Trump pick wins in North Carolina; others still close
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Former President Donald Trump was facing the strongest test yet of his ability to shape a new generation of Republicans on Tuesday night, as voters rallied around one of his hand-picked choices for a critical U.S. Senate seat and were considering another.
In North Carolina, Trump picked up an easy victory with U.S. Rep. Ted Budd winning the Republican Senate primary. Trump elevated the littleknown congressman using a surprise endorsement nearly a year ago.
Budd will face Democratic former state Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley, who is aiming to become North Carolina’s first Black senator.
But much of the attention centers on Pennsylvania, where Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman easily secured his party’s nomination for an open Senate seat, despite being forced off the campaign trail by a stroke. The 52-year-old cast an emergency absentee ballot from the hospital and later tweeted that he’d successfully undergone surgery to install a pacemaker and was “on track for a full recovery.”
One of the biggest questions of the night is who will compete against Fetterman in the fall. Trump’s preferred candidate, Mehmet Oz, has divided conservatives and faces what looks like a far tougher race. Some are suspicious of the ideological leanings of the celebrity heart surgeon who gained fame as a frequent guest on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show. Oz has spent much of the campaign in a heated fight with former hedge fund CEO David McCormick. That’s allowed commentator Kathy Barnette to emerge in the final days of the primary as a conservative alternative to both Oz and McCormick. Should she win the primary and general election, Barnette would be the first Black Republican woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
Trump, who has held campaign-style rallies with Oz, insists he is the best candidate to keep the Senate seat in Republican hands in the fall. Given his level of involvement in the race, a loss would be a notable setback for the former president.
In the Pennsylvania governor’s race, Doug Mastriano won the Republican nomination on Tuesday, beating eight other candidates and a party establishment that had tried to head off his nomination over fears that he is too extreme to win the general election in the presidential battleground.
Mastriano, a retired U.S. Army colonel and state senator since 2019 was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. His opponent will be Attorney General John Shapiro, who was unopposed for his party’s nomination. He tweeted Tuesday that he had mild COVID-19 symptoms that were forcing him from the campaign trail.