PA-Sen: Toomey Should Fear the Trump Effect

Pat-ToomeyDid Donald Trump finally cross the line with his call for a ban on Muslims entering the country?

We’ll know when Republican primary voters and caucusers begin to have their say in February. While the effect on Donald Trump isn’t yet clear, however, the political backlash could adversely affect GOP Senators nationwide.

Amber Phillips of the Washington Post compiled a list of five Republican Senators who should be worried about Trump. Pennsylvania’s junior Senator made the cut.

Phillips noted what the nonpartisan Cook Political Report had to say about the matter.

“A candidate who is too conservative or too controversial can hurt GOP Senate candidates in swing states,” they wrote, expressing a sentiment which Phillips shares.

“Trump is Senate Republicans’ worst nightmare right now,” she states. “His ban-Muslim-immigrants comment is undoubtedly going to make it harder for vulnerable Senate Republicans — who are trying to hang onto the Senate by defending 24 of the 34 seats up for reelection in 2016 — to argue that their party hasn’t gone off the deep end ideologically.”

Poll numbers show the first-term incumbent with a small lead over his three Democratic opponents but Sabato’s Crystal Ball classifies PA as “Lean Democratic” for the 2016 presidential race.

“That means Toomey will have to outperform the GOP presidential nominee if he has any shot at another term,” Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report wrote.

All the while, Toomey is trying to distance himself from Trump and his plan.

“Trump is wrong. We should not have a religious test for admission to U.S.,” Sen. Pat Toomey tweeted Tuesday morning. “We should have a security test, and it should be bullet proof.”

The Senator must hope that his voice will be louder than the New Yorker’s, which is no small task.

13 Responses

  1. Trump is saying what we all know is true. The religion of death has to be outed for what it obviously is.

  2. That’s counter-intuitive to the point of the article.

    Just because Fox News laments Obama’s drone Strikes as bad for the Democratic party doesn’t make it any less true. It’s still news.

    Besides that point, even as a liberal I still pay attention to Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal and Fox News. To not understand the other side is to not understand the complexity of the issues. Being a mindless drone of either party is all-together bad for the country.

  3. I enjoy how the Washington Post is treated as a source not only with credibility, but is somehow a voice anyone should pay attention to. C’mon PoliticsPA. The Washington Post is a partisan activist arm of the Democrat Party. It’s not some unbiased source of objective analysis and accurate facts. The role of that “newspaper” is to undermine conservatives and Republicans, and bolster liberals and Democrats.

  4. Toomey is in the RePERVlican CLOWN CAR just like everybody else! The RePERVlican CLOWN CAR ran over one of my mom’s 37 cats who live here with me in her basement! That’s why I can’t stop talking about it and can’t come up with any new material!

    RePERVlican, it’s so clever!

  5. Toomey is his on biggest problem, although the Donald is a real idiot who will hurt GOP with any intelligent voter.

  6. I think the Trump effect on Toomey is a bit overblown. It would only hurt him if Toomey himself had a nasty primary fight. But he doesn’t. He can stay on his own political trajectory while the far-right flanks its own party nationally.

  7. Isaac L.

    Unfortunately, you are right. Toomey has kept his public image in check to avoid appearing as radical right wing as he really is. Sestak ran to the left to win the primary, and wasn’t able to pivot back to the center, nor challenge Toomey on his extreme conservative views. Sestak is really a conservative himself and unable to deconstruct conservative lies.

    Fetterman is considered the most honest candidate, not beholden to the special interests. But, it’s unclear if PA voters actually want a champion of the people, despite their complaints of business as usual.

  8. Sen. Toomey is a smart man and an exceptionally disciplined campaigner. He rarely goes off message and he’s careful about his delivery and diction. While he would have been one of the most conservative members of Congress when he was elected, the number of Tea Party candidates brought in that year who were further to the right of him skewed things a good bit. He is smart enough to avoid the bombastic rhetoric in this commonwealth.

  9. Toomey’s world view not much different than Trump’s–it’s just that Toomey is too smart to say what he really believes and he never talks in a politically incorrect manner. Smart guy. Sestak’s gonna retire Toomey this time around.

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