Authorities are working to fix Trump’s relationship with Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican and minority leader in the House, whom Trump called vulgarity for his House speech denouncing the ex-president’s speech before the Capitol rebellion on January 6. A senior Republican said that advisers to the two men were trying to arrange a meeting or call in the next few days. And Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., spoke to McCarthy recently and the two are getting along, said an informed person on the call.
Trump would like to seek retaliation against members of the House who voted against him, and he is particularly angry with MPs Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio and Fred Upton of Michigan, advisers said. At some point, he will also focus on the governor race in Arizona, where Doug Ducey cannot seek re-election; Governor Greg Abbott’s re-election attempt in Texas; and the Senate race in North Carolina, places where he can show strength, aides said. (A consultant contested that Mr. Trump would be interested in the Texas race.)
In Ohio, Gonzalez faces a potential major challenge from Christina Hagan, a former state legislator he defeated in the 2018 primaries. Ms. Hagan lost in last year’s general election to Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat, in a district neighbor. She said in an interview on Monday that she will decide which race, if any, to enter 2022, after Ohio redesigns its constituencies; the state is likely to lose a seat and Republicans control all levers of redistricting.
“Many people elected what they thought was conservative leadership and are now witnessing someone opposing their values,” said Hagan, referring to Gonzalez’s vote for impeachment.
Gonzalez’s office did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Trump’s deepest hostility is reserved for Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp, advisers said, and they hope he will spend more energy trying to undermine Kemp’s reelection candidacy. The governor’s original sin was choosing Kelly Loeffler over Trump’s favorite candidate, Doug Collins, to fill a Senate seat in 2019, but it evolved into something more exhausting when Trump repeated his denied allegations of widespread fraud in the state and blamed Mr Kemp for not doing enough to challenge the election results.
Collins, a hard-line supporter of Trump, has not decided whether to challenge Kemp or seek the Republican nomination against Senator Raphael Warnock, the Democrat who defeated Loeffler in a special election and will face voters again in 2022, or if he chooses not to run for office. nothing, said an aide to Collins on Monday.