By Nathaniel "Beltway" Steele
Tuesday was a rough night for presidential endorsements.
In Wyoming, Eric Barlow, a state senator, defeated Megan Degenfelder, the state superintendent of public instruction whom President Trump had endorsed, in the Republican primary for governor. It was the second race in as many contests where Wyoming Republicans looked past Trump's preferred candidate — the president's pick lost even as another of his endorsees, Rep. Harriet Hageman, easily won the GOP Senate nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis. Hageman, who ousted Rep. Liz Cheney in 2022, is heavily favored in November in the deep-red state, according to NBC News and The New York Times.
In Florida, two Trump-backed House candidates lost their primary bids Tuesday, NBC News reported, while Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, won renomination. On the Democratic side of the ballot, state Rep. Angie Nixon, a progressive, upset Alex Vindman, the former National Security Council aide who had dramatically outraised her, in the U.S. Senate primary. "We deserve to thrive," Nixon told supporters after the win, according to NBC News. In the governor's race, former Rep. David Jolly won the Democratic nomination and will face Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, who had Trump's endorsement and won his own primary comfortably.
And in Alaska, Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican and reliable Trump ally, will face Democrat Mary Peltola in November's general election, NBC News and The New York Times project — a race Democrats see as a rare pickup opportunity in a state where most voters are unaffiliated. It remains unresolved whether Sullivan will also face a spoiler candidate sharing his name on the ballot. Separately, two Democrats — Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich — advanced to Alaska's four-way, ranked-choice governor's race in November.
The throughline, per ABC News' analysis of the results: Trump's endorsement moved some races and not others — a reminder that even a popular president's coattails have limits when local grievances are on the ballot.
— Compiled from reporting by ABC News, NBC News, The New York Times and Politico.
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