Senate Republicans Ran Ahead of Trump Almost Everywhere

"Republicans Dominated The Senate Races, Except The Ones Who Dumped Trump," the Daily Caller reports. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway calls the story an "important read - and critical to remember moving forward. Still waiting for those stories on how Trump helped down-ballot [Republicans] win the day."

But the suggestion that voters punished Republicans who didn't support Trump is false. In almost every state with a competitive Senate or presidential race, the Republican Senate candidate ran ahead of Trump—sometimes by a wide margin—regardless of whether or not the candidate stood by Trump.

The Daily Caller story focuses on the fact that Mark Kirk of Illinois, Joe Heck of Nevada, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire all lost. Kirk announced early on that he wouldn't support Trump. Ayotte and Heck withdrew their support of Trump after the Access Hollywood video was released in October. Ayotte said she'd write in Mike Pence, but Heck later said he still might vote for Trump.

If there had been a price to pay for ditching Trump, you would expect that these candidates would've lost by more than Trump, but they ran about even with him. In Nevada, Heck and Trump each lost lost by 2.4 percentage points. In Illinois, Kirk lost by 14.2 points; Trump lost by 16.0. In New Hampshire, Ayotte lost by 0.1 points; Trump lost by 0.3.

There aren't any Senate races in which GOP candidates rejected Trump and performed worse than him, but there are examples of Republican candidates who rejected Trump and did much better than him.