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George W. Bush helping vulnerable GOP senators

by Jesse Byrnes - 06/16/16 10:01 PM ET

Former President George W. Bush is lending a hand to vulnerable GOP senators whose reelection campaigns are at risk of being hurt by Donald Trump.

Bush has hosted fundraisers for Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) since Trump became the party’s presumptive nominee last month, The New York Times reports.

{mosads}He will also appear at a fundraiser for Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.) next week, with similar events in the works for Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Rob Portman (Ohio), according to the report.

All of those senators are considered vulnerable in a year where Republicans are defending far more seats than Democrats. While the GOP has 24 senators up for reelection in 2016, Democrats only have 10.

Bush at the McCain event stressed the necessity of preserving a GOP-led Senate as a “check and balance” on the White House regardless of whether Trump or Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton becomes president, according to the Times.

“President Bush believes that it’s critical to keep the Senate in Republican hands,” Bush spokesman Freddy Ford told the paper. “He is actively helping some senators in tight races who are strong leaders and share timeless conservative values.”

Bush has shied away from publicly criticizing Trump, though the Times reported that friends of the former president say he’s bothered by the businessman’s campaign message and remarks on Muslims and immigrants.

Trump won the GOP primary despite bashing the former president, calling the Iraq War a mistake and noting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks happened under the former Texas governor’s watch.

Jeb Bush, whom his elder brother supported in the GOP primary, dropped out of the Republican presidential race in mid-February, several months before Trump’s final rivals exited the race.

George W. Bush announced through a spokesman last month that he wouldn’t attend the GOP convention in July for Trump to be officially declared the party’s nominee.

The campaign arm for Senate Democrats, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), used the reported fundraisers to tweak Republicans and bash Bush.

“Republicans are so desperate for people to forget that they’ve pledged their allegiance to Donald Trump that they are now campaigning with the architect of a disastrous foreign policy who wanted to privatize Social Security and left office with the economy losing nearly 800,000 jobs a month,” DSCC spokesman Sam Lau said in a statement sent to The Hill.

—Updated at 10:46 a.m. on June 17.

Tags 2016 presidential election 2016 Senate elections Donald Trump Hillary Clinton John McCain Kelly Ayotte Rob Portman Ron Johnson Roy Blunt

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