Category: Politics

Donald Trump is facing one of his biggest tests of the midterms — and it’s of his own making.

The president has spent a significant amount of time and money trying to help Sen. Darline Graham defeat Rep. Ralph Norman in Tuesday’s snap GOP Senate primary. He’s done more for Graham than he has for the battleground Republicans whose general election fights will determine control of Congress: Not only did he push her to run for a full term, he also held a rare in-person rally for her and tapped into his MAGA Inc. warchest during the final days of the race.

If, after lending all that support, Graham fails, it would be Trump’s most embarrassing loss of the cycle. A win, however, would let him flex his ability to power an unknown political figure to office.

“If Darline does come up short, it would be just a massive, massive embarrassment to the White House and to the president. Just an utter rejection,” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump State Department appointee during his first term.

Tuesday’s runoff to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham on the November ballot won’t meaningfully affect the balance of power in Washington. What it will do is reveal the extent of Trump’s clout, because of just how much personal political capital he has expended in the race to convince voters to elect a virtual stranger.

“The fact that he came to the state on short notice to do a rally, and we haven’t seen that in a lot of endorsements, I think that sends a very strong message that he’s all in,” said Andrew Boucher, a GOP strategist and chair of South Carolina’s Charleston County Republican Party, who is neutral in the race.

Trump has framed the race as nothing less than a referendum on himself. Rallying with Graham in Myrtle Beach last week, the president told voters to “pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot.”

On Monday, a Federal Election Commission report revealed that Trump’s super PAC had spent $827,000 on text messages and phone calls for Graham. It’s one of the largest expenditures this cycle from MAGA Inc., and cash that Republicans in battlegrounds are anxiously awaiting for themselves.

One national Republican operative, who was granted anonymity to candidly discuss the president’s influence on the race, noted just how far Trump’s support has gotten Graham: “She wouldn’t even be in this place if she didn’t have [his support]. The outside help she’s had has kind of made this competitive.”

Before GOP Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her to serve out the remainder of her late brother’s term in July, Graham was a complete political novice. Graham has worked for the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department and has led the Commission for the Blind since 2019, but she had never held or even sought public office — a fact that her opponents have attacked her for repeatedly on the campaign trail, especially after she stumbled over a key foreign policy question on the debate stage earlier this month. Her clearest connection to electoral politics lay solely in being the late senator’s younger sister.

Trump’s past mistakes in South Carolina loom over the race. The Senate primary has echoes of the state’s governor’s contest earlier this summer, in which Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, a little-known Trump-backed candidate, fell to the more well-known Attorney General Alan Wilson. As public polling began to show Evette trailing significantly in the first days of that runoff, Trump issued a rare dual endorsement to include Wilson.

Evette’s defeat, coupled with a batch of uncharacteristic losses by Trump endorsees in GOP primaries in Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Wyoming and Michigan, has put all the more attention on Graham.

The power of his endorsement is on the president’s own mind, too. In a Sunday night post on Truth Social, Trump mused that his “Endorsements are stronger than ever,” pointing to splashy charts comparing his wins to his comparatively few defeats.

But in the same breath, he acknowledged that his power is not always absolute: “The few that lost were done out of loyalty. It was almost impossible for them to win but, I felt obligated to go with them because they were, in my opinion, good people!”

When asked for comment, a White House spokesperson pointed to specific remarks from Trump’s speech at Friday’s rally with Graham, including his acknowledgement that he urged her to jump in the primary.

“She’s never done it before, but she knows politics well,” Trump told supporters on Myrtle Beach. “She loves our military. She loves things that have to do with greatness for America.”

Graham’s foreign policy debate flub — in which she said “national security is not my thing” in response to a question of U.S. interests in Taiwan — revealed the pitfalls of running for office with no prior experience. Norman has taken advantage of that stumble by hammering her inexperience.

