Three Trump-backed candidates lose primaries in Florida and Wyoming

Three Republican candidates backed by President Donald Trump lost their primaries on Tuesday, in Florida and Wyoming, bringing to 10 the number of Trump-endorsed candidates rejected by GOP voters for Congress or statewide office this year.

The count of 10, for congressional and statewide races, comes from a CNN analysis of Trump endorsements compiled by Ballotpedia, and equals the combined number of his backed candidates who lost primaries in 2018, 2020 and 2024. CNN put the 2022 record at 12. The Washington Examiner keeps a separate list that does not count Mike Lindell's defeat in Minnesota and reaches nine.

The losses on Tuesday were the most concentrated of the cycle. Representative Cory Mills fell in Florida's 7th Congressional District, Catalina Lauf lost the nomination in Florida's 19th District, and Megan Degenfelder, Wyoming's superintendent of public instruction, lost the state's Republican primary for governor.

The three Tuesday defeats

Mills lost to Ryan Elijah, a former local television news anchor who also worked as a sideline reporter for the Jacksonville Jaguars radio network and Fox Sports. With all precincts reporting, Elijah led 47% to 34%, a margin of about 13 points in unofficial returns. The result is due to be certified on August 27.

Trump also won on Tuesday. Representative Byron Donalds took Florida's Republican gubernatorial primary with about 47.8% of the vote, to 25.2% for Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, Newsweek reported. In Wyoming, Representative Harriet Hageman was projected to win the GOP nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by Cynthia Lummis, according to The Associated Press.

Lauf's defeat in Florida's 19th District came after a period when Trump's endorsement had limited time to shape the race. Florida's statewide early-voting window ran from August 8 through August 15, with some counties opening earlier, meaning some Republicans cast ballots before the endorsement had much opportunity to matter, Newsweek reported. Degenfelder and Lauf took two of the three lowest vote shares of any Trump-endorsed candidate this year, according to CNN.Ethics investigation corrected: opened November 2025, and the allegations are abuse, stolen valor and financial misconduct, not campaign finance. FL-7 result updated to the full count: 47 to 34, about 13 points, unofficial until August 27. "Two-thirds of the nine" replaced with CNN's six of ten; the nine is a rival tracker's list. Cut "nine of the 12 in three weeks": the Examiner's own dates give five. Cut the "six short of 2018 and 2022" line, which is pegged to the 12, not the 10. Governor list now five, including Lindell, to match the five-of-12 figure below it. Cut the claim Mills out-raised Elijah two to one; Axios reports the challengers out-raised them. 313 endorsements and 96% attributed to the Examiner's count; Ballotpedia's own page shows 181. Endorsement date dropped: the article said February, Axios says last year. Nicholas quote restored to what he actually said, which was about endorsements generally, not Ogles. FL-7 2024 margin attributed to Axios at 13 points. Cut "a stretch that also saw the war in Iran and continued inflation". Early voting described as the statewide window; some counties opened earlier. Your call: subject line said ten candidates lost their primaries, which reads as ten on Tuesday. Changed to the three. Your call: the counting frame is CNN analysis, not straight reporting, and Newsweek and Colorado Politics are reprints of CNN and the Examiner.

Nearly 300,000 people voted Tuesday across the Wyoming and two Florida contests where Trump had endorsed a candidate, and just 28% of them backed the one he told them to support, CNN found.

Tuesday's defeats followed three earlier August losses, Amir Hassan in Michigan, Andy Ogles in Tennessee and Mike Lindell in Minnesota. Six of the 10 losses this year have come in August alone, CNN found.

Mills under investigation

Mills, seeking a third term, had faced a House Ethics Committee investigation opened in November 2025 into allegations of domestic abuse, stolen valor and financial misconduct. He was separately under a Department of Justice inquiry that touched in part on his finances. Mills has denied any wrongdoing, saying of the abuse allegation that what was claimed never took place.

