The Republican contest is increasingly looking like a battle between Texas Senator Ted Cruz and businessman Donald Trump for the 2016 nomination. Many GOP establishment figures in Washington, in particular Cruz’s GOP colleagues in the senate, fear that the Texan could damage their chances at retaining control of the US Senate in November, jeopardizing the gains made by the party during the last election cycle in 2014.
“I don’t know of anyone else in Washington, certainly, who gets this opposition from his own people. I’m talking about people as conservative as he is who just can’t stand him” said US Representative Peter King, a New York Republican.
The top of the ticket in presidential years usually has a disproportionate effect on senate, house and gubernatorial race across the country. The parties’ candidates in various states often find themselves in the unenviable position of defending the gaffes of their presidential nominee or , for some lucky ones, riding their nominee’s coattails to push them over the top in a closely contested election. Democrats need just 5 seats to gain regain control of the upper chamber should a Republican win The White House, 4 if a Democrat wins in November.
In states like Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, GOP senators face increasingly stiff challenges from Democrats to retain their seats. Many of those candidates are plotting ways to distance themselves from Cruz if he is the party’s standard-bearer.
Josh Holmes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s former chief of staff, recently summed up the potential damage to Republicans if the unpopular Texan were to win the nomination, saying “state and local races that take place in ideologically moderate electorates could be a bloodbath.”
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