“That’s not the least bit surprising given his history and what we know about Donald Trump,” Toomey said of Trump’s comments. “It’s much to Mehmet Oz’s credit that he hasn’t adopted that rhetoric and seems to be adhering to what used to be the conventional view that all the legal ballots should be counted.”…

“It’s concerning because it’s statements like that that lead to threats against election officials. It’s the same game plan he used in 2020, so I’m not surprised,” said Seth Bluestein, a Republican city commissioner in Philadelphia. “The most important thing we can do is be as transparent as possible, continue to build those relationships so there is a degree of trust between us and the people observing the election.”…

Other local Republicans were more aghast that Trump would try to promote discord in the GOP primary.

“I’m flabbergasted. When somebody who advocates that everybody needs to get their votes out and their opponents are cheating, and now he is talking about his own party?” said Dave Ball, chairman of the Washington County Republicans. “When the president says let’s cut it off here because I like the number here, so let’s stop, I don’t understand the point of making statements like that.”