Victories by Mastriano, Budd show potency of Trump’s false stolen election claims in GOP

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Breaking: Gov. Brad Little is projected to win the Idaho GOP gubernatorial primary, defeating his lieutenant governor

Little managed to hold off a spirited challenge from his lieutenant governor, Janice McGeachin, according to the Associated Press. McGeachin had the backing of former president Donald Trump and chastised Little over covid regulations in the state. Little should have no trouble winning the general election in a state that went for Trump by 31 points in 2020.

This story wil be updated.

Republican candidates who sought to overturn the 2020 election won statewide primaries in Pennsylvania and North Carolina on Tuesday, reflecting the lingering influence in the GOP of former president Donald Trump’s false claims that the vote was rigged against him.

In Pennsylvania, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Trump-endorsed candidate who led an effort to overturn the election in his state and attended the Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6, 2021, the day a pro-Trump mob attacked U.S. Capitol, won the Republican nomination for governor. He will face state Attorney General Josh Shapiro in November — a showdown Democrats were eager to embrace.

Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), who was backed by Trump and among House members who supported at least one objection to certifying the election, will be the GOP Senate nominee in North Carolina. He will face former state Supreme Court chief justice Cheri Beasley, who made history as the first Black woman nominated for the Senate in the state.

Their primary victories, projected by the Associated Press, came on a day when the effect of Trump and his far-right movement on the midterm elections faced its biggest test to date. Preliminary results were an uneven measure of Trump’s influence over the movement he started.

Pennsylvania’s bitterly fought Republican Senate race remained unsettled, though the major candidates all question the 2020 results to varying degrees. The winner will face Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who claimed the Democratic nomination.

And in North Carolina’s 11th District, scandal-plagued and Trump-backed Rep. Madison Cawthorn conceded to state Sen. Chuck Edwards, according to Cawthorn spokesman Luke Ball. Edwards was running on his conservative record and a pledge to avoid celebrity culture.

The marquee battles unfolded in Pennsylvania, a swing state where a pair candidates who appeared at the Stop the Steal rally gained steam in the final stretch.

Both Mastriano and Kathy Barnette, who was competing in the GOP Senate primary, campaigned on the ideas Trump espouses. But the former president only endorsed Mastriano — doing it late — and has opposed Barnette, portraying her as unelectable. His chosen candidate for the Senate is Mehmet Oz, a TV personality and heart surgeon.

In recent days, some establishment Republicans have fretted that Barnette and Mastriano could leave the party vulnerable in the general election, despite the massive head winds facing Democratic candidates. The open Senate race in Pennsylvania is seen by both parties as key factor in determining which party will control the chamber next year.

Fetterman won in a crowded field that included Rep. Conor Lamb, a Biden acolyte and onetime rising Democratic star. Fetterman supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during his 2016 presidential bid.

Fetterman’s health emerged as a last-minute issue: Hours before polls closed Tuesday, Fetterman’s doctors implanted a defibrillator and pacemaker into his chest to regulate his heart rate and rhythm, according to his campaign. He cast his vote via an emergency absentee ballot from Penn Medicine Lancaster General Hospital, according to his campaign.

Fetterman had a stroke Friday, his campaign announced Sunday. “The good news is I’m feeling much better, and the doctors tell me I didn’t suffer any cognitive damage,” he said in a statement that day. He said later he would not attend his campaign’s primary night rally.

Should Barnette win the nomination in Pennsylvania, she would become the second Black woman elevated by her party as a Senate candidate in Tuesday’s primaries. Beasley, who would be North Carolina’s first Black senator if she wins in November, entered primary day as the overwhelming favorite to win.

In campaign ads and in her stump speech, Beasley focused on her time as a public defender and her more than two decades as a judge in the state, including her tenure as the first Black woman to serve as chief justice of the state Supreme Court.

Beasley has also campaigned on the leaked Supreme Court draft decision that would overturn the ruling establishing abortion as a constitutional right, hoping to fire up voters concerned about the possibility.

Upon winning, Budd quickly turned to Beasley in his victory speech, calling her “the most radical, liberal candidate ever to run for U.S. Senate here in North Carolina.” Budd also immediately sought to tie Beasley to the White House. “She would enable every element of Joe Biden’s agenda,” he said.

Much of Budd’s campaign focused on Trump’s support for him in a crowded field. Unlike in other races, Trump and the conservative Club for Growth remained aligned, potentially revealing the power of a united front in contested primaries.

Trump also sought to influence the fate of Cawthorn, who won the former president’s support despite multiple scandals including carrying a firearm into an airport, a charge of driving with a suspended license and making unsupported claims that Washington leaders invited him to an orgy and snorted cocaine.

Cawthorn had hoped to beat back a tough challenge from Edwards, who was running on his conservative record and a pledge to avoid celebrity culture. Major figures in the state GOP, including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), broke with Trump and backed Edwards.

Democrats also faced pivotal tests across the country, with establishment candidates challenged in several races by more liberal hopefuls.

In Oregon’s 5th District, Biden-endorsed Rep. Kurt Schrader was facing a tough battle against attorney Jamie McLeod-Skinner. McLeod-Skinner has disparagingly labeled him “the Joe Manchin of Oregon,” claiming that Schrader worked against Biden’s climate agenda and efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs at the behest of corporate donors.

Summer Lee, running for a House seat in Pennsylvania left open by Rep. Mike Doyle’s retirement, fought against wave of money from centrist Democratic groups who painted her as a risky choice.

Much of the attention Tuesday was on the Keystone State, where sprawling candidate fields in the two statewide races prompted GOP brawls with unpredictable results.

There, Mastriano won Trump’s endorsement only Saturday after the former president sat out of the race for most of the primary. Mastriano copied Trump’s campaign style, talking about poll numbers and crowds during his rallies. He pushed hard in the state to overturn the 80,000-vote victory that Biden earned in November 2020.

The late show of support was noticed. “We already had the victory, but it’s great to have that stamp of approval,” Mastriano said during a rally Saturday, referring to Trump’s backing.

Mastriano invokes religion frequently. “I’m amazed at what God is doing in our midst here,” he said Saturday. “We all have a call right now.” Like other candidates he invoked inflation, saying Democrats are purposely wrecking the economy. “They want us to live like serfs,” he said.

He denounced coronavirus restrictions, opposes critical race theory and compares himself to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who he said will look like an “amateur” should Mastriano win.

Establishment Republicans worry that he will have trouble beating Shapiro, who was unopposed for his party’s nod. Shapiro, sidelined by covid, postponed his planned victory event.

Republican leaders, including within the Trump orbit, were split between different candidates in the highly competitive Senate primary, setting up a proxy battle of influence in a race where none of the leading contenders had a natural base of support in the state.

Trump has said his endorsement of Oz is rooted in a belief that he would be the strongest general election candidate. Oz, who has dual U.S. and Turkish citizenship, rose to fame as one of the world’s leading heart surgeons. He then segued into a successful TV and book-writing career, becoming a household name because of the show “Dr. Oz,” which at times promoted questionable medical remedies.

But in the final days of the campaign, Barnette, a conservative media personality who campaigned extensively with Mastriano, enjoyed a boost of energy. The Club for Growth poured millions of dollars into the state in a last-minute bid to boost her.

Trump repeatedly urged voters not to support her, a message echoed by allies such as Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel. But she was backed by Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. To clap back at doubts about her support, Barnette has simply said: “MAGA does not belong to President Trump.”

Supporters point to Barnette’s biography: She calls herself the “product of a rape.” After her mother gave birth to her at age 12, Barnette has said, she grew up on an Alabama pig farm and says she escaped poverty via grit and hard work.

Also vying for the GOP nomination was former hedge fund CEO and Army veteran David McCormick. He took a hard line against China in his campaign, though his firm has done business in the communist state. McCormick’s connections to Trump start with his wife, Dina Powell, who was Trump’s deputy national security adviser. He also won the backing of Trump’s former CIA director and secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

Polls were still open in two Western states Tuesday evening where Trump’s influence was also tested.

In Idaho, Gov. Brad Little (R) was attempting to fend off a Trump-backed challenger, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who campaigned on challenging the 2020 election.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R), a longtime House member who was among the handful of Republicans to cross the aisle and support Biden’s infrastructure bill, was trying to fend off a challenger running to his right.

In Oregon, term limits are forcing Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, to leave office. Republicans hope to seize the seat for the first time in 35 years because of Brown’s deep unpopularity and the emergence of a Democratic candidate running as an unaffiliated candidate.

Nearly two dozen Republican candidates are vying for the party’s nomination, including former Oregon House Republican leader Christine Drazan, who was leading in the polls. She’s running on public safety and lower taxes and has the backing of roughly three-fourths of Oregon’s Republican state representatives.

On the Democratic side, front-runners include former Oregon House speaker Tina Kotek and state Treasurer Tobias Read.

In Kentucky, where polls closed earlier Tuesday evening, two Democrats were battling to replace Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) in the 3rd District. The eight-term congressman endorsed state Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey, who shares his views on most party priorities, such as support for Medicare-for-all. State Rep. Attica Scott differed very little with McGarvey issue to issue; when she did, she took a position to his left.

Cory Vaillancourt in Hendersonville, N.C., contributed to this report.

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Source: WP