Trump wins some, loses some in US election primaries
ELECTION DENIER WINS IN PRESIDENTIAL BATTLEGROUND STATE IN 2024
In Pennsylvania governor’s race, a candidate who has spread lies about the 2020 vote count won the Republican nomination, putting an election denier within striking distance of running a presidential battleground state in 2024.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump’s support was enough to elevate his Senate candidate to victory in North Carolina on Tuesday, though his pick in Pennsylvania remained in a tough fight in that state’s Senate primary. And in Idaho, with incumbency on his side, the sitting governor weathered a Trump-backed primary challenge from his far-right lieutenant governor.
In a key congressional race, a Republican congressman’s bad behaviour finally caught up with him. Takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, Idaho and Oregon:
Race too early to call
The former president entered the primary season on a high after JD Vance, his endorsed candidate in Ohio’s hypercompetitive GOP Senate contest, shot from third to first. But Trump’s tally Tuesday night included wins, losses and a marquee race too early to call.
Trump had shocked party faithful in North Carolina when he endorsed US Rep. Ted Budd, a little-known congressman, last June for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Richard Burr. But after a rocky start, Budd easily captured his party’s nomination, passing a crowded field of GOP rivals that included the state’s former governor, Pat McCrory.
And in Pennsylvania’s GOP race for governor, Trump’s endorsed candidate, the far-right Doug Mastriano, easily won the nomination — though he was already well ahead in the polls when Trump weighed in just days before the primary.
His nod was widely seen as an effort to hedge his bets and guarantee a victory in the state in case his endorsed candidate for Senate, celebrity heart surgeon Dr Mehmet Oz, loses his race. Oz and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick were virtually tied early yesterday, with more votes left to be counted.
In North Carolina, meanwhile, Rep. Madison Cawthorn lost his reelection bid Tuesday even after Trump urged voters to “give Madison a second chance!” Trump also whiffed when Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, his pick, failed to defeat Governor Brad Little in that state’s primary.
The far-right Doug Mastriano backed baseless reviews of the election results in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Joe Biden won by nearly 100,000 votes.
Denialist wins
Trump has made election denial a key loyalty test in the Republican Party, and that may have kneecapped his party in Pennsylvania with the victory of Mastriano, a vocal election denier.
Mastriano backed baseless reviews of the election results in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Joe Biden won by nearly 100,000 votes.
Mastriano has said he wouldn’t have certified Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania if he’d been governor then.
Limits in GOP
Even in Trump’s Republican Party, there are limits.
Rep. Cawthorn, the youngest member of Congress, was ousted from office on Tuesday by state Senator Chuck Edwards after a rocky first term filled with salacious headlines and scandals.
Cawthorn last month was cited for carrying a handgun through an airport security checkpoint — his second such citation. In March, he was cited for driving with a revoked licence after being stopped for speeding twice.
Trump sought to give Cawthorn a boost on Monday, urging voters to keep him in office.
But voters decided not to. Edwards, who was endorsed by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, inched past Cawthorn in the primary. Still, the big picture wasn’t that close — with eight candidates in the contest, Cawthorn won just 3 in 10 voters in the district.
In Idaho, Trump-inspired
populism ran smack into the wall of incumbency.
Power of incumbency
Governor Little easily beat back a Republican primary challenge from Lt. Gov. McGeachin, despite her endorsement from Trump. He touted steps he’d taken to please conservatives by capitalising on the benefits of office — signing tax cuts and a law banning abortion after about six weeks.
But, in contrast to what happened in Pennsylvania, Republican voters in Idaho balked. It’s a good omen for the next Trump target — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who’s also been using his incumbency to shore up his conservative bona fides against a challenger backed by the former president in next week’s primary.