Primaries were held Tuesday in five states, with former President Trump’s high-profile endorsements had mixed results on Tuesday night and Republicans advancing candidates who questioned the eleciton results.
Here are some of the takeaways from Tuesday’s contests:
How did Trump do?
Former President Trump’s candidates had mixed results on Tuesday night. The Pennsylvania Republican Senate race is a toss-up, with Mehmet Oz, who Trump endorsed, locked in a tight race with former hedge fund manager David McCormick. A recount is triggered when the race is within 0.5%. In Pennsylvania’s other major race, CBS News projected that Trump’s pick for governor, state Senator Doug Mastriano, won his primary.
In North Carolina, Trump’s endorsed candidate in the Senate race, Representative Ted Budd, is projected to have won the Republican nomination. In one key House race, though, CBS News is projecting Madison Cawthorn, who was endorsed by Trump. lost his primary to state Senator Chuck Edwards. In North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District, CBS News projected that Bo Hines, who has Trump’s backing, won the Republican nomination.
Stephanie Keith/Getty Images, Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
CBS News is also projecting that Idaho incumbent Republican Governor Brad Little won his primary against Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin, who was endorsed by Trump.
Cawthorn loses
State Sen. Chuck Edwards, who was endorsed by North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, is projected to have defeated incumbent Madison Cawthorn. Voters in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District declined former President Trump’s entreaty to hand another term to the freshman Republican, who has been mired in controversy.
He was caught driving with a revoked license, claimed on a podcast that he’d been invited to an orgy by older GOP lawmakers, received ethics complaints regarding his treatment of staff, prompted questions about whether he had engaged in insider trading and more.
Republicans advanced candidates who objected to or questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election
Some of the Republicans who voted to reject Electoral College results in Congress or promoted false theories about widespread fraud in the 2020 election won their primaries on Tuesday night.
Topping that list, in Pennsylvania, is Republican state Senator Doug Mastriano who has been projected by CBS as the winner of the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Mastriano organized a hearing in Gettysburg that featured unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud. He was subpoenaed in February by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol over plans to “arrange for an alternate slate of electors” and public statements that suggested he was “present during the attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
Further, Pennsylvania’s governor appoints the secretary of state, who is the top elections official, a prospect Mastriano seems to relish. “I get to appoint the secretary of state,” he said at one debate. “We’re going to reset registration. You’re going to have to re-register. We’re going to start all over again.”
In North Carolina, Representative Ted Budd is projected to win the Republican Senate nomination. He voted to object to the results of the 2020 election in Arizona and Pennsylvania. But Budd told the Associated Press in April 2021 that he thinks Biden “is the legitimate president.”
“He went through the process. I think there’s lots of question marks along the way, but, at the end of the day, he is the legit president,” Budd said.
