MAGA midterm hopes hit a major snag as Tr*mp-backed candidates keep losing their primaries

Marjorie Taylor Greene is building a Republican third party to challenge MAGA. James Talarico is leading Ken Paxton in the Texas polls. Even GOP Senators are telling their replacements to “distance themselves” from Tr*mp if they want to sustain a post-MAGA political career. The writing is on the wall, and in two recent elections, the message couldn’t be clearer. If Tr*mp’s brand was formerly a powerful endorsement for Republican hopefuls, it’s quickly becoming poisonous.

Take what happened this week in both Michigan in Tenneesee. In both Republican primaries, it was the Tr*mp-backed opponent who lost while less likely candidates took the lead. In Tennessee, the Tr*mp-endorsed troll Andy Ogles lost his congressional bid to former state agriculture commissioner Charlie Hatcher, who had the endorsement of the state’s former governor.

Hatcher also had the endorsement of the people, who seem to be sick of Ogle’s Tr*mp-lite antics. This Pride Month, Ogles posted a tweet proposing to do away with the LGBTQ+ celebration and replace it with “Nuclear Family Month” instead. He quickly deleted the post, but it clearly left a bad taste in voters’ mouths, even in the deep red state of Tennessee.

Politics, but make it gay!

Stay woke with our briefing while staying informed on all things LGBTQ+ entertainment, life, and more!
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

Ogles hasn’t just come after queer people—he’s been violently Islamophobic in several social media posts that rail against the success of beloved New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. That tactic might have worked in the post-9/11 “Freedom Fries” moment Ogles seems to be stuck in, but thankfully, voters rejected his hateful campaign and went with the more eco-friendly choice of Hatcher instead.

In Michigan, Tr*mp suffered yet another loss when his favored candidate Amir Hassan was defeated by a virtual unknown in local business owner Tom Smith. Without any smear campaigns or pricey commercial slots, Smith was able to claim victory in a sweep that surprised even Smith himself. That’s not the only exciting thing happening in Michigan: the state is rejecting anti-trans attacks to the point of potentially voting in their first-ever trans woman to the state legislature.

Just months ago, it was a different story: Kentucky rep. Thomas Massie and Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy lost to their Tr*mp-backed rivals during a time when Tr*mp’s endorsement wasn’t seen as a liability. Since that time, Cassidy and Massie have pushed against Tr*mp and weakened his ability to control the House and Senate. Now, we’re seeing the benefits of that orchestrated unruliness.

We’re also seeing a satisyfing karmic twist in the turn against Tr*mp-backed Republicans. Earlier this year, the GOP gutted the Voting Rights Act, a move that split majority-Black districts into new districts across Tennessee and Louisiana. The move was meant to water down Black voting power, but it backfired. Thanks to this short-sighted gerrymandering, Black voters in Tennessee showed up in high numbers to fight back against Ogles on the ballot. After last night, they made their voices heard: if the GOP is serious about bringing back Jim Crow-era voter suppression, they’d better be prepared to lose their seats, along with their credibility.

With this week’s anti-MAGA wins, Tr*mp is entering a new era of his presidency, and his brand: whatever is left of his mysterious voter appeal is gone, and even his fellow Republicans are ready to leave him in the dust.

Related

Tr*mp’s Epstein defense walls are crumbling after latest court ruling
Everything is closing in.

Sign up for the Queerty newsletter to stay on top of the hottest stories in LGBTQ+ entertainment, politics, and culture.