An ex-girlfriend had alleged that Mills threatened to release sexually explicit images and videos of her. His campaign signs carried 'Trump Endorsed' in large letters across the top, though Trump left him off several lists of Florida endorsements posted in the days before the primary.

Mills was seen as one of the most vulnerable House Republicans in Florida going into the primary. He first took office in 2023. He raised less than $900,000 through late July, less than most House members seeking reelection, NPR reported.

What Trump said after

Trump distanced himself from Mills the morning after the loss. On Truth Social, he said he had privately urged Mills to drop out and described him as a friend, then endorsed Elijah for the general election.

I told Congressman Cory Mills of Florida, a friend of mine, to get out of the Race, but he wouldn't listen. He thought he could win, so who can blame him?

Trump had endorsed Mills before the primary and never publicly withdrew that support, even as the congressman drew scrutiny over the assault, financial and image-sharing allegations. He did leave Mills off a new Florida endorsement list issued the week before the vote. Two Florida Republicans, Representatives Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Haridopolos, had broken with Mills and backed Elijah on August 5.

The 7th District, running from the northern suburbs of Orlando to the coast south of Daytona Beach, is a seat Trump carried by about 13 points in 2024, according to Axios. Democrats had hoped to make it competitive in November if Mills were the nominee. With Elijah on the ballot, it is expected to stay safely Republican.

Trump has sought to soften his losses in some races by endorsing more than one candidate or by later backing the eventual winner for the general election, an approach the Washington Examiner said his pivot to Elijah followed.

He did not say when he had told Mills to leave the race.

A 96% win rate

For all the losses, Trump's endorsement record for the cycle remains high. By the Washington Examiner's count of Ballotpedia data, he has endorsed in 313 Senate, House and state primary races and posted a 96% win rate. That matches his 2024 rate and runs 3 points above 2022, while narrowly trailing 2020, when 97% of his backed candidates won.

Measuring 2026 against 2022

The 2026 losses are spread more widely than the setbacks of 2022, which were concentrated in one state. Six of the 12 losses by Trump-backed candidates that year came in Georgia alone, where the state's Republican establishment stood against his false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, CNN reported.

Trump is also an incumbent president this time, which raises the bar for a strong endorsement record and makes the 2026 defeats stand out more than similar losses in 2022, when he was out of office. His endorsed candidates have now lost in five of the 12 gubernatorial primaries where he was not backing the incumbent.

Counting three state legislative races, the Washington Examiner puts Trump's losses at 12. Its list and CNN's differ on which contests belong in the total, so the two counts do not line up.

Other losses this year

The wider list of 2026 losers includes five candidates for governor: Degenfelder in Wyoming, Lindell in Minnesota, Pamela Evette in South Carolina, Randy Feenstra in Iowa and Burt Jones in Georgia, the last three in June primaries or runoffs. Sid Miller lost the Republican primary for Texas agriculture commissioner in March.

By Ballotpedia's tally, Trump's win rate has moved little across recent cycles: 97% in 2020, about 93% in 2022, 96% in 2024 and 96% so far in 2026. The totals of both endorsements and wins in 2026 outpace his numbers at the same stage of the past two midterm cycles.

Some political analysts see the run of losses as a sign of waning influence. Others point to the individual candidates. The Washington Examiner quoted Republican consultant Christopher Nicholas saying endorsements from senior figures matter for insider networking and fundraising but that their utility with rank-and-file voters is waning.

Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, told the Washington Examiner there are races where Trump lacks the pull to carry his candidate to victory. Trump has still ousted sitting Republicans he opposed this cycle, including Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas.

How much the endorsement itself moved votes is hard to read from the results. Trump's win the same night for Donalds showed the backing can still decide a contest when the candidate is strong, while his defeats came where candidates carried their own problems into the race.

The primary calendar still has contests to come before the November midterms. What Tuesday settled is narrower. Three of the candidates Trump backed lost, he moved on from one of them within hours, and the seat each was chasing will now be decided without his first choice on the ballot.