Trump-Backed Candidates, Democrats Win Big in Primaries, Special Elections

Primary and special election results in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan on Tuesday showed President Donald Trump’s continued influence over Republican voters while giving Democrats fresh evidence that they may have momentum heading into November’s midterm elections.

The clearest test of Trump’s standing came in Indiana, where he backed primary challengers against seven Republican state senators who opposed his redistricting plan last December. The plan would have redrawn congressional district lines in a way meant to help Republicans pick up seats in the US House.

Five of Trump’s preferred candidates defeated the incumbents, while one incumbent survived. A seventh race remained too close to call Tuesday night. Groups aligned with Trump spent more than $8.3 million on advertising in the races, a large sum for state legislative contests that are usually low-profile.

The results underscored Trump’s ability to punish Republicans who break with him, even as the party grows more concerned about the political climate ahead of the midterms. The targeted senators represented districts Trump carried in 2024, most by at least 20 points.

Republican Gov. Mike Braun, who supported Trump’s challengers, called it a “historic night for Indiana” and said Republicans had nominated “America First conservatives.”

In Ohio, Tuesday’s primaries formally set two major statewide races. Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown won his party’s nomination for a special US Senate election and will face Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed to the seat after JD Vance became vice president. The election will determine who serves the final two years of Vance’s Senate term.

Brown lost Ohio’s other Senate seat in 2024, but Democrats still see him as one of their strongest candidates in a state that has shifted sharply to the right. In 2024, Brown lost by less than four points even as Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris lost Ohio to Trump by 11 points.

Ohio Republicans also nominated Vivek Ramaswamy for governor. Ramaswamy, a Trump ally and former presidential candidate, easily defeated Casey Putsch, an engineer and automotive YouTuber who criticized national Republicans on several issues, including the Epstein files, data centers and support for Israel.

Ramaswamy will face Democrat Amy Acton, Ohio’s former public health director, who ran unopposed.

In Michigan, Democrats won another special election with Chedrick Greene capturing a state Senate seat in a closely divided district. Harris carried the district by less than one point in 2024, making the result the latest in a series of Democratic overperformances in special elections since Trump returned to office.

The Michigan result is likely to draw national attention because the state will host one of the most closely watched US Senate races in November and remains central to both parties’ national electoral strategy.