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President Donald Trump continued to demonstrate his influence over Republican primary elections Tuesday night, as dozens of Trump-backed candidates either won outright or advanced to runoffs in several key states.
The victories came in races across Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Oregon and Kentucky, reinforcing the president’s dominance within the Republican Party midway through his second term.
One of the most closely watched contests resulted in the defeat of Rep. Thomas Massie, who lost his Kentucky primary to Trump-endorsed challenger Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and Kentucky farmer.
Massie lost by roughly 10 percentage points in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District after previously winning general elections in the district by large margins. His relationship with President Trump collapsed over disagreements involving government spending legislation, foreign policy, the Iran conflict and issues surrounding Jeffrey Epstein-related records.
The outcome was widely viewed by Trump allies as a warning to Republicans who publicly oppose the president.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani praised the result.
“The results should also serve as a warning to Republican office holders who choose to suck up to the left and the liberal media, you will be held accountable (at the ballot box) by the MAGA movement,” Giuliani wrote.
Massie was one of several Republican officeholders Trump targeted after they publicly broke with him.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial, finished third in Louisiana’s Republican primary Saturday.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, another frequent Trump critic, finished third in Georgia’s gubernatorial primary and failed to advance to a runoff election.
President Trump also expanded his list of endorsed candidates Tuesday by backing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn in Texas’s upcoming Republican Senate runoff.
“John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough,” the president said.
