(RepublicanInformer.com)- Many mainstream media outlets jumped on the fact that another of former President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidates lost his primary election this week.
This time, it was a rather well-known one. Incumbent North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn, who had the former president’s full support, lost in his bid to reclaim his seat. He ended up conceding the race to his challenger Tuesday night.
But, even though this candidate that Trump backed did not prosper, the former president did do quite well in a key battleground state this week.
In Pennsylvania, Trump-backed candidates performed very well.
First, Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former TV personality, performed very well in his bid for a Senate seat in the Keystone State. While the race was still too close to call as of late in the week, it was close enough that a recount could be forced.
That race saw Oz ahead of his challenger David McCormick by a little more than 1,000 votes as of Thursday evening. Both candidates are “lawyering up” in preparation for a challenge to the vote tally in a hotly-contested and important primary.
While Trump backed Oz, McCormick also played up his ties to the former president, which likely helped him garner as many votes as he did.
While Trump could still win or lose in that race, he achieved a resounding victory for the GOP candidate for Pennsylvania’s governor. His candidate, Doug Mastriano, easily won the Republican nomination for the top political job in the state.
What these races are continuing to prove is that Trump-backed candidates may not always win. But, those candidates that are almost assuredly going to lose are those who state outright that they are against the former president and are “never-Trumpers.”
Trump has endorsed a record number of candidates around the country, and he’s played an integral role in primary elections. That’s fairly uncommon historically, and so, too, is the amount of money being thrown around across the country for primary races on both sides of the aisle.
Duke University professor Asher Hildebrand commented to ABC News on the subject:
“Money in politics is nothing new, and you’ve seen outside groups increasingly playing a role in North Carolina and around the country. What feels different this year is just how aggressively they’re investing in primaries.”
What this seems to show is that there’s no longer just a Republican vs. Democrat battle going on. The two major political parties have each formed at least minor divisions within themselves.
For Democrats, there’s the more moderate people near the center and the ultra-liberal progressives way off to the left. For Republicans, there’s the Trump people to the far right and the more moderates again near the middle.
In other words, influential groups and individuals aren’t just throwing their money and support behind the leading candidate in their party against the other party for the general election. They’re trying to ensure that their “specific” candidate within their party is the one who makes it to the general election. And that’s quite a unique situation.