The closing stretch of the race has been characterized by Graham trying to tie herself to Trump and burnish her conservative credentials across the state. Norman has tried to shore up support in his Upstate stronghold and expand into the Low Country where former Gov. Mark Sanford — who endorsed his campaign late last week — dominated in the first round. Norman’s also taken to Fox News to bash Graham as an “unknown” and “propped-up candidate.”

Graham’s campaign hopes to consolidate support from Rep. Russell Fry’s (R-S.C.) district after he endorsed her campaign a few days into the runoff. Her closing ad of the race claims Norman “turned his back on Trump’s agenda” and is interspersed with footage of her on the rally stage alongside the president.

The GOP party establishment in South Carolina has fallen in line behind Graham.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) publicly backed her bid on the first day of the runoff, Evette got in line shortly thereafter and McMaster followed several days later.

Graham’s campaign has itself spent just over $1 million in ads since the outset of the race, but that spending is bolstered by at least three other outside groups — including Security is Strength PAC, Palmetto Action PAC, and American Mission PAC — who also supported her late brother’s primary bid earlier this year. Their spending has topped $6 million, according to AdImpact.

Norman has had his own outside help from a notable figure and longtime ally: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and her aligned groups have spent more than $700,000 for Norman, including $200,000 on a supportive ad from her issue advocacy group, Stand for America.

But that’s still much lower compared with what Graham has received.

“Sen. Scott engaging in the race, the congressional delegation, all these portions of it. Congressman Fry engaging in the race is a big deal. You could almost say that’s the opposite of what you had in the governor’s race,” said a South Carolina-based Republican operative, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly and is staying neutral in the race.

Spokespeople for Graham and Norman did not respond to requests for comment. 

Graham is still somewhat dogged by her high-profile debate stage mistake, though she’s tried to redirect the attention in interviews.

“You know what I’ve done in the last week? I’ve gone around this entire state talking to as many people as I possibly can. And you know how many of them brought up Taiwan and national security? Not one!” she said at a press conference in Columbia on Monday.

The late August runoff date could prove unpredictable for both candidates as they seek to drive out their supporters across the state. The twilight of South Carolina’s sticky, slow summer is in full effect: Most kids have returned to school, families across the state are packing their beach gear for one final getaway and the doldrums of summer are still in full force.

Several Republicans said that could mean a lower turnout — which could be a boon for a known-quantity candidate with a long history in local office, like Norman.

“A lot of the candidates that have defeated Trump-endorsed folks across the map this cycle, they’re well-known entities,” said the national GOP operative. “It’s hard to overcome some of the basics of politics, where name ID goes a long way. Familiarity with the candidate matters. Having a favorable view and someone who aligns with your values more matters, even if there’s a Trump endorsement.”

Samuel Benson contributed to this report. 

​Politics

Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed put some distance between himself and his ally, progressive Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, after the latter faced intense criticism for suggesting that American Jewish support for Israel could lead someone to “take action” against Jews in the U.S.

“My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters. Antisemitism is a scourge, and we need to address it in all its forms. And I stand against any rhetoric that puts the community at risk,” El-Sayed said in a statement. “But I want to be crystal clear, nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople. And while politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we’re going to be talking about gas, groceries, good schools, and healthcare.”

The statement marks El-Sayed’s clearest attempt to disentangle his campaign from Piker, whom he embraced during the primary despite the streamer’s contentious rhetoric. And it reflects his efforts to win back Jewish Democrats and moderates in the state after a primary campaign that alienated many of those voters in the key Senate race.

During a Thursday livestream, Piker called “the idea that Jews are monolithic” in their support of Israel “a very dangerous mode of propaganda.”“If Jews in America keep putting this — this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews,” he continued. “We’re teaching people the wrong lesson. At the end of the day, American Jews do not prioritize Israel, but they do prioritize antisemitism.” During Piker’s remarks, the stream displayed a social media post showing Michigan Democratic congressional nominee and state Sen. Jeremy Moss, who is Jewish and a supporter of Israel. The post originated from the group Track AIPAC, and featured an image from Moss’ Instagram account of him in Tel Aviv next to the group’s signature red graphic noting contributions from “pro-Israel donors” to Moss’ campaign.

