‘We Could Lose Based On That’: GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy Says He Warned Trump That Attacking Mail Voting Could Sink Republicans
Photo credit: Ethan Miller, Getty Images
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is highly concerned President Donald Trump’s opposition to mail-in voting could hurt both Trump and down-ballot Republicans’ chances for victory during the November elections, according to a new report from Axios.
Axios White House Reporter Alayna Treene interviewed McCarthy last week and discussed Trump’s recent comments criticizing mail-in voting as presenting a high risk for fraud. The White House has sought to distinguish universal voting-by-mail from absentee ballots — which Trump himself has frequently used — and insisted, without evidence, that mail-in voting was plagued by fraud.
Treene traveled with McCarthy to campaign and fundraising stops in Oregon and Utah, and reported that she witnessed McCarthy telling Republicans to “vote by any means necessary” at each stop, clearly not following the president’s messaging on the topic.
McCarthy bluntly expressed his concerns about Trump deterring GOP voters: “We could lose based on that.”
With the coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of abating in the less than two months before the general election, many voters are likely to be reluctant to vote in person — especially senior citizens, a key demographic for Republican candidates.
“I tried to show him,” McCarthy told Treene, describing the “hours” he has spent trying to tell Trump his attacks on mail-in voting may hurt the GOP, “you know who is most afraid of COVID? Seniors. And if they’re not going to go vote, period, we’re screwed.”
