Thread: How Trump and McConnell turned two problematic Tuesday primaries into a breeze

How Trump and McConnell turned two problematic Tuesday primaries into a breeze

By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 8:44 AM ET, Sun June 10, 2018

President Donald Trump played a key role in getting Nevada Sen. Dean Heller's primary challenger to drop out, and in convincing Rep. Kevin Cramer to run for the Senate in North Dakota.

President Donald Trump played a key role in getting Nevada Sen. Dean Heller's primary challenger to drop out, and in convincing Rep. Kevin Cramer to run for the Senate in North Dakota.

Washington (CNN)For months, Nevada and North Dakota were among the biggest headaches facing President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans headed into November's midterm elections.

In Nevada, until March, the GOP had two well-known candidates. In North Dakota, until February, it had none.

But after aggressive intervention from the White House, Trump's political team and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the GOP now has one candidate in each of those races -- giving the party nothing to worry about in Tuesday's primaries in two of the most important Senate battlegrounds on the 2018 midterm map.

"This is an example of what it looks like when things work well," said Josh Holmes, a top political adviser to McConnell. "Both of them had opportunity to be big trouble."

In North Dakota, despite a lobbying effort that included a visit with Trump at the White House, Rep. Kevin Cramer decided in January against a Senate run.

Rather than looking elsewhere for another candidate, though, Trump, McConnell, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner and other top Republicans continued courting Cramer, pressuring him to reconsider his decision.

"Everybody saw him as by far and away the best candidate we could field. So, that was an all-in proposition to try to get him to reconsider," Holmes said.

Oil tycoon and GOP mega-donor Harold Hamm also pressed Cramer to run -- and Hamm's nudging, Cramer told WDAY in North Dakota, was a major factor.

"When Harold talked to my wife Chris, he said, 'If Kevin does this, if you guys get into this, I will be his national finance chairman.' That was pretty compelling," Cramer said in the May interview.

In Nevada, Republicans were poised for a potentially disastrous primary between Sen. Dean Heller and conservative challenger Danny Tarkanian, who argued that Heller was insufficiently supportive of Trump.

Originally backed by Bannon, Tarkanian's campaign was undercut when Trump and Heller -- whose relationship was frayed by Heller's opposition to an Obamacare repeal bill -- grew closer.

Heller was a leading advocate for other Trump legislative priorities, including the tax reform bill. The two also talked on an October cross-country flight to Las Vegas following the mass shooting there.

Trump told Republican National Committee members he would campaign for Heller.

And in the days leading up to Nevada's March filing deadline, Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale urged Tarkanian to drop his Senate bid and run instead for the 3rd Congressional District seat -- with Trump's support.Tarkanian responded that he'd do so, but only if Trump made the ask public -- giving Tarkanian something to show his supporters to explain his decision.

Trump obliged, tweeting: "It would be great for the Republican Party of Nevada, and it's unity if good guy Danny Tarkanian would run for Congress and Dean Heller, who is doing a really good job, could run for Senate unopposed!"

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/10/polit...ies/index.html

Sen. Dean Heller is an illegal alien amnesty supporter. He was was one of a handful of Republicans that supported the "gang of eight" amnesty plan in 2013.

He later voted against the Dream Act, though. Maybe he's seen the light. I sure hope so.

Originally Posted by Judy

He later voted against the Dream Act, though. Maybe he's seen the light. I sure hope so.

Please don't confuse a single vote as something that makes an amnesty supporter a non-amnesty supporter. Sen. Heller not only supported the "gang of eight" amnesty bill, he also supports the DACA program and is a co-sponsor of the Bridge Act which would give protection to the illegals enrolled in DACA.


Heller responds to report of Trump's DACA decision: 'I support the program'

Sarah Litz, slitz@rgj.com
Published 1:06 p.m. PT Sept. 4, 2017 | Updated 5:53 a.m. PT Sept. 5, 2017



(Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)


After reports that President Donald Trump will announce Tuesday that he is ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, known as DACA, Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., emphasized that he supports the program.

DACA, a program created under Barack Obama, protects nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the United States illegally before age 16, were under 31, were in school or graduated and did not have a felony conviction. According to Reuters' sources, Trump will give Congress six months to come up with a replacement.

Heller expressed concern with how the DACA program came to be. However, he said he still supports it in a written statement to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

"The DACA program was born out of an executive order from President Obama and it's another example of why it's important that Congress debates and tackles any policy that significantly alters our nation's laws," he said. "While I remain concerned about the way in which DACA came to life, I've made clear that I support the program because hard working individuals who came to this country through no fault of their own as children should not be immediately shown the door."

Heller added, "This is why I am a cosponsor of the Bridge Act, which provides legal status for these individuals while Congress works toward a permanent solution through the proper Constitutional process." The Bridge Act would provide three-year provisional protection for undocumented immigrants and codify several provisions of Obama's executive order. The bill has bipartisan support.

Heller said: "Just as I have in the past, I'll continue to work with my colleagues to reform our broken immigration system and that must start with securing our borders; however, we cannot lose sight of the fact that our country has a long history of welcoming immigrants and our communities in Nevada are stronger because of it."
Local groups are organizing a rally outside of Heller's Reno office on Tuesday. Organizers said on the Facebook event page, "We need to show up and let Senator Heller, Trump and everyone else that Nevadans stand with our friends, neighbors and loved ones."

The protest is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

https://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/04/heller-responds-report-trumps-daca-decision-i-support-program/631177001/

THEY ALL LIE OUT BOTH SIDES OF THEIR MOUTHS!

CANNOT TRUST ANY OF THEM ANYMORE.

Originally Posted by MW

Please don't confuse a single vote as something that makes an amnesty supporter a non-amnesty supporter. Sen. Heller not only supported the "gang of eight" amnesty bill, he also supports the DACA program and is a co-sponsor of the Bridge Act which would give protection to the illegals enrolled in DACA.

Yes, I understand all that, I just wanted to point out that he's moved from supporting amnesty for 30 million illegal aliens his first year in the Senate from a blue state like Nevada in 2013, to voting against the Dream Act that would have been amnesty for 3.2 million or more a year later in 2014 to supporting some type of amnesty for 690,000 existing illegal DACA's in 2017, to possibly not really supporting any of it now, because he says he's putting border security first in 2018. My point was simply, he is open-minded, malleable and seems to be moving in our direction. I sure hope so anyway. I also Hope Danny Tarkanian wins his Congressional district race.

NO DACA DEAL!! VOTE REPUBLICAN IN 2018!!

Originally Posted by Judy

Yes, I understand all that, I just wanted to point out that he's moved from supporting amnesty for 30 million illegal aliens his first year in the Senate from a blue state like Nevada in 2013, to voting against the Dream Act that would have been amnesty for 3.2 million or more a year later in 2014 to supporting some type of amnesty for 690,000 existing illegal DACA's in 2017, to possibly not really supporting any of it now, because he says he's putting border security first in 2018. My point was simply, he is open-minded, malleable and seems to be moving in our direction. I sure hope so anyway. I also Hope Danny Tarkanian wins his Congressional district race.

NO DACA DEAL!! VOTE REPUBLICAN IN 2018!!

Pretty much all amnesty supporting Republicans hide behind the "secure the border first" slogan. Of course you know that. Nope, Heller is an amnesty supporter through and through. It's an issue he could never, and rightfully so, be trusted on. His amnesty stripes have been revealed and I've seen nothing to indicate they're fading or have faded.