Moss’ support for Israel has made him a lightning rod among progressives opposed to pro-Israel Democrats. An audio clip alleged to be a recording of Moss claiming the purpose of his campaign is to maintain U.S. support for Israel went viral online over the weekend. Moss told The Detroit News that it was a fake, and that “I would never say these things.”

In a statement Monday evening, Moss said he’s been “in continual dialogue” with El-Sayed, including about “Jewish and Arab safety and security, both here at home in Michigan and in the Middle East.”

Moss also denounced Piker’s comments as an attempt to “create further divisions.”

“I will not be lectured by a California podcaster about what Oakland County, Michigan’s Jewish community should and shouldn’t believe,” he said.

El-Sayed has struggled to unify Michigan Democrats since edging out a victory in a bitter primary that was marked by accusations of antisemitism — partly due to his own views on Israel, and partly due his embrace of Piker, who has risen to prominence through controversial and vocal attacks on Israel. El-Sayed also drew criticisms from the Jewish community for his response after a man attacked a Michigan synagogue in March. El-Sayed condemned the attack but pointed out the Israeli military killed some of the attacker’s family in Lebanon, saying “hurt people hurt people.”. He also received blowback for declining repeatedly to answer whether Israel has a right to exist during a CNN interview in June.

His primary campaign made Stevens’ acceptance of contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee a central issue, accusing the group of unfairly influencing the race and steering the party towards stronger U.S. relations with Israel, which he opposes. AIPAC spent $30 million in the race, a record for the group.

El-Sayed has repeatedly condemned antisemitism throughout his campaign.

His failure to corral support from many Jewish voters in Michigan threatens to undermine Democrats’ chances of winning the Senate. The state’s significant Muslim and Arab-American population and its prominent Jewish population pose unique challenges for Democrats’ messaging around Israel — a problem then-Vice President Kamala Harris struggled to navigate in the 2024 presidential election.

Piker’s comments drew a forceful rebuke from Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), who endorsed El-Sayed’s opponent Rep. Haley Stevens in the primary and has so far declined to endorse El-Sayed, excoriating Piker’s comments as “dangerous” and “unacceptable.”

“Piker is a hack who thrives on hate, shock and awe because he lacks substance,” she said. “We should all be calling out this disgusting rhetoric so it loses it’s [sic] grip on our politics once and for all. It has no place in Michigan, and no place in our country.”

Piker fired back at Scholten on social media, telling her not to “spend so much time vying for the spotlight by actively defaming a prominent antizionist voice to harm the dem senate majority chances over a 90/10 issue.”

Scholten’s statement accused Piker of “targeting” Moss after Piker displayed images of Moss while making the inflammatory comments. Moss, who is running to succeed El-Sayed’s primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens, backed Stevens in the primary and has yet to endorse El-Sayed in the general election.

Republican Mike Rogers jumped on the controversy, describing Piker as El-Sayed’s “running mate.”

“Hasan Piker’s call for violence against the Jewish Community, specifically against Jeremy Moss, must be condemned by every single Michigan Democrat. But Conman Abdul El-Sayed doesn’t have the guts to disavow his running mate,” Rogers said in a statement. “Abdul’s attempt at distancing himself from this violent and hateful rhetoric now that he and Hasan won the primary is the epitome of what a conman does — says one thing when it serves him and another when it doesn’t.”

Since winning the nomination earlier this month, El-Sayed has taken steps to keep Piker at arm’s length. In an August interview, El-Sayed disavowed Piker’s comments that “America deserved 9/11” during a 2019 livestream, a comment Piker has since walked back.

Democrats have gone to great lengths to reunify the party after the primary, including with a party unity rally featuring remarks from prominent Michigan Democrats, including unity breakfast Sen. Elissa Slotkin and a rally featuring remarks from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Former President Barack Obama spoke with El-Sayed after his victory and offered a rare readout of the conversation to reporters to signal that El-Sayed has the party’s backing.

