Saturday 12 November 2022 05:20 PM GOP could SNUB Trump for DeSantis in crucial Hershel Walker senate runoff In ... trends now
As control of the Senate hangs in the balance, Republicans are considering having Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stump for embattled candidate Herschel Walker in Georgia's crucial runoff election — rather than former President Donald Trump.
The GOP says it is all in on campaigning for Walker ahead of his December 6 runoff election against incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock, but fear Trump getting involved in the race may jeopardize their chances of a Republican-controlled Senate.
Many of the candidates the former president backed lost their elections this year.
But those close to Trump say it may prove to be difficult to keep the former president away from the campaign trail ahead of his expected announcement of a 2024 presidential run.
DeSantis has widely been considered a potential frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, and in recent weeks Trump has ramped up his attacks of the Republican governor and took credit for his rising political career.
As one person close to the former president told CNN on Friday: 'Imagine [Trump] seeing Ron campaign for Hershel while he is being told "Please stay away."
'He would go ballistic.'
Republicans say they are all-in in supporting embattled Republican Herschel Walker in his runoff election race, but are wary of any Trump support
GOP officials have expressed their hopes that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joins the campaign trail as they appear to push Trump away due to his election losses on Tuesday
There are only three races left to be decided following the midterm elections on Tuesday — a race in Nevada, another in Arizona and Walker's race in Georgia.
In Arizona, though, Republican Blake Masters is expected to lose his race to Democrat Mark Kelly.
If Republican Adam Laxalt defeats incumbent Catherine Cortez Mast in Nevada, Walker must win his runoff against Warnock for the GOP to take control of the Senate.
Those backing the former NFL running back now say it would be a boon for the campaign to have DeSantis stump for Walker after DeSantis quickly defeated his Democrat challenger, Charlie Crist.
'We need every Republican surrogate we can get into the state to put tier arm around Herschel,' said Ralph Reed, president of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
'I think that [Virginia Gov. Glenn] Youngkin or DeSantis is a better fit for soft Republicans or independents in the suburbs that we need to turn out,' he said.
And a person close to the Walker campaign told CNN how DeSantis would be a 'huge draw if we could get him.'
But they are not calling Trump a boon to Walker's campaign in the same way, after many of the candidates he supported for the midterm elections lost their campaigns.
They worry that having Trump involved in the campaign may dissuade independent voters and suburban women from coming out to support Walker.
And they fear Trump's decision to proceed with an anticipated 2024 campaign launch next week will distract from efforts to secure a Senate majority.
He had sent out invitations late Thursday for a November 15 event, in which he is widely expected to announce he is once again running for president in an effort to blunt the momentum growing behind DeSantis.
The former president has also continued to hurl insults at the Florida governor, saying in a statement on Thursday that he is an 'average Republican governor' who lacked 'loyalty and class' for refusing to rule out a White House bid of his own.
DeSantis slid into an easy victory on Tuesday, beating out challenger Charlie Crist
Walker faces a runoff election against incumbent Raphael Warnock, right, on December 6
Instead, Republicans are suggesting the former president stay off the trail and just help Walker financially with a generous check.
His MAGA Inc super PAC gave $16.4million to candidates in the closing weeks of the 2022 election cycle, CNN reports, and was sitting on more than $100million across his fundraising committees at the end of September.
'He's looking at how he can salvage this moment, and one of the ways for him to do that is to help Walker win,' one of his former aides said. 'But I think there's no way he can announce a campaign for president and not go campaign for Walker.'
Michael Caputo, a 2016 Trump aide, also said he should do as much as possible to raise money for Walker because a presidential announcement will likely cause a surge in Democratic contributions to Warnock.
'You have to offset that on the Walker side,' he explained. 'From my perspective, the best thing Trump can do is donate and raise a ton of money for Herschel because he can.'
The former president is expected to announce he will once again run for president in 2024
The debate comes after the former president was reportedly furious that a so-called 'Red Wave' did not materialize at the polls after many in the party turned on him.
Senior Republicans branded Trump a disaster' and accusing him of 'sabotaging' their expected cruise to victory.
But Trump on Wednesday branded reports that he was furious at the results as 'fake news', pointing to the fact that 216 GOP candidates he endorsed had won their races on Tuesday night, while 19 lost to a Democrat candidate.
'There is a fake news narrative that I was furious - it is just the opposite,' Trump told Fox News Digital. 'The people I endorsed did very well. I was batting 98.6 percent in
