WASHINGTON — Democrats are attempting to force down-ballot Republicans off the fence on Donald Trump.
The Democratic Governors Association on Monday will launch a new website — GovTrumpTracker.com — designed to pressure Republicans competing in 2016 governor’s races off the fence on Trump.
It’s the latest Democratic effort to exploit the Republican fissure over Trump. Some governors — including Florida’s Rick Scott and New Jersey’s Chris Christie — have opted to embrace Trump, seeing his ability to attract independent support as a harbinger of an expanded electoral map in November.
The new site will highlight their positions: Willing to support Trump, opposed to the Republican front-runner or undecided, for those who haven’t answered directly or haven’t yet been asked.
The DGA’s list shows eight Republicans who have said they’d support Trump, nine who haven’t made a firm commitment and one — Vermont’s Phil Scott — who has said he won’t support Trump.
“With the most divisive candidate in modern history likely to lead the Republican ballot in 2016, voters deserve to know whether their gubernatorial candidates support Donald Trump for president,” said DGA communications director Jared Leopold. The Democrats are set to announce the new push Monday.
The Democratic push comes after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted Sunday that his party’s candidates’ strategies won’t depend on the top of the ticket.
“We are going to run individual races no matter who the presidential nominee is,” the Kentucky Republican said in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
“Senate races are statewide races,” McConnell said. “You can craft your own message for your own people. And that’s exactly what we intend to do this fall, no matter who the nominee is.”
Already, Democrats have latched GOP candidates who have been ambivalent about Trump to the front-runner.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has persistently labeled Republican senators as members of the “party of Trump.”
Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick has aired an ad in Arizona, showing Sen. John McCain, who she is challenging, pledging to support the Republican nominee — alongside some of Trump’s most offensive remarks.
Influential conservative donors and leaders have huddled in recent days to strategize efforts to defeat Trump — from supporting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich in a bid to deny Trump the delegates necessary to capture the party’s nomination, to fielding a further-right third-party contender in the general election.
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