This article has been updated with Moss’ response to Piker’s comments.

​Politics

President Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail Friday to help save the candidacy of Sen. Darline Graham after a major debate gaffe raised questions about her readiness to replace her late brother and the wisdom of his endorsement.

Speaking at a rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, days before a Senate runoff featuring Graham and Rep. Ralph Norman, Trump urged voters to support the sister of his ally Lindsay Graham, the longtime foreign policy hawk who died last month.

“We’re going to elect Senator Darline Graham to fight, fight, fight for South Carolina and to always put America first,” he said. “You vote for her, you’re going to be very proud of that vote.”

Trump also reflected on his close friendship with Lindsey Graham, invoking the memory of the stalwart of the South Carolina GOP who represented the state in Congress for 31 years.

“I think Lindsey respected Darline more than any other person he knows, including me,” he said.

Trump pushed for Darline Graham’s appointment to fill out the remainder of her brother’s term, offering his endorsement before she even formally launched her campaign.

But the value of Trump’s endorsement has arguably never been weaker. He has seen some notable favorites fall in recent primaries — including in South Carolina, where Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette lost the state’s gubernatorial primary to state Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Trump’s choice for governor in Wyoming lost on Tuesday, along with two Florida Republicans who scored his endorsement in House primaries. Also among the recent losers: Mike Lindell, the former MyPillow CEO and close ally who fell short in the Minnesota gubernatorial primary.

Those came after losses of Trump-endorsed candidates in Georgia, Michigan and Iowa earlier this year.

The president touted Graham’s focus on affordability and her support for traditional conservative social issues like the Second Amendment. But his primary pitch to Republicans in South Carolina was to treat Graham as an extension of himself.

“What I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot. Just come and vote. It’s so important,” he said. “Just say that I’m on the ballot one more time.”

Graham sailed into the runoff, topping second-place Norman by eight percentage points. But an alarming debate hiccup over a question on the U.S.-Taiwan relationship in which she admitted she’s “not that informed on national security” and that “national security is not my thing,” triggered a pile-on from Republicans in South Carolina and elsewhere expressing concerns about her qualifications.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a Norman supporter, slammed Graham for her debate answer. And former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford endorsed Norman hours ahead of the rally on Friday, noting that “the stakes are too high” to back Graham.

Trump appeared unbothered by Graham’s admission, telling reporters ahead of the rally that her loyalty to the president’s agenda was all that mattered.

“She was just being honest,” Trump said. “It hasn’t been her thing, but she’s surrounded by very good people, and she said that she’s totally for the military.”

“She’s going to do what the military wants, and really what the president wants,” he continued. “She understands that national security is my thing.”

Speaking ahead of the president, Graham attempted to sidestep the concerns about her resume by recalling Trump’s lack of political experience before his 2016 victory.

“The critics say I shouldn’t run for the senate. They say I’m not a politician. You know what I say? Guilty as charged,” she said, prompting a wave of applause from the crowd. “By the way, President Trump had never served in an elected office before, and I think he’s done a damn good job.”

Trump’s visit prompted an endorsement ahead of the rally from Gov. Henry McMaster, who said Graham “continued Lindsey Graham’s work, and stood firmly with President Trump to advance his America First agenda” while serving out the remainder of her brother’s term.

The president’s trip to the state — a rare as-advertised campaign rally amid a sea of official White House events elevating his endorsed candidates — marks a significant expenditure of the president’s political capital. The president hasn’t held in-person rallies for Republicans Senate candidates in many battleground states, opting instead for social media posts and telerallies. And he has yet to dip into the $403 million war chest at his primary super PAC, MAGA Inc., drawing some consternation from Republicans.

Trump told reporters on Friday he’ll spend “a lot of that money” to boost “Republican candidates that I think are good,” without being specific.

Trump warned of the stakes of losing control of Congress in the midterms, saying that Democrats will follow through on reported plans to investigate and impeach him.

“You’re going to lose everything,” he said. “I’m going to have to go through impeachment.”

