I've done similar in the past. In my instance, this doesn't necessarily work:
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All of the R candidates mentioned Trump, directly. However, one of them mentioned Trump's name in the context of opposing some of the more extreme and unpopular Trumpnanigans.
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The ones who have a focus on healthcare and education have VERY different ideas on what it means to support those. Nearly universally they mean pushing healthcare even further into the private sector, allowing scam plans that cover practically nothing and are "insurance" in name only, or things like that. The ones talking about education want to privatize that that, switch to voucher systems that people can use in private schools, and other nefarious things like forcing Christianity into the schools.
But either way, these folks aren't the ones who ultimately get chosen in the primary because they're never extreme enough.
The crazy part about living in a rural, red district is that even the majority of Democrats on the primary are basically Republican-lite and often "former" Republicans. Go figure.