1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

Voters went to the polls recently in Florida, Wyoming, Alaska, and Pennsylvania. And in race after race, the president’s chosen candidates went down. Start in Southwest Florida. Trump endorsed Catalina Lauf for the open House seat Byron Donalds is leaving to run for governor. He posted on Truth Social that she has the “Courage and Wisdom to deliver strong results.” Lauf herself said Trump’s endorsement would make or break the race. Well, it broke. She lost to a local businessman named Jim Schwartzel, in a district Trump won by thirty points in 2024. Florida Congressman Cory Mills, also endorsed by Trump, lost his primary too. Same story out in Wyoming, one of the reddest states in the country. Trump endorsed his pick for governor there too. She lost to a state senator who campaigned on “respectful, effective leadership.” Imagine that being the winning message in 2026. And this isn’t just some fluke. Trump’s choices for governor already lost their primaries this cycle in Iowa, Georgia, and South Carolina. And the MyPillow guy lost his race in Minnesota the week before. These are Republican primaries. This is his own base telling him no. But the biggest shocker of the night came from Butler County, Pennsylvania. That is Trump country. It’s where he survived the fake assassination attempt in 2024. He carried the House district there by eighteen points, and the seat has been red for almost thirty years. Last night, a Democrat named Brandon Dukes flipped it by 88 votes. Dukes could barely believe it himself, saying, “We just flipped a Trump plus-eighteen seat... We made history.” Democrats have been overperforming in special elections like this all year, flipping Republican seats again and again without losing a single one of their own. And now Trump can’t even carry his own people across the finish line. His base is rejecting his candidates, and swing voters are rejecting his party. Somewhere in the White House, somebody is looking at these results and sweating. They know what’s coming in November. If you keep hitching yourself to that sinking ship, you'll be out of a job.