共和党的危险状态导致捐助者接受任何必要手段来保住参议院。数月来，共和党捐助者坚持表示他们不想为肯·帕克斯顿的德克萨斯州参议院竞选提供资金，尽管唐纳德·特朗普总统支持他，反对长期任职的约翰·科宁。对他们而言，这个决定让救助帕克斯顿成为总统的责任。
The perilous state of the GOP has led donors to accept whatever means necessary to hold the Senate. For months, Republican donors insisted they didn’t want to bankroll Ken Paxton’s Texas Senate race after President Donald Trump endorsed him over long-time incumbent John Cornyn. To them, that decision made bailing out Paxton the president’s responsibility.
但随着中期选举临近，民调持续恶化，许多曾持反对意见的捐助者正在撤回他们的反对。他们现在说，唯一重要的是通过任何必要手段保住参议院。
But polls have deteriorated in the weeks ahead of the midterm election so much so that many of these same donors are dropping their objections. The only thing that matters now, they say, is keeping the Senate – by whatever means necessary.
这一转变凸显了共和党的危险状况，该党正面临着一张日益黯淡的政治版图——“到处都是火灾”，这可能预示着在特朗普两年前以双位数优势赢得的多个州失去多个参议院席位。
The change underscores the perilous state of the GOP, which finds itself confronting a darkening map where “the fires are everywhere” and which possibly portends the loss of multiple Senate races in states Trump won by double digits two years ago.