politics
Trump-Backed Candidates Win Most 2026 GOP Primaries
President Trump has endorsed more than 300 candidates in this cycle. Ballotpedia data show endorsed candidates winning roughly 98 percent of primaries held so far.
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Ballotpedia reports that Trump-backed candidates have won roughly 98 percent of the primaries in which they competed.
Senate and Statewide Races In U.S.
Senate primaries, endorsed candidates include Julia Letlow in Louisiana, Ken Paxton in Texas, Mike Collins in Georgia, Ashley Hinson in Iowa, Kevin Hern in Oklahoma, Barry Moore in Alabama, Ander Barr in Kentucky, Kurt Alme in Montana, Michael Whatley in North Carolina, Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, Jon Husted in Ohio, Tom Cotton in Arkansas, Jim Risch in Idaho, Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi, Pete Ricketts in Nebraska, Mike Rounds in South Dakota, and Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia.
In state executive primaries, endorsed candidates include Tommy Tuberville in Alabama, Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Arkansas, Steve Hilton in California, Brad Little in Idaho, Jim Pillen in Nebraska, Joe Lombardo in Nevada, Bruce Blakeman in New York, Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio, Mike Mazzei in Oklahoma, Stacy Garrity in Pennsylvania, Greg Abbott in Texas, John Wahl in Alabama, Scott Bedke in Idaho, Stavros Anthony in Nevada, T. W.
Shannon in Oklahoma, and Dan Patrick in Texas.
Trump-backed challengers won at least five of seven Republican state Senate primaries in Indiana. Those primaries followed the state Senate’s rejection of a congressional map that would have favored Republicans.
Losses for Some Endorsed Candidates Several endorsed candidates did not advance.
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones lost a runoff for governor to businessman Rick Jackson. Representative Randy Feenstra lost the Iowa GOP primary for governor. In South Carolina’s GOP gubernatorial runoff, Attorney General Alan Wilson defeated endorsed Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette.
