Trump’s Senate Candidates Say Better Call Mitch (McConnell)

Exhibit A is Ohio, where the Super Pac allied with Mr. McConnell, the Senate Leadership Fund, is committing $28 million to save GOP nominee J.D. Vance. The “Hillbilly Elegy” author won the primary in a divided field after Mr. Trump endorsed him. But Mr. Vance has struggled to raise money from the GOP donor network he disdained as he courted the populist right. That worked in the primary, but it may not be enough to win in November.

Ohio should be a layup for the GOP this year. The Senate seat is currently held by

Rob Portman,

who is retiring after two terms. The state has been trending right and Mr. Trump carried it by eight points. But Democrat

Tim Ryan,

a Member of the House, is portraying himself as a moderate despite a liberal voting record and has out-raised the Republican. Thus Mr. Vance’s S.O.S. to Mr. McConnell.

There’s no little irony in this appeal since Mr. Vance criticized Senate GOP leaders as he ran in the primary. In a podcast last September, Mr. Vance said he had “no idea who should be the majority leader of the Senate.”

But he added that “I think that McConnell has clearly shown that he’s sometimes a little out of touch with where the base is. . . . I think that it’s time that we moved beyond the very old leadership class that’s dominated the Republican Party for a long time. And I think, it’s just, we’ve got to do it. We’ve got to bring some new blood in. We’ve got to get people that the base is actually excited about.” Apparently the “very old leadership class” has its uses when the “new blood” needs money.

Blake Masters,

another Trump-backed nominee, is also counting on Mr. McConnell to save his campaign. “I think [Mr. McConnell will] come in and spend. Arizona’s gonna be competitive. It’s gonna be a close race, and I hope he does come in,” Mr. Masters told the Associated Press last week….