A group of Trump supporters and field organizers announced in a November 18 press release, a letter has been sent to the former President requesting he endorse Chris Putnam, second-time opponent to long-time incumbent Kay Granger.
Putnam announced in September that he would seek to unseat Kay Granger, who has represented Texas’ 12th Congressional District since 1997. Granger is up for reelection in 2022.
The letter was written by 30 members of the North Texas RNC/Trump Victory team. The letter cites several instances in which Granger was at odds with members of the Republican party.
“We were outraged when we heard Ms. Granger publicly calling for you to concede, the first House member to do so,” the letter reads. “Granger missed the impeachment vote claiming Covid, but also declined to vote by proxy or from the Covid designated voting area. We’ve had enough of Ms. Granger, who’s been in Congress since 1997, was never on board with you or the America First agenda, exploited your endorsement, then stabbed you in the back.”
Putnam challenged Granger in 2020, nearly pulling off the upset. Granger defeated Putnam in the primary with only 58 percent of the vote. Only 2,100 votes separated the two candidates.
Trump endorsed all incumbent Republicans just before the election. Granger went on to defeat Democrat Lisa Welch and Libertarian Trey Holcomb. She garnered 63.7 percent of the tallied votes in the general election.
In October, the campaign to elect Putnam announced that he had raised $430,000 in his first 29 days of campaigning. According to Ballotpedia, Putnam has $410,557 on hand as of September 30, 2021.
Two other Republicans have already announced an intent to run for the 12th Congressional District. Neither candidate had significant endorsements or campaign financing as of September 30.
Granger has not released figures on campaign finance and has repeatedly ignored requests for comment.
While Trump remains popular in many parts of the country, his endorsement of Susan Wright did not sway voters from selecting Jake Ellzey in Texas’ 6th District special election in July.
The most recent elections in Virginia indicate that support from the former President may not be of much value and could even hurt a candidate’s chances.
In September, polling conducted by the Washington Times showed that likely voters were 37 percent less likely to support Glenn Youngkin because of Trump’s endorsement. Instead, many political spectators see that “Trumpism without Trump” may be the answer to winning elections locally and nationally.
Nevertheless, the team writing the letter believes strongly in the former President and anticipates that Trump will run again in 2024.
“With your support, Chris can and will win and you will have an ally that can help deliver Tarrant County to you in the future and will work hard to not only support your agenda but lead on it,” the letter reads. “We need Chris representing Fort Worth and Tarrant County, and we need your help to get him there. This is a chance to truly drain the swamp.”