Alec Hernandez contributed to this report. 

​Politics

President Donald Trump is going the extra mile for Sen. Darline Graham in deep-red South Carolina.

That’s left battleground Republicans wondering when it’ll be their turn, even while they acknowledge Trump’s campaign trip is in part owing to his strong ties with the candidate’s late brother, former Sen. Lindsey Graham. It’s also caused several supporters of Graham’s primary opponent to scratch their heads at the sudden attention he’s giving a state that is far from critical for ensuring GOP control in Washington. Trump is bringing back his hallmark campaign rally for Graham on Friday in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, just days ahead of her runoff against Republican Rep. Ralph Norman.

It’s a far cry from the quieter strategy the president has used for candidates in battleground races in Georgia, Michigan and Texas: a couple supportive social media posts and, in some cases, a telerally on the eve of Election Day.

“It’s going to be a red seat,” said Randy Page, a longtime Republican operative in South Carolina who is supporting Norman in the race. “If I were the president, if I were giving him political advice, I’d say: ‘We’re right next to Georgia, we’re right next to North Carolina. Texas ain’t that far away.’ There are some real places that are going to affect the party keeping control of either the House or the Senate, and it’s like he’s just flying over them and ignoring them.”

Strategists involved with GOP candidates who could use Trump’s base-boosting help elsewhere are eagerly waiting to see whether he’ll put the same effort into their own races later this year.

“He’s coming in person for Darline Graham. He really hasn’t done much else,” said one GOP operative involved in several battleground races, including in Georgia, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “He probably has the ability to move the needle in Republicans’ favor better than anyone else in the country. The question is just: Will he? Is he willing to? Does he want to? Does he care enough?”

Trump’s appearance in Myrtle Beach is a significant and explicit foray back to the campaign trail in a year in which his previous appearances with his endorsed candidates were mainly on official White House business, focused on issues like affordability and domestic energy production. It also comes at a crucial moment for Graham, who is looking for a momentum boost after an embarrassing debate stage fumble on foreign policy.

He appeared with Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo in Las Vegas for an official event earlier this month billed to tout tax cuts in a state where the governor is facing a tough reelection battle. In late July, he traveled to suburban Atlanta to deliver remarks where he touted GOP Rep. Mike Collins’ Senate bid against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff (Collins himself was absent because of votes in Washington). And a month earlier, he took part in a roundtable discussion with frontline GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

But it’s been far less than in years past. Trump was ever-present on the campaign trail during the 2018 midterms, and blitzed across the country for rallies during his 2024 election bid, but his travel has been somewhat curtailed since he has faced two attempts on his life that same year.

The Friday rally is the kind of support that some Republican candidates wished had come for them in their own contentious primaries — and operatives in states with competitive general election matchups hope it signals more presidential help is on the horizon before November.

Trump’s heavy hand and his grip over the Republican Party has continued to shape the outcome of several primaries this year, but the degree to which he will help ensure control of Congress this fall — both through campaign appearances and spending his $400 million MAGA Inc. war chest — remains an open question.

For some Republicans in battleground states watching from afar, Trump’s Friday appearance with Graham is a reminder of how little time the president spent on the campaign trail during the primary season.

“Him posting on True Social and doing a tele-town hall has kind of, from what I can tell, been kind of the limit of what he’s done for most endorsed candidates. So this is a little different that he’s going down there,” said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist based in Texas who worked with Sen. John Cornyn on his unsuccessful reelection primary earlier this year and said he will support the Republican ticket this fall.

The White House dismissed concerns over Trump’s attention on South Carolina over other states in a statement.

“President Trump is the unequivocal leader of the Republican party who is committed to maintaining Republicans’ majority in Congress,” said White House spokesperson Olivia Wales. “President Trump will continue to draw a sharp contrast with his commonsense agenda and the radical Democrats in Congress who allowed millions of illegal aliens to flow through the border, unanimously opposed the Working Families Tax Cuts, and are soft-on-crime.”

