WMOT 89.5 | LISTENER-POWERED RADIO INDEPENDENT AMERICAN ROOTS
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Tracking Trump's endorsements: Here's how his picks have fared in primaries

J.D. Vance, left, rode former President Donald Trump's endorsement to a narrow victory in Ohio's Republican U.S. Senate primary in early May. Across the country, Trump endorsed dozens of candidates in this year's GOP primaries.
Joe Maiorana
/
AP
J.D. Vance, left, rode former President Donald Trump's endorsement to a narrow victory in Ohio's Republican U.S. Senate primary in early May. Across the country, Trump endorsed dozens of candidates in this year's GOP primaries.

Updated September 8, 2022 at 2:28 PM ET

Former President Donald Trump has remained a constant presence in this year's statewide primaries, endorsing more than 200 Republican candidates running for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and top state executive offices across the country.

So with the end of the primary calendar nearing, how have his endorsees fared?

An NPR tally of Trump's endorsements finds the vast majority won their GOP primaries, but about three-fourths of his picks are incumbents who were already expected to win, with many running unopposed in their primary contests.

In fact, only one Trump-endorsed incumbent — North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn — was ousted in a primary.

The former president's endorsees performed somewhat worse in open races, without an incumbent, or when he backed a challenger to a Republican incumbent.

Overall, 91% of Trump's candidates won their open primaries, and 4 of 10 challengers topped incumbents. His picks fared particularly poorly in Georgia, as he sought to oust sitting GOP officials from state executive offices.

Loading...

Looking at who Trump endorsed, most candidates said they support his false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent. And among just Trump-endorsed House incumbents, the vast majority objected to certifying the 2020 election.

Up and down the ballot, Trump made a concerted effort to endorse and actively campaign for Republicans challenging GOP incumbents who disagreed with his election lies.

Notably, of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him following the Jan. 6 insurrection, five of six who ran for reelection faced Trump-backed primary challengers, and just two of those incumbents prevailed.

Many Republicans endorsed by Trump face competitive general election matchups against Democratic candidates, so it's unclear how they'll fare in November.

The full list is below. Did we miss something? Email nprpolitics@npr.org.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Loading...

Corrected: September 7, 2022 at 11:00 PM CDT
An earlier version of this tracker left off Wyoming Republican Chuck Gray, who won his primary for secretary of state.
Elena Moore
Elena Moore is a production assistant for the NPR Politics Podcast. She also fills in as a reporter for the NewsDesk. Moore previously worked as a production assistant for Morning Edition. During the 2020 presidential campaign, she worked for the Washington Desk as an editorial assistant, doing both research and reporting. Before coming to NPR, Moore worked at NBC News. She is a graduate of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and is originally and proudly from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Haidee Chu