What Went Down During The May 24 Primary Elections

Trump has endorsed 18 candidates for House, Senate or gubernatorial races on the ballot tonight. And while most will likely win — 13 are incumbents, and eight of those are running unopposed — today’s primaries may turn out to be a less-than-perfect night for Trump. The bar is higher, too: Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia all require the winner to receive the majority of the vote to avoid a primary runoff.

Let’s start with the state most unlikely to upset Trump’s track record: Alabama. Trump did initially endorse Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama’s open Senate race, but this March, he abruptly pulled his endorsement as Brooks languished in the polls. Ironically, Brooks has mounted a comeback in the polls after losing Trump’s endorsement, but it’s still not clear that he’ll win. The most recent polls show a close race with former Business Council of Alabama President Katie Britt, Shelby’s erstwhile chief of staff, slightly in the lead. Fortunately for Trump, though, he’s stacked up endorsements for five incumbent House members (four of whom are running unopposed) in Alabama, which will surely be safer bets.

Next up in Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and John Boozman have Trump’s endorsement for governor and senator, respectively. In fact, Trump encouraged Sanders to run for governor way back in 2019, and she’s the clear front-runner in this race both in fundraising and in polling. Meanwhile, Boozman has the advantage of incumbency, but he hasn’t cleared the field. He faces a primary challenger from the right in response to him not voting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. That said, Boozman is still polling far above his challengers, and of course, Trump himself still supports him. Trump has also endorsed current Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin for attorney general.

In Georgia, though, Trump has taken more risks; he’s endorsed seven non-incumbent Republican candidates for the House, Senate, governor, secretary of state, attorney general and lieutenant governor. One of his bets seems likely to pay off, though, as his preferred candidate for the Senate, former professional football player and businessman Herschel Walker, looks likely to win his primary. The rest of his picks, though, are a bit more dicey.

For instance, in the House races he’s weighed in on without an incumbent running, his picks, former state ethics commission chair Jake Evans in the 6th District and former state Rep. Vernon Jones in the 10th, haven’t cleared the field and are likely facing a runoff.

Trump has also endorsed primary challengers for governor, attorney general and secretary of state, centered around the false idea that he won Georgia in the 2020 election. And while his challengers might prevail in their bids for attorney general and secretary of state — we just don’t have a lot of public polling to give us a clearer picture of the race — his candidate in the governor’s race, former Sen. David Perdue, looks likely to lose to incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp. (He’s also endorsed state Sen. Burt Jones for lieutenant governor in what looks to be a close two-way race with fellow state Sen. Butch Miller.) Remember, candidates have to receive at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.

Gubernatorial primaries in Nebraska and Idaho have already handed Trump some pretty big losses — and tonight, Georgia may do the same. Follow along with us as we track how Trump’s candidates perform this evening.