In Pennsylvania, a gubernatorial candidate who has promoted lies about the vote count in the 2020 presidential election has won the Republican primary, putting him very close to governing an electorally important state heading into the 2024 election.
Meanwhile, the endorsement of former President Donald Trump was enough to give his senator candidate victory in North Carolina on Tuesday, though his favorite for senator in Pennsylvania was still locked in a tough fight in the Republican primary there. And in Idaho, the governor withstood a challenge from his lieutenant governor, a Trump-backed far-right in the primary.
And in a landmark congressional race, a Republican representative’s misconduct ultimately cost him his nomination.
Here’s a look at Tuesday’s primaries in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Oregon, Kentucky and Idaho:
TRUMP WINS SOME, LOSES OTHERS
The former president entered the primary season on a high note after JD Vance, the candidate he endorsed in the Ohio race, rose from third to first. But his balance on Tuesday included wins, losses and a very close major contest.
Trump had shaken the party faithful in North Carolina when he endorsed Rep. Ted Budd, a little-known congressman, last June for the Senate seat left vacant by the retirement of Republican Richard Burr. But after a shaky start, Budd easily won the party’s nomination, beating a large field of candidates that included former Governor Pat McCrory.
And in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, the Trump-backed candidate, far-right Doug Mastriano, easily won the nomination, though he was already well up in the polls when Trump gave his endorsement just days before the primary.
His endorsement was seen by many as an effort to play it safe and ensure a victory in the state in case his senator candidate, surgeon and television celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz, loses his race. Oz and financier David McCormick were virtually tied on Wednesday, with votes yet to be counted.
In North Carolina, Rep. Madison Cawthorn lost her re-election bid Tuesday even after Trump called on voters to “give Madison a second chance.” Trump also lost when Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, his favorite, failed to beat Gov. Brad Little in the state’s primary. Trump faces another potential defeat in Georgia’s crucial Republican gubernatorial primary, in which his candidate trails in polling and fundraising.
ELECTION RESULT DENIER WINS IMPORTANT REPUBLICAN PRIMARY.
The rejection of the result of the 2020 presidential election is for Trump a key test of loyalty to him in the Republican Party and that could be fatal for his party in Pennsylvania with the victory of Mastriano, an ardent denier of the electoral result.
Mastriano backed baseless revisions of the election results in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Joe Biden won by nearly 100,000 votes. He organized bus caravans to bring Trump supporters to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the attack on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021. And he says if he wins he will eliminate fraud by making every voter in the state to register again.
Because Trump requires allegiance to his election lies above all else, many Republicans in Pennsylvania fear the former president has ruined their chances in a crucial state. That is why they grouped themselves around a last-minute alternative to Mastriano, but without success.
Mastriano will face Democrat Josh Shapiro, the state attorney, in the November election. Shapiro, who had no rivals in the party, seemed eager to take on Mastriano, whom he called “one of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters.”
Mastriano has said that he would not have certified Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania if he had been the governor then.
REPUBLICAN VOTERS GOT FED UP
Even in Trump’s Republican party there are limits.
Rep. Cawthorn, the youngest member of Congress, was defeated by state Sen. Chuck Edwards after an erratic, scandal-ridden first term.
Cawthorn, who uses a wheelchair after a car accident, caused a sensation when he won the seat at the age of 25. But he could have burned in the public light.
Last month, Cawthorn received a citation for carrying a handgun through an airport security checkpoint, for the same reason. In March, he received a citation for driving with a revoked license after two speeding tickets. He angered the party by deciding to run in a different district after new electoral maps were drawn this year, only to return to his original district when litigation changed the course again. To top it off, he insinuated that Republicans in Washington had invited him at least once to a cocaine orgy.
On Monday, Trump tried to give Cawthorn a boost, calling on voters to keep him in office. “Lately, he’s made some dumb mistakes that I don’t think he’s going to make again,” Trump said in a statement. “Let’s give Madison a second chance!”
But the voters decided otherwise.
It is a warning to other Republicans who might feel that Trump’s ability to retain the loyalty of his base despite numerous scandals makes them immune to them as well.