Former President Donald Trump is demanding primaries for the “RINOs, sellouts, and known losers” who crossed him on last week’s infrastructure vote — with three notable exceptions.
Trump, in a Saturday email blast to followers of his Save America PAC, asked for “good and SMART America First Republican Patriots to run primary campaigns” against 11 GOP representatives — almost all of whom voted “yea” on the Democrats’ $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill on Nov. 5.
“You will have my backing!” he promised the potential challengers.
But Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-SI/Bkln), New York City’s lone Republican House member, managed to escape Trump’s ire, along with Reps. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
He did not explain why the three were left off his target list — or why Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), who voted against the bill, were on it.
Trump’s missive came just days after Malliotakis appeared visibly shaken during a National Republican Congressional Committee dinner at Mar-a-Lago, where the former president railed against her and a dozen other GOP members who crossed party lines to give President Biden a much-needed legislative victory.
Malliotakis, a freshman congresswoman gearing up for her first re-election fight, has defended her vote, saying it’s a win for the constituents of her swing district.
“I cast my vote FOR the bipartisan infrastructure bill and AGAINST advancing the socialist spending spree,” she tweeted last week. “For far too long our leaders have failed to modernize our aging roads, highways & bridges, upgrade sewer systems & implement flood resiliency projects.”