As the 2016 presidential primaries continue to unfurl, and as the fallout from the SEC Primary becomes clearer, Republicans of all stripes are looking around for answers. Answers for both how they got to this point and what is the plan going forward? One of the lessons going forward may be that endorsements have lost a lot of their luster.
From the statewide officeholders, there were not that many endorsements in the presidential primary race this year. Some officeholders chose to stay out of it because they did not want to pick a side, inevitably alienating some voters in their districts and also risking starting off on the wrong foot with a presidential candidate if their guy did not get the nomination.
Senator David Perdue stayed out of the endorsement game but is trying to drive the conversation in the race. Perdue has said he’d like to try and focus the conversation on the national debt, which he feels is being neglected as an issue. “I’ve been staying out of this and not endorsing anybody because I am trying to influence these campaigns to talk about the debt, and how the debt interlocks with the global security crisis. We’re at the point now, because of this debt, where it’s threatening our national security and our ability to defend our country. That’s what we’re talking about right now, and I hope to hear that in the coming weeks,” said Perdue in a press release.
Perdue did put in a word or two for the apparent anti-establishment mood of the country. “There’s no surprise, frankly, that there is a correlation between this growing debt crisis and the fact that we don’t have term limits. We have almost 60 U.S. Senators who have been in elected office of one kind or another, for over 20 years. 36 Senators have been in elected office for more than 30 years. I just don’t think the Founding Fathers ever had that in mind. It was too onerous to serve in Congress.”
One of those Senators who has been in office for more than 30 years? His Georgia colleague Johnny Isakson (Isakson was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1977).
For his part, Isakson has been remarkably quiet on the race so far. In a recent interview with Atlanta Magazine, Isakson said he did not plan on making an endorsement. “I serve at the pleasure of the people of Georgia. They didn’t elect me to be their consulting adviser on who to vote for.” He did note that he would embrace the nominee whoever it ended up being.
There were a handful of Georgia Congressman that made endorsements. U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (GA-3) endorsed Marco Rubio in February at least partly out of national security concerns. Westmoreland rated highly Rubio’s experience on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
U.S. Reps Austin Scott (GA-8) also endorsed Rubio and Tom Graves (GA-14) came out with a last-minute endorsement on Monday. Rep. Jody Hice (GA-10) was an early endorser of Ted Cruz and part of his campaign team.
One candidate received almost no endorsements ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Donald Trump. And everyone knows how that turned out. It’s impossible to know if more active campaigning from current officeholders would have made a difference, one way or the other, but the zeitgeist is not good for incumbents.
