'Alarm bells going off inside the GOP' as Trump jumps into House race: NBC News
Donald Trump's week took another bad turn as he was forced to lobby for a Republican nominee attempting to fill a seat in a solidly red Florida district left open by one of his own Cabinet appointments.
Appearing on MSNBC with host Ana Cabrera, NBC's Melanie Zanona reported that the Republican Party is having to grapple with the fact that the seats left open by Reps. Elise Stefanik (NY) and Mike Waltz (FL) are in danger of flipping during special elections as support for their party is in free-fall.
Stefanik was dumped by Trump as his UN ambassador on Thursday with the president admitting her district is no longer a lock for his party and she needs to remain in the sharply divided House.
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More problematic, Zanona noted, was the possibility that the embattled Waltz may see his abandoned seat also flip due to a Trump-endorsed candidate who is flopping with voters.
As she told the host, "There are some alarm bells going off inside the GOP about one of those races: Florida Sixth," she reported. "That is a seat that Trump actually won by 30 points, but GOP leadership has grown increasingly concerned in recent days and weeks because the Republican candidate there, Randy Fine, he's just been massively outraised by his Democratic opponent."
"He was late to get on the airwaves, and leadership just really believes that he hasn't been taking his campaign that seriously," she continued. "Now, there has been an 11th hour effort to really revive his campaign, including Donald Trump doing a tele-town hall for Randy Fine last night. But it's still a bad look for Republicans, and it appears that that is one of the reasons why Trump's frustration over this race has really bled into his decision about Elise Stefanik."
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