President Donald Trump’s endorsement machine delivered a sharply divided verdict Tuesday night.
His favored candidates scored decisive victories in Wisconsin and Alabama. His pick in South Carolina advanced but failed to put away a crowded Republican field. And in Minnesota, one of Trump’s most recognizable allies suffered a clear defeat—then refused to concede.
The result was neither a full rejection nor an unqualified show of strength. It was a reminder that Trump’s endorsement remains powerful when it reinforces an already-strong candidate, but it cannot always overcome local concerns about electability, organization and political baggage.
Lindell loses—and questions the count
Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth defeated MyPillow founder Mike Lindell in the Republican primary for governor despite Trump’s full endorsement and a last-minute appeal urging supporters to vote for Lindell.
With all 4,105 precincts reporting, unofficial results from the Minnesota secretary of state showed Demuth winning 43.44% of the vote to Lindell’s 32.47%. Demuth’s margin was 45,348 votes. State GOP-endorsed businessman Kendall Qualls finished third with 21.37%.
Lindell did not concede Tuesday night. During the count, he argued that a large pool of Election Day votes remained outstanding.
“I’m down by 20,000 votes with 277,000 votes left to count,” Lindell said in a video cited by The Daily Beast.
KSTP-TV reporter Kirsten Swanson later reported that Lindell was claiming “anomalies in the numbers” and that his team planned to review them overnight. As of this writing, Lindell had not publicly conceded.
Minnesota’s results page, however, showed every precinct reporting, and Lindell had not presented public evidence of an irregularity capable of changing the outcome.
The defeat is especially striking because Trump made election integrity the centerpiece of his endorsement. In a Tuesday post, the president said no one had worked harder than Lindell in that fight and called on Minnesotans to deliver him a “BIG WIN.”
Republican voters went another way. Demuth had argued that her legislative experience and broader appeal gave the party its best chance to end a two-decade losing streak in Minnesota gubernatorial races.
Demuth immediately turned toward Democratic nominee Amy Klobuchar.
“We can’t afford more of the same,” she said in a statement reported by the Minnesota Reformer, portraying Klobuchar as a longtime Washington insider who could not deliver change.
Trump’s Wisconsin pick cruises
In Wisconsin, Trump-backed Rep. Tom Tiffany had a far easier night. Tiffany captured roughly 96% of the Republican gubernatorial vote against token opposition, according to Wisconsin primary results.
“This fight is about Wisconsin,” Tiffany said after the race was called, according to WSAU.
Tiffany pledged to focus on property taxes, utility costs and returning the state budget surplus to taxpayers.
He will face Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who narrowly defeated progressive state Rep. Francesca Hong in the Democratic primary.
That matchup gives Trump’s candidate a clear general-election contrast: a conservative congressman against a Democrat who sold himself as the more electable alternative to his party’s socialist wing.
Graham advances, but Trump’s backing does not end the race
In South Carolina, Trump-endorsed Sen. Darline Graham finished first in the special Republican primary for the seat held by her late brother, Lindsey Graham. But her roughly 33% share fell well short of the majority required to win outright.
Graham will face Rep. Ralph Norman, who received about 24%, in an August 25 runoff. The winner will face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews in November. South Carolina election officials posted the race as headed to a runoff.
Trump had urged Graham to seek the full term and held a tele-rally for her before the primary. Her first-place finish showed the endorsement’s reach in a 10-candidate field, but the result also exposed its limit: Roughly two-thirds of Republican voters chose someone else.
Graham honored her brother in her election-night remarks and promised to keep working for voters before the runoff.
Earlier Tuesday, she pointed to her record running a state agency and her first weeks in the Senate as evidence that she was ready for the job, according to The Guardian.
Marques wins a pivotal Alabama nomination
Trump’s other clear victory came in Alabama’s redrawn 2nd Congressional District.
State Rep. Rhett Marques won the Republican nomination with 50.03% of the vote, according to preliminary totals published from the Alabama secretary of state’s results.
Marques thanked Trump, Sen. Katie Britt, his campaign and voters during his victory speech.
He said the contest was “not just about flipping a district” and framed the general election as a choice between conservative common sense and the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, according to the Alabama Reflector.
Marques will face Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures in November in a district whose new boundaries are expected to give Republicans an advantage.
That makes Marques’ victory more than a routine endorsement win: It could help determine control of the House.
The bottom line
Trump’s Tuesday scorecard stands at two outright wins, one runoff berth and one conspicuous loss.
Tiffany’s landslide showed the power of a Trump endorsement behind a candidate who already had a united party and little opposition. Marques translated Trump’s support into a nomination in a potentially decisive House race. Graham led her field but still faces a serious conservative challenger.
Then there is Lindell.
His defeat—followed by his refusal to concede and unsupported claims of anomalies—turned Minnesota into the night’s defining story.
Trump’s endorsement remains one of the most valuable assets in a Republican primary.
Tuesday proved it is not a guarantee.
