Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) called for the Republican Party to centralize its support around former President Donald Trump as it becomes increasingly apparent that other primary candidates within the party do not pose a threat. During a recent interview with Breitbart News, Blackburn noted that it has become “imperative that people get out of this race.”
As polls continually show Donald Trump dominating states across the country, Blackburn stated, “It is time for the party to unify.” The Tennessee senator, who initially endorsed Trump last spring, has echoed a consistent sentiment within the Republican Party to now focus its resources on Trump defeating Joe Biden in a rematch of the 2020 election.
“People ought to get out [of the race]. The party needs to unify. We need to move on and focus on Donald Trump beating Joe Biden and Donald Trump being the 47th president of the United States,” she added. Blackburn’s comments proved to be timely as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the primary race, ultimately endorsing Trump.
“It is time for us to put our energy into making certain that he wins and that the candidates that he is endorsing are going to win,” Blackburn continued. She listed several examples of Republican politicians, such as Rep. Jim Banks in Indiana (R) and Gov. Jim Justice in West Virginia (R), who need to win their respective races.
“We’ve got a great candidate over in Ohio that is going to win that primary and is going to move forward and win that seat. We need to get busy on this. And Republicans need to get with the president and get on that America First and Make America Great Again agenda,” Blackburn emphasized.
She went on to say that it is “so imperative that people get out of this race, that we move forward, that we start as a general election phase that everybody gets behind Donald Trump and his candidates — the candidates that our party has endorsed [and] that the president has endorsed.”
In recent months, Sen. Blackburn has been vocal on a number of conservative issues. The American Tribune reported on statements from the Tennessee Republican, who called out the Biden administration over allegations that an exorbitant amount of taxpayer dollars have been diverted from Veteran Affairs to the provision of healthcare services to newly arrived illegal immigrants.
“How much funding has the VA allocated specifically for the medical care or veterans’ benefits (including claims processing) for illegal immigrants, including but not limited to those in ICE detention facilities or those who were deported?” Blackburn wrote. The senator pointed out that the VA is already under significant pressure and in dire need of additional resources.
“Yet at the same time, veterans and their families are rewarded for their sacrifice with months- and years-long waiting times for their claims to be processed. Currently, 1,048,765 veterans are waiting for staff to process their claims. The VA claims that the average wait time for a claim to be processed is about five months; yet the agency’s own data shows that its backlog has increased and is expected to grow this year,” Blackburn’s letter continued.
"*" indicates required fields