DGA Launches RGAInDisarray.com

The new site exposes the RGA and Doug Ducey’s colossal recruitment failures and nasty infighting

Whether it’s clashing over the results of the 2020 election, the violent insurrection on January 6th that left 5 people dead, or pushing false conspiracy theories, the GOP civil war is in full swing. Today, the DGA released a new website exposing how the RGA and its Chair Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey are caught up in the middle of the Republican Party’s nasty infighting. 

As CNN recently reported, “Donald Trump is causing a headache for the Republican Governors Association” by threatening to revoke his support of candidates who don’t embrace the ‘Big Lie’ and the rest of his toxic agenda — exacerbating the RGA’s already colossal recruitment issues. Ducey has made it clear he’s been managing the disastrous process. When asked in a recent interview if he’s overseeing recruitment, Ducey said, “you bet I am.”

While Ducey has pushed back against Trump and their relationship “remains tense,” many of his fellow Republican governors are attached at the hip to Donald Trump and his dangerous conspiracies. At the same time, GOP primaries continue to be divisive Trump litmus tests as candidates adopt Trump’s extreme, unpopular positions in desperate attempts to win the support of the disgraced former president and his far-right base. 

This troubling dynamic for the RGA is leading to major recruitment failures across the country, including in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, among others. 

Even worse for Ducey, his poor standing with Trump means he’s failed to stop nasty and divisive primaries against sitting GOP governors. Trump and his allies have been actively recruiting primary challengers against Gov. Brian Kemp, who Trump holds personally responsible for his loss in Georgia. Gov. Mike DeWine is facing similar problems in Ohio as he prepares to fend off a likely primary challenge from a right-wing candidate who’s teamed up with Trump’s former campaign manager to take him down.

With 38 governors’ races in the next two years, including many in key states where Trump lost, questions are growing: where does the RGA stand? And how can the RGA and its chair Doug Ducey work with Republican governors and candidates to stop the bleeding in gubernatorial elections when they are at war with each other?

View the new site here.

“The Republican Governors Association is caught up in the crosshairs of the GOP civil war and Ducey’s ongoing meltdown with Trump is creating major problems for the GOP in governors races across the country, ” said DGA Communications Director David Turner. “Facing massive recruitment failures, Trump loyalists challenging incumbent GOP governors, and primaries being overtaken by extremists, the RGA is in for a rough 2022 cycle as long as Ducey and Trump are fighting — and in many cases, it’s already too late.”