Cheney v Trump: The endorsements that helped and hindered during the midterms

Some of the former president’s endorsed candidates did well in the Senate, but fared worse in House and gubernatorial races

Leading up to the midterm elections, Republican candidates fought for an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. However, rather than being a golden ticket, it seems that Mr Trump’s endorsement is more of a coin flip; according to polling data from midterm contests that have been called, the former president’s preferred candidates were only successful in about half the House and governor races, though so far have been doing well in Senate races.

His longtime critic, outgoing Congresswoman Liz Cheney, did better with her endorsements, though she made significantly fewer than the former president.

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According to Axios, citing Cook Political Report’s list of competitive races in the House, Senate, for state governorships, and for secretaries of state, only three of Mr Trump’s endorsed candidates for governor have won their races thus far. Greg Abbott won re-election in Texas, as did incumbent Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt. His former spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, won her gubernatorial race in Arkansas,

In Michigan, another detractor of Mr Trump, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, won her re-election bid over Mr Trump’s preferred candidate Tudor Dixon. Democrat Josh Shapiro beat out Mr Trump’s endorsed Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, and Democrat Tony Evers retained the governor’s mansion in Wisconsin over Republican Tim Michels. Likewise, Republican Laura Kelly won her gubernatorial race over Republican Derek Schmidt, who was endorsed by Mr Trump, in Kansas.

Gubernatorial races in Arizona and Nevada are still being decided.

Mr Trump’s preferred candidates had in the House, at least thus far, succeeded about 50 per cent of the time. Republican Derrick Van Orden won his House race in Wisconsin, as did Anna Paulin Luna in Florida, Nicole Malliotakis in New York, and Ashley Hinson in Iowa.

Republicans Bo Hines in North Carolina, Steve Chabot in Ohio, John Gibbs in Michigan, Madison Gesiotto Gilbert in Ohio, and Jim Bognet in Pennsylvania — all backed by Mr Trump — lost their races.

House races in California, Arizona, Michigan, Washington, Alaska, and Montana are still being decided.

Liz Cheney (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Mr Trump’s Senate picks fared far better than their gubernatorial and House colleagues. Republicans Mike Lee in Utah, Ted Budd in North Carolina, Chuck Grassley in Iowa, Marco Rubio in Florida, JD Vance in Ohio, and Ron Johnson in Wisconsin all won their races.

Thus far, the only one of Mr Trump’s Senate picks to lose a race is Dr Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.

Races in Nevada, Arizona, and Alaska are still undecided, and the race between Republican Herschel Walker and incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia looks like it will head to a run-off election.

Mr Trump endorsed two competitive secretary of state candidates, Mark Finchem in Arizona and Kristina Karamo in Michigan. While the Arizona race is still being decided, Ms Karama lost her race in Michigan.

Ms Cheney, who lost her primary earlier this year to Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, used the remainder of her time in office to campaign against MAGA candidates and even crossed party lines to endorse a trio of Democrats.

She had long been a thorn in Mr Trump’s side, voting in favour of his impeachment and taking a leadership position in the January 6th committee investigating the Capitol riot. She has been outspoken in her belief that Mr Trump will "splinter" the Republican party if he runs again in 2024.

The outgoing congresswoman endorsed Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan, Michigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, and Virginia Congresswoman Abigail Spanner in their races. Ms Slotkin and Ms Spanner won their races, while Mr Ryan lost his in Ohio.