Republican donors punish their senators for failing on health care repeal

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his conservative colleagues were not ready to give up at that point, though, as the pleas from millions of Americans apparently weren’t enough to move them.

But perhaps the silence from a coterie of donors will be.

CNN reports that in the wake of the health care repeal debacle, top GOP donors are withholding at least $2 million dollars in contributions to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as a stinging way of expressing their frustration with the party’s incompetence on their long-promised health care plan.

As anonymous officials noted, this funding shortfall is not only a worry for the GOP in the present, but the very near future as well.

It signals the possibility that “their core voters may be disillusioned heading into the 2018 midterms when Democrats have a serious shot of retaking the House.” The depleted GOP coffers would make mounting effective advertising campaigns in key races much more difficult, and would give Democratic challengers in those states a bit of a leg up.

Already, we have seen Democrats step forward to challenge Republican incumbents, often with the health care fight at the forefront of the discussion.

Even in a deep red state like Kentucky, Democrats are feeling newly energized about the chance to flip a seemingly safe Republican seat.

And if the GOP’s top donors continue to hold back funds in order to punish McConnell and others for the embarrassing mess in which they have mired themselves, those chances will look better and better as Election Day 2018 draws closer.