A wave of primary voting contests in the four US states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont and Connecticut to choose candidates for the November 2018 midterm election has confirmed President Donald Trumps growing clout in the Republican Party.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2018) A wave of Primary voting contests in the four US states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont and Connecticut to choose candidates for the November 2018 midterm election has confirmed President Donald Trumps growing clout in the Republican Party.
The voting continued the pattern of the previous round of primary contests on August 7, when candidates supported by Trump also won races against challengers within their own party, confirming the presidents enduring popularity and hold over Republican grassroots voters.
In Kansas, incumbent Governor Jeff Colyer finally conceded defeat after a week of counting votes to his fellow Republican Kris Kobach, an anti-immigration conservative who was strongly supported by Trump. The margin of victory was only 110 votes.
CBS news commented that the result was the latest illustration of Trumps power over the GOP (Republican Party): A sitting president helped oust an incumbent governor from his own party.�
In Minnesota, former two-term governor Tim Pawlenty was dealt a humiliating defeat when he sought his partys nomination for a third term. Pawlenty had tried to backpedal on calling Trump "unhinged and unfit for the presidency" in 2016.
He was beaten for the nomination by Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson who in 2016 called Trump a "jackass" but now claims to be the presidents loyal supporter.
In Wisconsin, a state that is a major agricultural and industrial producer, Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan is leaving Congress, and his chosen candidates won the Republican nominations for both Senate and House seat races.
Wisconsin state senator Leah Vukmir won the Senate race nomination and Ryans former staffer Bryan Steil, a corporate lawyer and Washington insider, won the nomination for the congressional race.
Democratic voters chose working class iron worker Randy Bryce to challenge Steil, hoping that his charismatic working class style will attract independents alienated by Steils establishment record.
However, Bryce also has a record of nine arrests, including for drunken driving and not paying promised child support to his ex-wife.
Vukmir decisively beat former US Marine Kevin Nicholson. She will now face incumbent Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin in the November election. Baldwin is seen as potentially vulnerable.
In the rural, northeastern state of Vermont, Senator Bernie Sanders, 76, who ran a strong race for the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton in 2016, won the Democratic Partys Senate nomination. However, he is expected to turn it down and run as an Independent in November, as he has done in the past.
Vermont voters also selected the first openly transgender candidate to run for a state governor for either main US political party, Christine Hallquist, the former CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative, the state utility.
However, Hallquist faces an uphill race against popular Republican incumbent Governor Phil Scott in November.
In traditionally Democratic Connecticut, two wealthy businessmen, Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowksi won their parties nominations for governor.
Connecticut is one of the most consistently Democratic states in the United States, but outgoing Governor Dan Malloy, a Democrat, has been enormously unpopular. However, Lamont enjoys deep support among Democratic party loyalists.
