Trump candidates disappoint on Election Day

Former President Donald Trump hosted an Election Night party Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, and invited a full pool of reporters to document what he hoped would be a Republican landslide.

Earlier in the day, Trump had released a four-page press advisory detailing how much he had done to help Republicans up and down the ballot.

The list ranged from endorsements Trump issued on behalf of obscure secretary of state candidates, to the hundreds of millions of dollars he helped raise for Republicans mounting high profile Senate campaigns. At huge rallies over the weekend, Trump read off a list of Republican candidates while honing a speech that sounded like his own 2024 presidential campaign stump speech.

The message was clear: Trump was the leader of the Republican Party, and the party would have Trump to thank for its expected victories on Election Day. The former president implicitly put himself on the ballot in recent weeks as he campaigned with 2022 candidates — and all but acknowledged he held back on a 2024 campaign launch he hoped to jumpstart before the midterms.

But as returns began to come in Tuesday evening, the Republican rout driven by Trump’s chosen candidates never materialized.

In one of the country’s most high-profile races, Trump’s handpicked Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Dr. Mehmet Oz, lost to Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, according to NBC News. The result cost the GOP a Senate seat.

In Michigan, Trump-endorsed Republican Tudor Dixon lost a gubernatorial race, while 2020 election denier Kristina Karamo lost her Trump-backed bid for secretary of state, NBC projected.

In Arizona, Kari Lake, a former newscaster turned gubernatorial candidate who is one of Trump’s most high-profile proteges, trailed Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs early Wednesday morning in a race that NBC considered too early to call. Trump-endorsed Senate hopeful Blake Masters, who is challenging Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, also lagged in a race that NBC said was too early to call.

To be sure, Trump also had some big wins on Tuesday. Ohio Republican Senate hopeful J.D. Vance defeated Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan to win one of the country’s most hotly contested seats, according to NBC.

Earlier this year, Vance won a crowded GOP primary in large part thanks to Trump’s endorsement, which carries unparalleled weight with Ohio’s grassroots Republican base.

In North Carolina, Trump-backed Republican Senate candidate Ted Budd defeated Democrat Cheri Beasley, NBC projected. In deep red Alabama, the heavily favored Republican, Katie Britt, also won her Senate seat.

“We endorsed Katie and she did fantastically, 68 to 30,” Trump said during remarks at Mar-a-Lago that began shortly after 10 p.m. ET and lasted less than five minutes.

The most resounding Republican victory on Tuesday came not from a Trump acolyte, but his most likely rival for the 2024 nomination. Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis won reelection by nearly 20 percentage points, according to NBC News.…