Several former Republican officials are discussing how to move the party forward after Trump’s presidency, raising the possibility of a formal split from the Republican Party, according to two people who led the discussions.
Reuters reported for the first time that dozens of those faithful are in talks to form a third anti-Trump party. Two of the leaders, Evan McMullin, a former Republican House policy director who ran for president in 2016 as an independent, and Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration homeland security official, told CBS News that a decision about this did not it was done yet. Discussions can also result in the creation of a faction within the GOP.
The group carrying out the negotiations consists of current and former elected officials, some of the last four Republican presidential governments, as well as Republican Party leaders at the state and national levels. More than 120 of them took a call from Zoom last Friday to talk about the future of the party. McMullin said it included people who used to support President Trump, and not just people who opposed him.
The talks were revealed this week as the Senate holds its second impeachment trial for Trump. The House passed an impeachment article against him in January for inciting an insurrection in connection with the takeover of the Capitol on January 6, while Congress counted the votes cast at the Electoral College and affirmed Trump’s defeat for President Biden. It was a day that McMullin called a tipping point for many Republicans.
“After the insurrection, what we see now is a quarter to a third of a party that wants a new direction,” said McMullin. “We now have a larger segment of the party to work with.” But he acknowledged that there was still not enough support in the short term “to change the party’s course.”
McMullin said that 40% of those who participated in the call wanted to form a new party immediately, and 43% felt they should establish a new faction in the party to work within the Republican Party or independently. Both McMullin and Taylor recognized the difficulties of actually launching a third party, especially one that is viable in a political system dominated by two major parties.
“We wouldn’t have talked about it if we didn’t think it was plausible,” said Taylor. “But at the same time, everyone is aware of the challenges. Third parties have been tried many times and have failed many times in this country.”
Both men compared the movement to the Tea Party, an activist movement that emerged within the Republican Party a decade ago. Tea Party leaders supported candidates in the primary election, but came together to support Republicans after the process.
A key question may be how receptive the Republican base is – at the moment, it is still dedicated to Trump. A recent CBS News poll found that 73% of Republicans said it was very or somehow important for Republicans to show loyalty to Trump now. A third of Republicans said they would join Trump if he formed a new political party.
Taylor described the group’s idea as “Tea Party light and less on the right”. He thinks there is potential for more support than research suggests.
“We read energy at the base level in a different way,” said Taylor. “We see a lot of people ready to turn the page and that’s where we feel the momentum.”
Republicans have seen a drop in party registration in key battlefield states since the January 6 attack, with most of those voters listing themselves as not party members. It is not clear what impact this will have on future elections, and in some states, voters not registered with the party can still participate in the Republican primaries. A Gallup poll on Wednesday found the Republican Party’s approval rating to be 37%, down six points since November. This was fueled by a 12-point drop in favorability among Republicans – from 90% to 78%.
As these Republicans ponder their next steps, McMullin said they plan to support moderate Republicans, such as Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger and Alaksa Senator Lisa Murkowski. But the group also sometimes supported non-Republicans.
“A new faction would support good Republicans, but it can also support independent candidates who have real viability,” said McMullin. He added that there may also be a desire to help independent candidates and support the “unification of Democrats” running against “extremist Republicans”, which could include supporting Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly if he faced someone like Arizona Republican Party president Kelli Ward in a general election.
President of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, a Trump ally, recently told Fox News that Republicans need to come together to succeed in the midterm elections.
“If we continue to attack each other and focus on attacking other Republicans, if we have disagreements within our party, we will be losing sight of 2022,” said McDaniel.
Trump adviser Jason Miller told Reuters: “These losers left the Republican Party when they voted for Joe Biden.”
Taylor rejected the idea that it would divide the Republican Party and the victories for Democrats.
“Our goal is not to break and split the vote. Our goal is really to create a more attractive alternative that the people on the right can come together as more attractive to a broader set of American people,” said Taylor. “If we succeed, we pull the GOP’s center of gravity towards us.”