But Republican voters have nominated former President Donald Trump loyalists in several Democratic states, including Maryland and Connecticut, making the GOP’s chances of winning this general election even better.  Massachusetts will face its own test next month as GOP voters decide between a Trump-backed conservative and a more moderate Republican for the party’s gubernatorial nominee.
“It can’t go on,” said former Connecticut U.S. Rep. Christopher Sice, a moderate Republican and Trump critic, referring to the GOP’s selection of pro-Trump candidates.  “One of the things that’s going to happen is that a lot of Trump’s nominees who won the primaries are going to lose the general election. And there are a lot of unhappy Republicans who are now in office who think the Senate is now in danger of remaining Democratic.”
Trump’s influence was on full display earlier this month when his last-minute endorsement helped propel Leora Levy, a Republican National Committee member who opposes abortion rights, to victory in a Republican U.S. Senate primary in Connecticut over of the party’s candidate, former Member of Parliament.  The leader of the minority, Themis Klaridis.  Claridis supports abortion rights and said she did not vote for Trump in 2020.
“Sad day for CT…” Brenda Kupchick, the Fairfield Republican first selectwoman and former state representative, tweeted after the Aug. 9 race for Levy was called.  Days earlier, after Trump endorsed Levy on the loudspeaker at a GOP picnic, Kupchick tweeted: “How is this helpful in the general election in CT?”
Kupchick’s tweets drew criticism from both GOP camps.  Trump supporters accused Claridis of not being a “real conservative.”  Moderate Republicans predicted that Levy’s nomination ensured that Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal would cruise to victory in November, despite a Quinnipiac poll in May recording the lowest job approval since he took office in 2011. .
The last Republican to represent Connecticut in the US Senate was Lowell P. Weiker Jr., who served from 1971 to 1989, although Connecticut did not elect a moderate Republican governor until 2006, in M. Jodi Rell.
Levy, who has never served in elected office before, argues her message of controlling high inflation and energy prices, ending “government intrusion between parent and child” and tackling crime will resonate to a wide range of voters.
A similar dynamic unfolded in liberal Maryland, where Dan Cox, a far-right state lawmaker endorsed by Trump, won the Republican primary for governor over a moderate challenger backed by outgoing Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, a Trump critic.  And in heavily Democratic Massachusetts, Republican voters casting ballots in the state’s Sept. 6 primary will choose between Geoff Diehl, a former Trump-backed state representative, and Chris Doughty, a moderate businessman.  Centrist Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, a Trump critic, has decided not to seek a third term.
Democratic candidates in Maryland and Massachusetts are seen as strong favorites to flip the governor’s mansions in those states.
Trump’s support has pushed his candidates to wins in key races in battleground states, too, bolstering Democrats’ optimism for a general election win.  In Arizona, former TV news anchor Kari Lake, who said she would not have endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020, defeated attorney and businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson, who had been endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence and outgoing GOP Gov. Doug Ducey.  In Wisconsin, Trump-backed businessman Tim Michels beat former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, who had been endorsed by Pence and the state party.  Both Michels and Kleefisch, however, falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
In Connecticut, Levy’s candidacy is already being used as a rallying cry for Democrats, who argue that she is outside the mainstream in a state where Republicans outnumber unaffiliated voters and Democrats.  Beyond her opposition to abortion rights — reversing her position years ago to support abortion rights — Levy has spoken out against work-related COVID-19 vaccine requirements and transgender rights.  Levy profusely thanked the former president during his acceptance speech, promising, “I won’t let you down.”
A day after the primaries, Blumenthal’s campaign sent out a fundraising message that warned: “The primary results are in and I am officially facing Trump’s handpicked candidate in the general election — a radical Republican who will be nothing more than a rubber stamp on destructive agenda of Mitch McConnell”.
Levy, in turn, tied Blumenthal to Biden, calling him a “rubber stamp” for the Democratic president’s “failed policies” as president and accusing Blumenthal of playing “a key role in creating virtually every challenge he faces our country today”.
“Dick Blumenthal wants this election to be a referendum on President.  Donald Trump is not on the ballot in November, but Joe Biden is,” he said in a press release issued after the primaries.
Shays, who now lives in Maryland, said he believes an endorsement from Trump is out of the question.  He said he contributed to the campaign of Wes Moore, the Democrat running against Cox in Maryland, and that he would vote for Blumenthal if he still lived in Connecticut.
“I will vote against anyone who calls for Donald Trump’s support because that tells me so much about their character and what they intend to do if elected.  That’s the bottom line for me,” Shays said.
Ben Proto, chairman of the Connecticut Republicans, dismissed any suggestion that Levy’s primary victory signaled a political development within the state’s Democratic Party.  Instead, he said, the party this year has “candidates at all levels who have different views on certain issues.”
But what they have in common, he said, is the goal of bringing inflation under control, making Connecticut more affordable, tackling crime and allowing parents to be the “primary stakeholder” in their children’s lives.
“At the end of the day, the issues that are important to the people of the state of Connecticut, we’re pretty solid,” he said.