Former President Trump warned Thursday that Republican Kathy Barnette, who is making an unexpectedly strong showing in polls, will lose the Senate race in Pennsylvania if she captures the GOP nomination.
Ms. Barnette, a 50-year-old conservative commentator and veteran, is receiving more attention in the closing days of the Senate primary battle, stealing the spotlight from her more well-known, and well-funded, rivals: celebrity physician Mehmet Oz, who has Mr. Trump’s endorsement, and businessman David McCormick.
“Kathy Barnette will never be able to win the General Election against the Radical Left Democrats,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “Dr. Oz is the only one who will be able to easily defeat the Crazed, Lunatic Democrat in Pennsylvania. A vote for anyone else in the Primary is a vote against Victory in the Fall!” he said.
Ms. Barnette, who is Black, has come out of nowhere to seize headlines in the GOP nomination race. She’s running against the GOP establishment as a “strong proven conservative,” vowing to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Her personal story, meanwhile, is resonating with pro-life voters.
Ms. Barnette was born when her mother, who had been raped, was 11 years old.
“In the world the Left desires, I would never have been born,” Ms. Barnette said in a recent Twitter post. “We need leaders with a steady hand to direct our nation through these difficult discussions.”
A recent poll showed her running neck-and-neck with Mr. Oz, who hosted the long-running daytime TV health and wellness talk show “The Dr. Oz Show’, and with Mr. McCormick, who served as the CEO of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds.
Mr. Oz and Mr. McCormick have spent tens of millions attacking each other.
Mr. Oz, meanwhile, has failed to get complete buy-in from Mr. Trump’s loyalist supporters, despite having won Mr. Trump’s blessing.
The race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey is set to be decided Tuesday and will set the table for one of the most-watched, and most expensive, Senate races in the nation in the fall. On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is leading his rivals in polls.
Mr. Trump said Thursday that Ms. Barnette has political baggage that will drag her down, but said he would be happy to support her in the future.
“She has many things in her past which have not been properly explained or vetted, but if she is able to do so, she will have a wonderful future in the Republican Party — and I will be behind her all the way,” Mr. Trump said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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