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After taking out five Indiana state senators who opposed his push for congressional redistricting, President Donald Trump and his allies are now moving on to two other top targets in upcoming Republican primaries.
They are Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 Senate impeachment trial, and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a vocal GOP critic of the president.
The decisive victories this week in reliably red Indiana scored by Trump-backed challengers were the latest sign that the president’s immense grip on the Republican Party remains rock solid.
“I think Indiana sent a message to a lot of folks,” veteran Republican campaign strategist Matt Gorman told Fox News.
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Gorman, who has advised GOP presidential campaigns and top members of Congress, said the results in Indiana show that “Trump’s power within the party is unequivocal.”
Five months ago, Republicans in the GOP-dominated Indiana state Senate withstood immense pressure from Trump and his allies and voted down congressional redistricting, which would have given Indiana two more right-leaning U.S. House seats ahead of the midterms.
Eight of those state senators who are up for re-election this year faced GOP primary challenges. And seeking retribution, the president endorsed challengers to seven of those eight lawmakers.
Five of the Trump-endorsed candidates won, with just one incumbent surviving and one race still too close to call.
The political world was closely watching Indiana’s primary because it was the first of a series of major tests this month of Trump’s endorsement power in GOP nomination showdowns, and the president cleared his first hurdle with ease.
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Trump-allied groups that supported the Trump challengers and targeted the GOP incumbents spent over $10 million in Indiana as they poured resources in the races.
The intraparty battle was seen not just as a test of fealty to Trump but rather a fight between MAGA forces and more traditional conservatives for the future of the GOP.
One of the groups backing Trump was the politically potent Club for Growth.
“This is a big win for Trump,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh said on Tuesday night.
And McIntosh, a former congressman from Indiana, said the primary victories were “a signal to the entire party that our base wants us to fight for what we believe in.”
Trump’s clout will be on the line again next weekend in the Louisiana primary.
Cassidy is facing primary challenges from two Republicans: Rep. Julia Letlow and former Rep. John Fleming, who is currently the state treasurer. Trump earlier this year weighed in on the race by endorsing Letlow.
Cassidy was one of only seven Senate Republicans who voted in early 2021 to convict Trump after he was impeached by the House for his role in the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters who aimed to upend congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.
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But since the start of Trump’s second term 15 months ago, Cassidy has been supportive of the president’s agenda and his nominees, including voting to approve Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again movement are out for revenge.
That’s because Cassidy, a doctor, has been a skeptic of Kennedy’s push to reform the nation’s health policies, including Kennedy’s efforts to cut back on vaccine recommendations.
And last week, Cassidy voted to nix the surgeon general nomination of Casey Means, a close Kennedy ally and top MAHA advocate.
If no candidate cracks 50% of the primary vote, the top two finishers will face off for the nomination in a June 27 runoff election.
Another major test comes three days later, on May 19, in the primary in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, where Massie is facing a challenge from Trump-backed Ed Gallrein.
Massie has long been one of Trump’s most vocal GOP critics in Congress, repeatedly taking aim at the president over the Epstein files and foreign policy.
Trump allies have spent big bucks to boost Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, and to take aim at Massie.
Veteran Republican strategist Tim Murtaugh, who is advising Gallrein, said the Indiana results are a major warning sign for Massie.
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“Indiana is right across the border from this district so there’s no doubt Massie knows what those primary results mean to him—and it ain’t good news, that’s for sure,” Murtaugh told Fox News Digital. “It’s more evidence that Republican voters want America First candidates who will stand with President Trump rather than fight him and endlessly obstruct the agenda.”
But Massie has highlighted a surge in fundraising this year, as he faces off against Gallrein.
He hauled in $2.5 million during the first three months this year, and just in the past week he raked in nearly $1 million.
And Massie has criticized Gallrein for not debating, arguing this week that his challenger has “been AWOL for eight debates and forums so far.”
