Donald Trump’s vow to extract retribution on Republican state senators in Indiana who rejected his plan to redraw the state’s congressional map got results Tuesday, with at least five of them losing to challengers backed by the president.
According to The Associated Press, one state senator survived his primary against a Trump-backed opponent, while a seventh race between an incumbent and a challenger endorsed by Trump had not been called by the AP as of 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.
While Trump’s job approval ratings have cratered in recent months amid high gas prices and spiking economic anxiety, the results, nevertheless, reflect the enduring power of the president’s endorsement in a GOP primary. Trump’s allies unleashed a wave of spending against the targeted state senators, branding them RINOs, or Republicans in name only, who had abandoned the MAGA movement.
