Former President Trump’s attack this week against Joe O’Dea, the GOP’s Senate nominee in Colorado, is angering Republicans while leaving them wondering if he even cares about the party winning back the majority in the upper chamber.
O’Dea, a pro-abortion rights moderate whom Democrats spent $4 million against in the primary, was already in an uphill fight against Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). Trump called O'Dea "stupid" and a "RINO," or Republican in Name Only, on social media after O'Dea expressed rather mild disapproval of the former president, saying he thought there would be better GOP candidates for 2024.
Now Republicans worry any chance he has of pulling off an upset are being extinguished by Trump, prompting frustration and exasperation with the ex-president.
“It certainly is not [helpful],” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a Trump ally, told The Hill. “I would hate to see O’Dea lose to Sen. Bennet by a few votes just because Donald Trump urged Republicans not to vote and we came up short of the majority by one senator.”
“The nation has to be more important than individual personal offenses," Cramer added.
Read more here.