President Donald Trump is having some success in his latest attempt to politically punish Republicans who stand in his way.
At least three of the seven Indiana state senators targeted by Trump lost their primaries Tuesday. One incumbent was victorious, and three other races have not yet been called. Trump got involved in the races because he was angry that state senators rejected his redistricting plan.
In neighboring Ohio, primaries for U.S. Senate
and governor locked in the candidates for two major races with national implications.
And in Michigan, voters in a bellwether district were weighing in on a vacancy in the state Senate, which could decide the chamber's balance of power in a battleground state.
Here are some initial takeaways as voters wait for more results.
Trump took aim at seven Republican state senators in Indiana who opposed his plan to redraw congressional district boundaries to help the party gain seats in the U.S. House.
Groups allied with the president spent more than $8.3 million on advertising, an extraordinary flood of cash and attention into races that are typically low-profile.
The races were a test of Trump's enduring grip over his party as Republicans grow increasingly anxious about the midterm elections in November.
The results Tuesday are a signal to Republicans everywhere that they can still get thrown out of office if they distance themselves from Trump even as his popularity fades. And they show the president he can still credibly threaten consequences for Republicans who cross him.
The Trump-targeted state senators all represent districts he carried in 2024, mostly by 20 percentage points or more.
The state's primary was the wind-up to the big show. Although Ohio has become increasingly conservative, Democrats believe their path back to a U.S. Senate majority runs through the state.
They're putting their hopes behind former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost Ohio's other Senate seat to Bernie Moreno in 2024. Brown easily won the Democratic nomination Tuesday and will face off with Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed last year to fill the vacancy created when JD Vance became vice president.
The race is a special election to fill the last two years of Vance's term.
Brown has consistently done better in Ohio than Democratic presidential candidates as the state has shifted to the right. Even in 2024, when Democrat Kamala Harris lost Ohio to Trump by 11 points, Brown lost by less than 4 points.
In the campaign for governor, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has parlayed his national name recognition, tech industry connections and alliance with Trump into a record fundraising haul. He largely ignored Republican rival Casey Putsch, focusing his rallies and television ads on the general election, and won the primary decisively.
An engineer and vehicle designer who calls himself “The Car Guy,” Putsch attracted fans with provocative YouTube videos that trolled Ramaswamy and criticized national Republicans over their handling of the Epstein files, positions on energy-guzzling data centers and support for Israel.
Ramaswamy will face Amy Acton, Ohio's former public health director, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. She played a key role in the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The special election for a state Senate seat in central Michigan carries outsized importance.
It's another test of enthusiasm in a series of special elections that have swung almost universally toward Democrats since Trump returned to the White House. It also could affect the balance of power in the Michigan State Capitol. A Democratic victory would give the party a firm majority in the state Senate, while a Republican win would deadlock the chamber in a 19-19 tie.
The district is closely matched. Harris beat Trump there by less than 1 point in the 2024 presidential election.
The seat has been vacant for more than a year, since Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet resigned to take a seat in Congress.
Democrats are showing surprising strength in special elections and off-year contests across the country, winning races in unexpected places and significantly narrowing the gap, even when they fall short.
There's no guarantee the trend will continue through the midterms, when turnout will be much higher, but it has nonetheless energized Democrats and spooked Republicans worried about keeping their congressional majorities.