Several Republicans said that Trump’s Friday rally is likely borne from his long and mostly close relationship with Sen. Lindsey Graham, who Graham’s sister Darline and Norman are running to replace.

“It’s partly that this one is unique,” Mackowiak said. “It’s partly about Lindsey and about I think he’s doing what he thinks Lindsey would have wanted him to do, and so he wants to see that through and see that succeed.”

Regardless of the impetus behind the decision to travel to the Palmetto State, the president’s in-person appearance is a major boon for Graham’s campaign, and her team is eager to capitalize on the rare in-person campaign moment as the recently appointed senator has weathered criticism over her political inexperience. Trump “knows Senator Darline is a true MAGA ally who will help him implement his agenda and fight against the Woke mob better than any other Senate candidate in the country,” Graham spokesperson Abby Zilch said in a statement.

Graham made a significant gaffe on the debate stage earlier this week, when she said “I’m not that informed on national security” in response to a question on U.S. interests in Taiwan. Norman’s allies were quick to seize on the moment to drive home their message that she’s “underprepared” for the office.

A person with direct knowledge of Graham’s campaign’s strategy acknowledged the misstep, but insisted that she had sufficiently cleaned up the flub during a Fox News appearance with Sean Hannity. Now, their focus is on the president’s visit: “This rally allows the campaign to own statewide earned media for a couple days,” said the person, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. “The Trump endorsement is big, but him coming in state is bigger. President Trump is all in.”

If Graham falls short on Tuesday, it will be one of Trump’s most embarrassing in a recent string of losses this primary season. He pushed for her appointment to the Senate to complete her late brother’s term and openly encouraged her to run for a full six years, with his backing.

Plus, he’s already stumbled in South Carolina before: His first pick in this year’s governor’s race, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, lost momentum to Attorney General Alan Wilson in the primary, leading to a rare double endorsement from Trump at the last minute.

Several Norman supporters think that Trump should put his focus elsewhere — even if they agree with the president on virtually every other issue.

“Michigan and Ohio and Alaska, Maine and Texas are all at risk of losing to the Democrats,” said state Rep. Jordan Pace, who has endorsed Norman’s bid. “That’s where the money and the attention should be, shoring up those states.”

​Politics

Privately, many Republicans wanted GOP Rep. Cory Mills to lose his primary in Florida. Like with so many scandal-plagued candidates this year, they worried he would turn a safe seat into a battleground.

But rather than push him out of the race, they let voters decide his fate. With weak fundraising and polling amid allegations of sexual misconduct and domestic violence, party officials believed he was going to lose anyway, saving them from having to intervene.

“There wasn’t much of a push to yank him out,” said one national Republican operative working on House races, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak candidly.

On Tuesday, Florida voters rejected Mills’ reelection bid, avoiding what would have been another headache. This election cycle, both parties keep playing whack-a-mole as candidate after candidate becomes embroiled in controversy ranging from ethics scandals to sexual misconduct, including in key races that could determine who controls Congress. Neither party has settled on a clear playbook for when to step in or what counts as disqualifying — though they have drawn those lines differently.

Top Republicans are now quietly getting behind Ohio Rep. Max Miller, who is mired in allegations of domestic abuse involving his ex-wife and child, and defied calls to drop out. They declined to push out then-Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), whose staffer died by suicide after he had an affair with her. Facing an expulsion vote, he did not resign until hours after embattled Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) did, effectively evening out the margins. And GOP leadership eventually got behind scandal-ridden Ken Paxton, but after President Donald Trump and Texas voters embraced him in the Senate primary.

Many Democrats also grappled with what to do about Graham Platner throughout a series of escalating scandals until POLITICO’s report of a sexual assault allegation forced him out of the Maine Senate race. Their months of indecision, some worry, will continue to haunt them through the midterms.

“We don’t trust our instincts anymore,” one longtime Democratic strategist said.

“The laws of political gravity have just been so upended” since Trump won in 2016 over a series of scandals, the strategist said, adding: “We’re reluctant to apply the old rules because … are we handicapping ourselves or potentially punishing ourselves by adhering to the old standards that haven’t been serving us, or certainly didn’t stop the other side from winning the presidency twice?”

