Trump GOP primary endorsements prove to be deeply divisive

 

Sources:

U.S. News and World Report, 4/29/2022  (top)

Nearly all of Nebraska's GOP establishment leaders are lining up behind businessman Jim Pillen, believing he would be the easy favorite to win in November. But no endorsement matters quite like that of former President Donald Trump, who is backing his longtime friend Charles Herbster. And in a twist, a third candidate, state Sen. Brett Lindstrom, is emerging as a strong contender in part because of an endorsement from the mayor of Omaha, the state's biggest city.

 New York Times, 4/28/2022 (middle)

For Republican supporters of Donald J. Trump in Michigan, it seemed like a crowning moment: The state party chose two candidates endorsed by the former president, both outspoken preachers of 2020 election falsehoods, as its contenders for the state’s top law enforcement officer and its chief of election administration. 

But instead, that move at a convention last weekend — where Republicans officially endorsed Matthew DePerno for attorney general and Kristina Karamo for secretary of state — has ruptured the Michigan Republican Party. After months of strain, it appears to finally be snapping as what remains of the old guard protests the party’s direction.

CNN, 4/28/2022 (bottom) 

But the duo's partnership came to a screeching halt last week after the Club for Growth refused to end its negative ad campaign against Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance at the former President's behest and doubled down with new ads against the Trump-backed "Hillbilly Elegy" author. The group has backed former state treasurer Josh Mandel in the heated Republican primary for the seat being vacated by Sen. Rob Portman.