Surging GOP candidate Kathy Barnette has long history of bigoted statements against gays and Muslims

The ‘knives are coming out’ for Kathy Barnette as Republicans, and Trump, scramble to stop her

The frenetic moment was embodied by a statement from former President Donald Trump, who urged Republicans to support Mehmet Oz, but also predicted a bright future for Barnette.


by Jonathan Tamari, Julia Terruso, and Ryan W. Briggs
Updated an hour ago

Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary is in chaos. Kathy Barnette’s late surge has turned the nationally watched race into a mad scramble, with former President Donald Trump warning Republicans against nominating her and opponents only now doing basic background research in an attempt to stop her as the clock ticks closer to Tuesday’s primary. Such vetting, usually strategically unspooled over the course of a lengthy campaign, rolled out in frenetic bursts at a range of disparate targets Thursday.

The rush to find anything to puncture Barnette’s story came as she threatened to overtake longtime GOP front-runners Mehmet Oz and David McCormick, who have spent tens of millions of dollars on the campaign but failed to pull away. The haphazard moment was embodied by a Trump statement urging Republicans to support his endorsed candidate, Oz, but also predicted a bright future for Barnette, a conservative commentator and a prominent election denier with a trail of incendiary comments, including some targeting gay and transgender people and Muslims.

“Kathy Barnette will never be able to win the General Election against the Radical Left Democrats,” Trump said. “She has many things in her past which have not been properly explained or vetted,” he added, “but if she is able to do so, she will have a wonderful future in the Republican Party — and I will be behind her all the way.” Barnette, 50, brushed off the attack during a campaign stop Thursday night at the Southampton Fire Department in Bucks County.

“We know that President Trump did not mince words,” she told reporters after the event, though media were largely barred while it took place. “I think that letter was favorable. And I look forward to working with the president.” She agreed with a suggestion that being targeted was confirmation of her rise. “There’s a reason we have the words swamp creatures,” she had told the crowd earlier, according to a recording made by reporters who were briefly inside but forced to leave. ”The long knives are coming out at this point, and I had the best day of my life today.”

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https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/kathy-barnette-oz-mccormick-attack-pa-senate-20220512.html