Dems decrying 'dangerous' MAGA Republicans aren't acting like it, as another Trumpian wins primary: 'The Five'
Trump was formally neutral in the three New Hampshire federal primaries.
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While President Biden warns Trumpism is purportedly "semi-fascist" and dangerous to democracy, yet another Trump-aligned Republican candidate boosted by Democrats won his primary race.
On Tuesday, retired Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc bested moderate State Senate President Chuck Morse – and had been the beneficiary of more than $3 million in paid advertising from the Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC.
Bolduc's razor-thin victory over Morse helps depict how key Democratic funding could've been in that race, former Bush White House press secretary Dana Perino said on "The Five."
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"It was like 36.8% to 36.1%. So the Democrats' effort helped him get over the finish line," she said.
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"[Bolduc] was outspent by a lot. He only had like $70,000 in his account – but mark my words, he could still win [because Sen.] Maggie Hassan's record in the Senate is horrendous."
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Perino pointed to Bolduc's substantive ground game, which included dozens of town hall meetings, quipping that Democrats "are probably going to get what they asked for," in Bolduc unseating Hassan in November.
Host Greg Gutfeld added that Democrats might "not really mean it" when they claim Trump-aligned "MAGA" Republicans are "the greatest existential threat since the Civil War."
He added that – borrowing a phrase oft utilized by Democrats – that such expenditures could be seen as "election meddling."
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"Why is this election meddling somehow less worse than the Russians spending, what was it, $100,000 on Facebook ads?" Gutfeld asked.
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Bolduc's race is only the latest high-profile midterm contest in which Democrats or Democrat-aligned political action committees have thrown money at candidates they see as right-wing or closely tied to Trump.
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In Illinois, incumbent Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker's campaign reportedly invested $9.5 million on top of $25 million from the Democratic Governors Association to help State Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Louisville, win the Republican nomination earlier this year.
Government transparency advocate OpenSecrets reported Democrats' spending on Bailey's behalf accounted for triple the candidate's own spending.
That figure was similar to a higher-profile case in Pennsylvania, where Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro – the incumbent attorney general – spent about $850,000 in advertising to boost his now-opponent, retired Army colonel Doug Mastriano.
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Mastriano, a state senator from Gettysburg, was seen as the more Trump-aligned candidate than the slew of other Republicans in the primary.
The lawmaker had drawn the attention of Democrats over his plan to implement election security measures and his opposition to Gov. Tom Wolf's and current Biden Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine's statewide emergency coronavirus restrictions.
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And in Maryland, Democrats boosted now-Republican gubernatorial nominee State Del. Dan Cox, R-Frederick, over former Hogan administration official Kelly Schulz.
Former President Donald Trump called into a rally for Cox at a farm near Westminster, Md., earlier this summer where he offered his explicit endorsement – and more recently campaigned in person at a large event for Mastriano and Senate candidate Mehmet Oz in Wilkes-Barre Township, Pa.
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On "The Five," host Jessica Tarlov cited Mastriano as the example of a popular GOP candidate with the potential to upset the Democrat, Shapiro because of the left's primary-expenditure habits.
"If even one of these people wins their election, it obviously invalidates the entire strategy," she said.