After making his endorsement, Trump clear he expects all other challengers to drop out

Will this be repeated to determine one candidate to challenge Adam Kinzinger in IL-16?

Commenter “Stormy D” cut & pasted the following statement from former President Donald Trump’s Save America PAC site concerning the Wyoming House race for 2022:

Former President Donald Trump hit out at Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., one of his biggest critics among House Republicans, saying he plans to meet next week with some of her challengers in the 2022 election.

”Paying close attention to the Wyoming House Primary against loser RINO Liz Cheney. Some highly respected pollsters tell me she’s toast in Wyoming after siding with Crazy Nancy Pelosi and supporting the Democrat Impeachment Hoax,” Trump said in a statement issued through his political action committee Save America on Tuesday.

He added: ”And that’s just the beginning! This is a ‘hot’ race with some very interesting candidates running against her. Remember though, in the end we just want ONE CANDIDATE running against Cheney. I’ll be meeting with some of her opponents in Bedminster next week and will be making my decision on who to endorse in the next few months. JUST ONE CANDIDATE. Thank you!”

Cut & Pasted by commenter “Stormy D”, 7/20/21

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Along with Congresswoman Cheney, Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R, IL-16) has been equally one of Trump’s most vocal critics throughout all of 2021. While Cheney lost her leadership position in the House earlier this year, her reelection prospects in 2022 is the ultimate way for her to be removed from any position of power.

Unlike IL-16, Wyoming is an at-large House district, where one runs statewide, so there is no congressional remap to wait for to see how the district will look.

From the desk of John Lopez: With whom will President Trump be meeting with soon? Given how his statement was issued within a week of Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports being posted, it’s pretty clear which Republican challengers will receive an audience with the former President, meaning the candidate is competing for Trump’s endorsement.

Here are the year-to-date FEC numbers for the Wyoming seat through June 30, 2021:

Seeing Cheney with such a large fundraising lead, Trump and his people want to see who’s viable. Recalling the $100K threshold I wrote concerning the IL-16 race, two challengers quickly rise to being viable candidates:

• State Senator Anthony Bouchard
• State Representative Charles Gray

My guess, the former President will only be meeting with those two state legislators, given their fundraising. With Cheney raising nearly $1.9 million in the 2nd quarter (put in perspective, Cheney raised over twice what Kinzinger raised in Q2).

Just as in IL-16 with Kinzinger, there is a significant segment of Republican donors who want Cheney to win reelection.

The former President stated twice he wants only “ONE CANDIDATE” meaning once his decision is made, he expects all other Cheney Republican challengers to end their respective candidacies.

Whether the unendorsed candidates will comply with the former President is another matter,

Will similar interviews take place in IL-16?

Nothing like Wyoming will happen with IL-16 while the congressional remap is in limbo. All versions of the unofficial congressional map for Illinois from Cook Political Report Dave Wasserman floating around have the current IL-16 being eliminated.

The Illinois General Assembly will not be convening until the fall veto session in October, so no congressional remap will be approved prior to the veto session. It is anticipated once the detailed Census data is released, possibly in mid August, the IL General Assembly’s Redistricting committees Democrats will get right to work drafting an “official” congressional map. September at the earliest before a draft map is made public.

Once the remap is complete and approved, Kinzinger will determine what he’ll do in 2022. He’s stated publicly he wants to run for reelection to the House, but U.S. Senate or governor bids are possibilities, too.

Given what Kinzinger will actually be pursuing in 2022 will determine when, or if, Trump will have similar meetings with Kinzinger opponents. Should Kinzinger end up running for U.S. Senate, if a viable Republican ($100K+ raised) emerges after 3rd quarter FEC reports post in mid October, Trump may make an endorsement.

For IL-16, it all begins with the congressional remap, which won’t be known until the fall.