{"id":15292,"date":"2024-02-09T00:46:13","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T00:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/09\/johnson-backpedals-on-divisive-senate-endorsement-after-gop-blowback\/"},"modified":"2024-02-09T00:46:13","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T00:46:13","slug":"johnson-backpedals-on-divisive-senate-endorsement-after-gop-blowback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/09\/johnson-backpedals-on-divisive-senate-endorsement-after-gop-blowback\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnson backpedals on divisive Senate endorsement after GOP blowback"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A Republican Party civil war nearly broke out over the Montana Senate race before House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., decided to step back from the GOP primary there, Fox News Digital has learned.<\/p>\n

Three sources told Fox News Digital that Johnson planned to endorse Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., for Senate but reversed course after blowback from fellow Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u2018Johnson planned to endorse Rosendale, but after receiving extreme blowback from Trump allies on the Hill, he decided to withdraw and not do it,\u2019 the source said. \u2018He told at least one senator, at least one congressman\u2026that he was no longer planning to endorse after the blowback.\u2019<\/p>\n

A second source indicated that those two lawmakers were Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zinke told Fox News Digital, \u2018I can confirm that upon further reflection, the speaker is not endorsing Rosendale for Senate.\u00a0I am confident that his decision was based on the reality that Rosendale is the weaker candidate by far against [Democratic Sen. Jon Tester].\u2019<\/p>\n

Daines chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the Senate GOP\u2019s campaign arm tasked with retaking the majority in the November elections. That includes a pickup opportunity that Republicans see in unseating Daines\u2019 fellow Montanan, Tester.<\/p>\n

Both he and Zinke have backed former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, who has also been endorsed by Montana\u2019s governor and other top GOP officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rosendale, a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, has not entered the race but is expected to do so.<\/p>\n

The second source said Zinke and Daines were \u2018p\u2014ed\u2019 about Johnson\u2019s intention to endorse Rosendale, which was first reported by Punchbowl. That source also said it was Rosendale who reached out to the speaker to ask for his backing.<\/p>\n

A third source, who is familiar with Zinke\u2019s thinking, told Fox News Digital, \u2018The speaker called Zinke last night. It was a good conversation. Zinke supports the speaker\u2019s decision to not get involved.\u2019<\/p>\n

The endorsement would have been an unusual step for Johnson, who has publicly tried to downplay the appearance of intraparty division since taking the speaker\u2019s gavel in October.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s campaign told Fox News Digital, \u2018The Speaker has committed to sending a contribution to Congressman Rosendale, as he has for other House colleagues and friends, but he has not made any endorsements in Senate races. He is singularly focused on growing the House majority.\u2019<\/p>\n

Rosendale touted the about-face as establishment fear of him running.<\/p>\n

\u2018Speaker Johnson and I have always had a great relationship. I am thankful for his continued support,\u2019 Rosendale said. \u2018Mitch McConnell and the D.C. Cartel are TERRIFIED about me going to the U.S. Senate. They know they can\u2019t control me; they know I won\u2019t vote for McConnell as Leader. But they are fixin\u2019 to find out that in Montana, we don\u2019t take orders from Washington; we send orders to Washington!\u2019<\/p>\n

Montana is seen as critical to the GOP\u2019s chances of retaking the Senate next year. Tester, who has been in office since 2007, has survived several close races in an increasingly red state. That includes a challenge from Rosendale in 2018.<\/p>\n

Former President Trump won the state by roughly 16% over President Biden in 2020. He has not endorsed anyone in the Montana Senate race.<\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Republican Party civil war nearly broke out over the Montana Senate race before House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., decided to step back from the GOP primary there, Fox News Digital has learned. Three sources told Fox News Digital that Johnson planned to endorse Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., for Senate but reversed course after blowback <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}