Former President Donald Trump won both early Republican primary contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, prompting some to call the GOP race for Trump before most states have even cast their votes. Other GOP candidates like Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy have already withdrawn from the race, leaving Nikki Haley as Trump’s last rival in the Republican primaries.
Straight Arrow News contributor Star Parker argues that it’s too soon to call the race for Trump, and says that calls for Haley to withdraw are misguided. As Republican forecasters eagerly crowd around Donald Trump, Parker asks us to remember the virtue of patience.
With Donald Trump winning Iowa and New Hampshire, there are those who are now calling for Nikki Haley to drop out of the race. The argument rests on stating that the contest is over, a winner can be declared. And while this eagerness is not a virtue, okay, patience is, and patience is what is needed right now. For many reasons, the race must continue on, in my opinion. If the presidential primary process were abandoned now, that would lead to significant impact on down-ballot voting — candidates who are running for the Senate, running for governor, representative, the state Senate, the House [sic] even local elections, come on.
Strong Republican turnout for the New Hampshire presidential primary helped Republicans gain two state House seats in special elections that were in that state that were held the same day as the New Hampshire presidential primary election. California offers Republicans a similar opportunity, with a special primary election for the United States Senate seat that will be held on the same day as their presidential primary, March the fifth, during that whole Super Tuesday.
Golden State voters will take a crucial step in filling a vacancy created by the death of Democrat Dianne Feinstein. She passed away last year. There’s someone sitting there now, but there’s an election, and currently the Democrats control the Senate with 51, to Republicans 49. And there are three senators, of course, including Bernie Sanders, who call themselves independent, but they caucus with the Democrats. So therefore, it gives them an advantage over the Republicans and majority control of the Senate.
Republicans gaining control of the Senate is one of the party’s primary goals, highest priority, if not. But that goal is undermined if the presidential primary process is shut down prematurely.
