Republicans hope Trump indictment doesn't doom down-ballot races
Republicans hope an indictment of Donald Trump will not wreak havoc on down-ballot races next year. At a Republican retreat earlier this month, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy grew frustrated with repeated questions -- not about policy or the party but about one of the investigations into former President Donald Trump. "We're not talking about this in our conference; you're asking about it," McCarthy insisted after reporters pressed for answers to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's probe. When asked if Trump is still the Re public an leader, McCarthy fired back: "In the press room, for all of you, he is." It was a preview of what's to come for members of the GOP now that Trump has been indicted, a historic development that party strategists and pollsters say could also wreak a particularly distracting kind of havoc in down-ballot races heading into the next federal elections. While Republicans maintain they hope charges against Trump -- who de...