WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s influence in Republican primary elections is about to get stress-tested.
A series of primaries in early May across deep-red territory in Indiana, Kentucky and Louisiana all feature entrenched GOP officials fighting back against Trump-backed challengers, and early signs indicate Trump’s preferred candidates may not always have the upper hand. The results of the primaries could provide a stark indication of whether the president’s legendary sway over the GOP is fading as his popularity sinks.
The high-profile races include challenges to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), along with a promised revenge tour against GOP state senators in Indiana. All have committed supposed sins against Trump — Massie helped Democrats release the Epstein files, Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial, the state senators dared to defy his orders to redraw their state’s congressional map — and yet all have at least a fighting chance.
None are running on explicitly anti-Trump platforms, and all are taking pains to downplay their differences with the president, who remains broadly popular with Republican voters. But their victories could give other Republicans space to at least occasionally break with the president or distance themselves as they run for reelection in November, which would mark a sharp contrast from the peak of Trump’s power.
