Vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection this cycle have yet to release a statement about the third indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Politico asked vulnerable Senate Democrats to weigh in on the latest indictment of Trump but “heard nothing but crickets.”
Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Jon Tester (D-MT), did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment. Only Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who caucuses with Democrats, responded, saying she would provide a comment.
Senate Security and Governmental Affairs Committee member Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., during a hearing (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Their silence drives a stark contrast from party leaders; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called the January 6 protests “the culmination of a months-long criminal plot led by the former president.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speak with the press following a meeting with US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 (Photo by Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images).
As Politico noted, many of these battleground Senate Democrats need to not alienate Republicans and independents in states where Trump had decidedly beat Biden in the 2020 presidential election:
The seven endangered lawmakers need to win over independents and even Republicans to win their Senate races. However popular Trump’s indictments may be among Democrats, piling on the former president isn’t a winning strategy for incumbents who need to reach beyond the party base in order to keep their jobs.
Manchin, Tester and Brown are all defending seats in states where Trump won bigly over President Joe Biden in 2020: West Virginia (39 points); Montana (16 points); and Ohio (8 points). Biden did carry Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona, but only narrowly.
Senate Republican candidates hoping to unseat these Democrats quickly weighed in on the indictment.
“Joe Biden knows he can’t beat Trump at the ballot box, so he’s trying to throw him in prison,” Montana candidate Tim Sheehy said.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) said the indictments are a “witch hunt and the weaponization of the federal government.”
Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV), Justice’s primary candidate, slammed the “unprecedented witch hunts from corrupt left-wing Democrats” and vowed to fight “DOJ’s disgusting abuse of power.”
U.S. President Joe Biden (L) and Attorney General Merrick Garland walk into the East Room at the White House on May 16, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Sam Brown, who hopes to unseat Rosen in Nevada, said, “It is deeply concerning that we appear to be creating a two-tiered system of justice under the current administration where the rules don’t apply to everyone evenly.”
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Matthew Perdie / Breitbart News, Jack Knudsen / Breitbart NewsSean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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