Just a few weeks ago, we took stock of Senate Republicans’ early recruitment wins in West Virginia and crucially stopping problematic candidates in Pennsylvania and Ohio. But we also cautioned that the GOP has a long way to go in filling out their scorecard with quality recruits in crucial states.
Last week, one vaunted recruit in Wisconsin passed on a run in a major blow to Republican hopes of challenging Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Rep. Mike Gallagher has been the ideal GOP candidate for strategists in the Badger State for some time now, though getting him to leave his plum position in the House, where he was just tapped to lead the new Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, seemed like a longshot.
Nonetheless, at the beginning of June, sources told us they felt better than ever about convincing Gallagher to run, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee released a poll they had commissioned showing Gallagher competitive with Baldwin.
But it was barely a week later when Gallager clarified he was resisting their entreaties. “As the
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The Cook Political Report is an independent, non-partisan newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the US House of Representatives, US Senate, Governors and President as well as American political trends.
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