Republicans are increasingly concerned about Georgia’s Senate race, where a crowded primary threatens to produce a flawed candidate who could put at risk a seat in a Republican-leaning state.
Recent polling shows the two candidates Republicans are most anxious about — Reps. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) and Paul Broun (R-Ga.) — leading the pack. Whoever emerges from the clown-car primary, with seven candidates and counting, will face a candidate Democrats are high on in a state where shifting demographics benefit their party.
Losing Georgia’s open Senate seat would do severe damage to Republicans’ hopes of winning the net of six seats necessary to take control of the Senate.
“Gingrey has a history of making some gaffes, and Broun it seems like it’s a gaffe every other day. Those are the two that worry Republicans the most as potential problems going into the general election,” said Georgia Republican strategist Joel McElhannon, who’s neutral in the race.
Eric Tanenblatt, a Georgia strategist who advised and was national finance co-chair for Governor Mitt Romney’s 2012 Presidential campaign, says he’s worried the candidates haven’t acknowledged the state’s shifting demographics. Georgia has fast-growing African-American and Hispanic populations and a large number of younger voters moving in from across the country.
“Georgia is changing, and the further you go to the right in the primary, the more difficult that becomes in the general,” he says. “If we’re not careful we could create an unfortunate situation for ourselves.”
Another Georgia Republican strategist pointed to recent votes on the Farm Bill and some appropriations bills as evidence Broun was already having an impact on the race.
“All of the candidates better be careful that they stick to their own values and not be driven to the hard right because of one candidate in the race,” she said.
via Republican anxiety grows over crowded Georgia Senate race – The Hill’s Ballot Box.
Comments ( 0 )