Jay Feely leans into Trump as swing-seat Republicans back away

As Republican candidates nationally skipped President Donald Trump’s “midterm convention” and have sought to separate themselves from the historically unpopular president, Republican Jay Feely took the opposite tack, joining Trump in Dallas and giving a speech to the GOP faithful. 

Feely, a former NFL kicker and broadcaster, leveraged Trump’s endorsement in the July primary election to win the Republican nomination in Congressional District 1, which spans large swaths of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills and north and central Phoenix. 

It is both Arizona’s wealthiest district and one of the state’s most competitive. Although it leans red, it has been a high priority for Democrats, particularly now, with Americans’ dislike for Trump threatening to drag down GOP candidates up and down the ballot. 

Amid that backdrop, Feely’s decision to appear on stage in Texas on Wednesday was an unorthodox political move as the political novice hopes to defeat former state lawmaker and emergency room physician Amish Shah in November, a veteran GOP campaign consultant told the Arizona Mirror.

“It defies political common sense,” Republican political consultant Chuck Coughlin said. “I don’t see the logic in it.” 

A number of Republicans decided against attending the convention this week, per Politico, as more and more swing state candidates have begun to distance themselves from Trump, whose popularity has plummeted this year in the wake of the Iran War he unilaterally started, rising costs for fuel and food, a violent mass deportation effort and skyrocketing healthcare bills. 

The political environment is proving to be so difficult for Republicans that even candidates in historically safe seats are trying to downplay their MAGA credentials. 

Feely’s speech came after a litany of speakers who decried the culture war issues that have dominated discourse for Republicans under Trump. 

But other than a jab at Shah that aimed to try to connect him to democratic socialism — an allegation Feely has made previously that has been rebutted by Shah’s campaign — Feely’s speech focused more on how voting for Republicans protects America’s “greatness.” 

“We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world. We are still the shining city on the hill,” Feely said, referencing President Ronald Reagan’s famous speech. “We will not surrender our future. We are the ones who must preserve it.”

Feely was joined on stage by Michigan congressional candidate Mike Bouchard Jr., who is campaigning for another seat that is being sought by Democrats to flip this cycle. 

Coughlin predicted that Democrats would make hay in Feely’s race.

“If I’m Shah, I’m going to make noises about it,” Coughlin said of the Republican’s attendance. “I’d tell voters, ‘You’re voting for Donald Trump if you’re voting for Jay Feely.’”

And Democrats already have been. 

Shortly after the speech, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee attacked Feely for his attendance and touted that Shah was actively working in the emergency room Wednesday night. 

“Arizonans have a clear choice in this election: a loyal Trump lapdog in Jay Feely, or an independent leader who always puts Arizonans first in Dr. Amish Shah,” DCCC spokesperson Lindsay Reilly said in the release. 

That tactic is exactly what Coughlin said Democrats should push on. 

Democrats are attempting to connect Republicans in targeted races to Trump and his wildly unpopular policies, something Coughlin said Feely made easy. 

“Feely is doing that work for them,” Coughlin said.