President Donald Trump and his allies flexed their power Tuesday in primaries around the country, as Republican voters advanced their favored candidates and ousted one of Trump’s top Republican critics in Congress.
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Trump’s biggest victory unfolded in Kentucky, where Rep. Thomas Massie (R) lost reelection after clashing with the White House and bucking GOP leadership on critical votes. But the president’s influence was evident across key races.
His show of force came days after he helped defeat Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial. Several GOP lawmakers in Indiana also lost their seats this month after resisting Trump’s push to redraw the state’s congressional map.
Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries.
Trump and his allies put enormous political capital behind unseating Massie, looking to make an example of the Republican congressman. Massie kept the race competitive, but he ultimately lost to Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein, 55 percent to 45 percent.
The takeaway for other Republicans was clear.
“This is @realdonaldtrump’s Republican Party,” Rep. Randy Fine (R-Florida) wrote on X. “The rest of us get the privilege of living in it.”
The primary was Massie’s biggest showdown yet with Trump. Over the past year, he has voted against the president’s signature legislation, criticized Trump’s military actions in Iran and joined Democrats to force the Justice Department to release the files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Despite the loss, Massie told a crowd Tuesday night that he was “just getting started.” He played coy when supporters urged him to run for president in 2028.
Trump’s picks in other competitive primaries also advanced.
In Georgia, Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R) led several GOP candidates for governor. Jones advanced to a runoff with billionaire businessman Rick Jackson, a political newcomer who rocked the race with more than $80 million in ad spending.
The winner will face former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who clinched the Democratic nomination with more than half the vote, avoiding a runoff despite a crowded field.
In Kentucky, Rep. Andy Barr (R) cruised to the GOP nomination with Trump’s backing, beating former state attorney general Daniel Cameron. A third GOP candidate, Nate Morris, dropped out at Trump’s request weeks before the election.
And in Alabama, Trump-endorsed Rep. Barry Moore (R) led the Republican field to succeed Tommy Tuberville in the Senate — though he did not earn the majority of the vote needed to avoid a runoff.
Tuberville is running for governor and advanced to the general election to face Democrat Doug Jones, whom he unseated from the Senate six years ago by a wide margin.
Georgia is a top Senate battleground where Republicans hope to unseat Sen. Jon Ossoff (D). But first, they have to get through a messy GOP primary.
Rep. Mike Collins (R) led the GOP pack and will advance to the runoff to face Derek Dooley, a former football coach endorsed by Gov. Brian Kemp.
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GOP leaders were unable to recruit Kemp, their dream candidate, to run. Trump declined to weigh in. Now Republicans will spend more time fighting one another.
A Democratic primary in Pennsylvania’s deep-blue 3rd Congressional District showed the strength of the party’s most liberal wing. State Rep. Chris Rabb, a democratic socialist, won decisively.
Rabb had the backing of progressive stars such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and rallied with Hasan Piker, the left-wing Twitch streamer who is polarizing among Democrats. Rabb beat pediatric surgeon Ala Stanford and state Sen. Sharif Street (D), a former state party chair.
In the Lehigh Valley, firefighter Bob Brooks emerged from a crowded Democratic field for the chance to take on Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R) in a swing district. Brooks, a union leader, had support across the political spectrum, including from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and the House Democrats’ campaign arm.
Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, Democrats picked their nominees for battleground House races that did not have highly contested primaries.
In the Philadelphia suburbs, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) will face Democrat Bob Harvie, a Bucks County commissioner. Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pennsylvania) will face Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti (D). Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) will face former newscaster Janelle Stelson (D) in central Pennsylvania.
The outcomes of House races in November have implications for Shapiro, who is also up for reelection in November. If Shapiro can help deliver the seats to Democrats, the wins could bolster his electability argument ahead of a possible 2028 presidential run.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D), who has led her blue state since 2023, advanced to a rematch with Republican Christine Drazan, a state lawmaker. Drazan lost to Kotek in 2022.
Downballot, Republican County Commissioner Patti Adair advanced to challenge Rep. Janelle Bynum (D) for Oregon’s most competitive U.S. House seat. Bynum won by less than three points in 2024, but some Republicans are pessimistic about retaking the seat this year, and GOP candidates did not flock to the race.
Alabama held unusual primaries that gave voters a chance to vote in fewer than half of the state’s House races. Primaries for the other House seats will be held in August.
Late last month, the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act and gave states an opportunity to approve last-minute changes to their congressional maps. Republicans in Alabama responded by adopting a map that changes the boundaries to four of the state’s seven districts, and Gov. Kay Ivey (R) postponed the primaries for those districts.
The extraordinary situation meant voters could not vote in four House districts, including the ones held by the two Black Democrats who represent the state in the House: Shomari Figures and Terri A. Sewell. The new map breaks up Figures’s district and gives it a Republican tilt.
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Democrats are fighting the new map in court.