In Mills’ case, his loss brought Republicans private relief even as it meant a Trump-endorsed incumbent was ousted. The representative is facing an investigation by the House Ethics Committee and remains under a restraining order imposed last fall after a former girlfriend accused him of threatening to release sexually explicit videos of her. He has denied wrongdoing.

Trump, in the aftermath of the primary, wrote on social media that he asked Mills “to get out of the Race, but he wouldn’t listen” and immediately backed the winner, Ryan Elijah.

Voters have increasingly displayed a willingness to tolerate controversy — especially when political power is on the line. A recent POLITICO Poll shows voters are willing to accept their preferred candidates having DUI convictions, being accused of using tax loopholes, concealing a terminal illness or exaggerating their military service, though Democrats were less tolerant than Republicans of sexual assault and domestic violence allegations.

“[When] the gavel is on the line, people in both political parties have the … highest tolerance for political weakness of their party,” said an Ohio-based GOP operative. “This is the year like no other where voters and political leaders and political parties are willing to look past blemishes and weaknesses of their own candidate.”

The GOP and Democratic Party have shown different responses to the most serious of allegations. Republicans like Speaker Mike Johnson have often called for processes to play out and to let voters decide their future. And even as White House officials or Trump himself placed a call to get a scandal-plagued Republican like Mills or Miller to drop, they rarely followed through on pulling their support.

Democrats have shown they’re more willing to draw a line, particularly around sexual assault allegations. But their biggest example — Platner — is a complicated one: Many in the party tolerated months of controversy, from a Nazi tattoo to reports of volatile prior relationships, before ultimately calling for him to suspend his campaign.

“They either didn’t care about the scandal, were willing to turn a blind eye to it,” said a second Democratic operative working on Senate races. Democrats were so focused on beating Susan Collins they were willing to accept multiple scandals, they said, but “I am glad to see that credible allegations of a sexual assault were actually a red line for people.”

Democrats did quickly turn on Swalwell, who suspended his bid for California governor days after sexual assault and misconduct allegations pushed his campaign into a tailspin. But Democratic leadership has not yet called on Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) to resign amid allegations of sexual misconduct, instead pushing for a “thorough and swift” Ethics Committee investigation.

Gomez has admitted to extramarital affairs but said they were “consensual in nature,” a claim disputed Wednesday by lawyers of the woman interviewed by the ethics panel.

On the GOP side, Johnson and House Republican leaders took weeks to pull their support for Gonzales. It wasn’t until a day after POLITICO reported that independent House investigators found a “substantial reason to believe” Gonzales had sex with his subordinate, a violation of House Rules, that they abandoned him.

But the GOP let the voters decide in Arizona, where Trump-endorsed Mark Lamb, the former Pinal County sheriff, recently won his congressional primary despite allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of power.

And Republicans have quietly accepted Miller in Ohio. Once the Trump administration saw Miller was unlikely to abandon his reelection bid, they asked Ohio Republicans to refrain from waging a public pressure campaign to avoid a messy situation where they then have to defend a candidate they once tried to oust.

Democrats say that’s a clear example that they are more willing to draw a line than Republicans.

“Graham Platner is not a candidate, and Max Miller is. That should tell you everything you need to know about the differences between the two parties,” said Democratic ad maker Ian Russell.

“There are complicated situations that have definitely not been handled in retrospect by both parties as well as they could have been, but there is nothing the same in how Democratic leadership has responded to issues in our ranks versus our Republican leadership has responded to issues in their ranks,” Russell said.

Still, the calculus for scandal, a second national GOP strategist and a longtime senior House staffer argued, most often comes down to Congress’ razor-thin margins.

“It’s about numbers,” they said. “It’s not about the gravity of a scandal.”

Chris Marquette and Riley Rogerson contributed to this report. 

​Politics

How Jonathan Haidt turned the fight over kids and social media into a political movement

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​Politics