After victory in Ohio, challenges ahead for Trump

NEW YORK — Fresh off a victory in the first real test of his power as GOP kingmaker, former President Donald Trump enters the next stretch of the midterm campaign emboldened — and facing new risks.

Trump’s late-stage endorsement of JD Vance in Ohio’s GOP Senate primary catapulted the “Hillbilly Elegy” author to victory in last week’s election, reinforcing the deep ties the former president holds among the most loyal Republican voters.

“Every single candidate that I endorsed won their primaries on Tuesday,” Trump crowed at a Friday night rally in Pennsylvania, where he held up Vance as a trophy of his achievement. “Tuesday’s primary results are just the latest proof that we have transformed the face of the Republican Party. Thank goodness.“

With Trump trying to assert his dominance over the party ahead of another potential presidential run, some allies say the Ohio victory could encourage him to step up his involvement in other bitter primary fights from Arizona to Missouri, where a former governor and current U.S. Senate candidate, Eric Greitens, is facing allegations of abuse. But there’s also caution that the coming phase of the campaign, which continues on Tuesday with a tight GOP race for governor in Nebraska, could be more complicated for Trump.

The rest of the month’s calendar will be more challenging for Trump, especially in races with incumbents.

On Tuesday, Republicans will vote in Nebraska, where Trump had endorsed Charles Herbster, who was seen as a strong front-runner through much of the race but is now fighting accusations that he groped at least eight young women at public events. Nearly all of Nebraska’s GOP establishment leaders have lined up behind businessman Jim Pillen.