Mixed elex nite for Trumpers
MAGA pols do well in Ariz., Mich., but stumble in Mo., Wash.
Former President Donald Trump had a mixed night in the latest round of Republican primaries on Tuesday, leading in highstakes proxy fights in Arizona and knocking off an impeachment supporter in Michigan while falling short in other races — a warning sign for Republicans.
MAGA Senate candidate Blake Masters won in the Grand Canyon State, and extremist election denier Kari Lake was leading the gubernatorial primary there over an establishment candidate.
Tudor Dixon, a conservative commentator, won the GOP primary for Michigan governor, emerging atop a field of little-known conservatives days after Trump endorsed her. She will face Democratic Gov. Gretchen
Whitmer in November.
And Trump critic Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) fell to defeat in his primary to a MAGA challenger, giving Trump the latest scalp in his battle to exact revenge on all 10 GOP House lawmakers who voted to oust him.
Though Trump is still the most popular figure in the GOP, his efforts to influence primary elections this year have yielded mixed results. His preferred candidates in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania prevailed in their primaries.
But in Washington State, impeachment supporters Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler, whom Trump derided as “slime,” and Dan Newhouse moved on to the general election in excellent shape to return to Congress.
And then there is Missouri and how the scandal-tarred former
Gov. Eric Greitens flopped in his MAGA bid for Senate. Trump cryptically endorsed “Eric” in the race, allowing him to play both sides of the race with Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who cruised to victory.
Trump brushed off questions about the impact of his kiss of approval, falsely claiming his preferred candidates won all their races.
“Ran the table!” he crowed in a post on his new social media site.
In Arizona, Lake narrowly led businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson, who was endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence, although the race was not called Wednesday.
Masters, whose campaign was bankrolled by tech investor Peter Thiel, won his Republican primary after echoing Trump’s lies of a stolen election and playing up cultural grievances that animate the right, including critical race theory and allegations of big tech censorship.
The 35-year-old first-time candidate will take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in the fall.
In the secretary of state race, Mark Finchem, an Arizona state lawmaker who worked to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in the state, won his primary.
In the state Legislature, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who testified at a Jan. 6 hearing about Trump’s pressure to overturn the 2020 election, lost his Republican primary for a state Senate seat.
In Michigan, Trump supporters swept statewide GOP primaries, and John Gibbs edged out Meijer for a Grand Rapids-based swing seat.
Democrats controversially boosted Gibbs because they believed he cannot beat Hillary Scholten in the November general election.
The Washington State Trump impeachment supporters both advanced to the general election after the state’s top-two nonpartisan primary.
They should be on track to beat Democratic opponents to win two more years in office, thwarting Trump’s scheme to oust all 10 of the GOP rebels.
In Missouri, Trump’s unusual first-name-only endorsement may allow him to claim victory in the Senate contest. But Schmitt’s win gives establishment Republicans a chance to breathe easier as Greitens was the only candidate believed to give an opening to Democrats in the deep-red Show Me State.