Republican runoff elections in Alabama and Georgia and primaries in Virginia were the latest to show that Republican voters are willing to consider candidates who don’t have former President Donald Trump’s endorsement — as long as nobody on the ballot is questioning his influence over the GOP.
Nominees who beat his endorsed candidates generally embraced the “America First” agenda that Trump popularized, and in some cases they repeated his baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Their victories are a testament to Trump’s enduring imprint on the GOP, even as a House select committee has used testimony from Republicans in his inner circle and key state positions to scrutinize his election fraud claims and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. Here are several takeaways from Tuesday’s elections:
