Two Republican congressional incumbents who incurred former President Donald Trump’s wrath were defeated, while two others survived inter-party challenges in June 28 runoffs and primaries.
Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.), who’s being investigated for alleged federal campaign violations, fell in a Republican runoff, while Trump-endorsed incumbent Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) defeated Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) in their Illinois GOP primary.
The incumbents join Reps. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), David McKinley (R-W.Va.), and Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) as GOP lawmakers who’ve fallen into the former president’s disfavor and lost their primary battles.
Reps. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), who voted in favor of forming a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, protest at the U.S. Capitol, survived a runoff, and Blake Moore (R-Utah), who also supported bipartisan legislation to create the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, easily won his GOP primary.
Those races were among dozens of local, state, and congressional races as voters in seven states cast ballots in June 28 runoffs and primaries, capping a busy month of preliminary contests to finalize November general election ballots.
The June 28 contests included five Senate primaries in four states and three gubernatorial primaries, including in New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul easily won her Democratic primary and will face Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) in November..
Zeldin was the top vote-getter in a four-way GOP primary to win the party’s nomination. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s son, Andrew Giuliani, finished second.
Despite his former personal attorney’s son being in the race for governor, Trump didn’t issue any endorsements in that primary.
Oklahoma
In the race to succeed 87-year-old Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who was elected to a fifth term in 2020 before announcing his retirement in February, Republicans will need to go to the polls again.
Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) outpolled T.W. Shannon by 26 percentage points in the Republican primary but fell short of winning 50 percent of the vote in the 10-candidate field to avoid an Aug. 23 runoff.
By John Haughey
