out the Republican Party, and if he loses to Joe Biden, it will just be the beginning of their problems.
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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
