The following article by Jessie Van Berkel was posted on the Star Tribune website August 27, 2018:
Candidates across the country are carefully weighing the Trump factor on midterm races. Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Johnson praises Trump’s policies, but noted that he doesn’t always agree with the president.
Republican candidate for governor Jeff Johnson said his support for President Donald Trump, a likely boost in his recent upset victory in Minnesota’s primary election, will not waver as he turns to the general election and tries to win over a much wider and less conservative set of voters.
“I support him. I like what he is trying to do. I like the direction he is trying to take the country,” Johnson said of Trump during an interview with the Star Tribune. “I don’t always agree with him.”
Candidates across the country are carefully weighing the Trump factor on midterm races. Republicans are wondering whether to align with or distance themselves from a president beset by controversies and persistently low approval ratings, but who is still popular with party loyalists. Democrats must decide whether to go hard at Trump in a nod to their own base, or elevate more issues-based appeals to win over less politically tuned-in voters.