It looks like Trump’s might tweet really did sink Mark Sanford.
CNN projects Congressman Mark Sanford, a Republican critic of President Trump, will not finish first in the GOP primary for his House seat tonight in the South Carolina 1st District.
— Dan Merica (@merica) June 13, 2018
The best Sanford can hope for is to make a runoff election.
UPDATE:
BREAKING: US Rep. Mark Sanford, trailing in South Carolina's Republican primary, tells crowd: "I'm going to lose this race."
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 13, 2018
Dang. End update.
Here’s what Trump tweeted earlier:
Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble. He is better off in Argentina. I fully endorse Katie Arrington for Congress in SC, a state I love. She is tough on crime and will continue our fight to lower taxes. VOTE Katie!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2018
Amash did NOT like that:
.@MarkSanford’s job is to support and defend the Constitution. He’s one of the most principled, consistent, and conservative members of Congress I’ve ever known. And unlike you, Mark has shown humility in his role and a desire to be a better man than he was the day before. https://t.co/zNYKb5WKmH
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 12, 2018
Is it possible he sank his hopes with only 2.5 hours of voting?!?
To anyone asking some version of "Why won't Republicans stand up to Trump?" the answer is: Mark Sanford. (Also accepted: Martha Roby)
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) June 13, 2018
Mark Sanford potentially getting bounced for insufficient loyalty to Trump says a lot about GOP politics right now. So does the fact that the challenger leading the pro-Trump charge used to sing a very different tune about him: pic.twitter.com/PUYjG7urFY
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) June 13, 2018
But consider:
If Sanford loses, Trump may regret his tweet. He's a conservative without any history of heresy against the base who is an articulate anti-Trump advocate and now has no electoral consequences to worry about
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 13, 2018
And…
Stewart’s victory in VA and Sanford’s likely loss in SC-01 will be over-interpreted, but will surely embolden Trump allies and demoralize some (but not all!) sane Republicans.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 13, 2018
What a weird time we live in.