Trump continues to hold sway in Republican primaries

Daniela Altimari, CQ-Roll Call on Jun 10, 2026

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump got his mojo back with Republican primary voters Tuesday following a setback in Iowa last week when his preferred candidate lost the GOP contest for governor.

Trump-backed House candidates notched wins in South Carolina and Nevada. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham overcame a primary challenge from a conservative insurgent.

And South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Trump’s pick for governor of the Palmetto State, came in first in the gubernatorial primary. She, however, did not secure the majority needed to avoid a June 23 runoff, when she’ll take on state Attorney General Alan Wilson.

“President Trump’s endorsement remains the most powerful force in Republican politics because voters trust his leadership and support candidates who champion the America First agenda,” Kiersten Pels, the national press secretary at the Republican National Committee, said in an email. “His endorsement has repeatedly driven turnout, energized low- and mid-propensity voters, and unified Republicans behind winning candidates.”

While the president has been dogged by flagging poll numbers and asserted recently that he doesn’t care about the midterms, Pels said Trump and members of his administration “will continue working to deliver victories up and down the ballot.”

Graham credited Trump with lifting him to victory by offering an early endorsement that “changed everything.” The senator will next face pediatrician Annie Andrews, who comfortably secured the Democratic nomination Tuesday.

“You’re the gold standard in the Republican world, the most consequential endorsement, I think, in the history of politics,’’ Graham said in his victory speech Tuesday night, addressing Trump, who was not in the room. “And when you spoke, the people of South Carolina listened.”

Graham, who has cultivated a reputation as skilled deal-maker and a foreign policy hawk over his four terms in the Senate, turned back appliance shop owner Mark Lynch with nearly 57% of the vote, avoiding a runoff. Trump had taken to social media to criticize Lynch, calling him “a LUNATIC” who would be “a DISASTER for the Republican Party.”

Graham and Lynch tangled over the war in Iran, with the challenger styling himself as an anti-interventionist in the mold of Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who lost his GOP primary last month to a Trump-backed challenger.

The president’s pick in an open district in northern Nevada also collected a win Tuesday. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. David Flippo, who won Trump’s praise last month, won the GOP primary to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Mark Amodei in the sprawling 2nd District.

Trump’s choice to support Flippo put him at odds with both Amodei and Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who endorsed former state Sen. James Settelmeyer.

In a post on social media last month, Amodei called out the president and said his decision to back Flippo was a mistake.

The 2nd District “has been especially good to you throughout your three runs,’’ Amodei said. “This endorsement is an incredibly curious way to say thank you to those people who have been the bedrock of your political endeavors here in original Nevada.”

Flippo will next face Democrat Teresa Benitez-Thompson, a former majority leader of the Nevada Assembly.

Meanwhile, in North Dakota on Tuesday, GOP freshman Rep. Julie Fedorchak once again turned back retired foreign service officer Alex Balazs in the primary for the state’s heavily Republican at-large district.

Balazs had the backing of the state GOP, but Fedorchak secured the all-important Trump endorsement.

Those wins for the president’s picks come on the heels of his decision to back Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn in the Lone Star State’s fiercely fought Senate primary. Trump also repudiated Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, recruiting Rep. Julia Letlow to take him on. Both Paxton and Letlow won last month, although Letlow still faces a runoff against state Treasurer John Fleming on June 27.

Trump holds a powerful sway over Republican primary voters, but his endorsement failed to carry Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra over the finish line in Iowa’s GOP gubernatorial primary last week. The winner of the contest, first-time candidate Zach Lahn, ran on a “Make America Healthy Again” platform and an “Iowa first” approach to governing. He’ll face Democratic state Auditor Rob Sand in November.

Trump’s next test with GOP primary voters will come on Tuesday.

In Georgia, he’s backing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones to be the state’s next governor and was scheduled to hold a tele-rally in support of him Wednesday night. Jones is locked in a runoff with health care executive and billionaire Rick Jackson after neither took more than 50% of the vote in last month’s first round.

Alabama Rep. Barry Moore has Trump’s support in his bid to succeed Sen. Tommy Tuberville, but first he needs to get past former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson in next week’s runoff.

And in Oklahoma, Trump has waded into the crowded race for the state’s 1st District, backing Republican pastor and businessman Jackson Lahmeyer to succeed Rep. Kevin Hern, who is running for Senate.

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