Trump's endorsement power faces its greatest test in the May 2026 primaries
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After a month on the sidelines, the first season of 2026 is back with a vengeance.
A dozen states from coast to coast are holding primaries or runoffs in May, and the results of those nominating contests could ultimately determine the results of November's midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending most of their Senate and razor-thin House.
Also in line for some of the ballot box shows: President Donald Trump's massive influence over the GOP, as his endorsements in key races will be tested.
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Ed Gallrein has launched a congressional campaign to challenge Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky after President Donald Trump endorsed him. The announcement took place in the Oval Office at the White House in March. (Fox Stories)
Indiana and Ohio begin action on May 5, with Nebraska and West Virginia holding primaries a week later, on May 12. Louisiana's nominating contest will follow on Saturday, May 16. Three days later marks the busiest day of the month, with Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania holding primaries. Texas wraps up May with runoff contests on May 26.
Here's a closer look at some of the top races.
MAY 5 – Indiana and Ohio
The first big test of Trump's hold on the GOP comes in Indiana.
Five months ago, Republicans in the GOP-dominated state's Senate resisted intense pressure from Trump and his supporters and voted for a congressional redistricting, which would have given Indiana two right-leaning US House seats ahead of the midterms. Seeking revenge, the president authorized the challengers of the eight GOP state senators who voted against the bill which was also rejected.
The president's supporters have spent millions of dollars trying to oust members of the House of Representatives who are opposed to vetoing the Trump administration. Among those in the political battle on behalf of the president are the political wing of Turning Point USA and the Club for Growth.
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Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith announces the results of the redistricting vote at the Statehouse in Indianapolis on Dec. 11, 2025. (Michael Conroy/AP Photo)
The intra-party battle is seen not only as a true test for Trump but rather as a battle between MAGA forces and more traditional conservatives for the future of the GOP.
“We have to change those old Republicans, put in people who will fight, fight Democratic gerrymandering,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh told Fox News Digital.
McIntosh, a former congressman from Indiana, said “I want to see my country do the right thing.”
In neighboring Ohio, there is much less drama.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the billionaire biotech entrepreneur and business leader who drew national attention when he filed for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before stepping down and becoming a Trump operative, is certain to be the Republican nominee in his home state. Ramaswamy, who is backed by Trump, will face off in November against Dr. Amy Acton, a physician and researcher who served as director of the state's Department of Health from 2019 to 2020. Acton was unopposed in the Democratic Alliance. The winner will replace Gov. Mike DeWine of the GOP.
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Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025 in Phoenix on Dec. 19, 2025. (Jon Cherry/AP)
It's the same story in the Ohio Senate primary, where Sen. Republican nominee Jon Husted, a former governor, was unopposed in the GOP primary. Former longtime Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown is expected to attend his party's nomination. The winner will serve the last two years of Vice President JD Vance, who left the Senate after the Trump-Vance ticket won the 2024 presidential election.
Once a hotbed of electoral battlegrounds, Ohio has shifted to the right over the past decade, with Trump carrying the state by 11 points in the 2024 election. But this year's Senate and gubernatorial races are expected to be very competitive. And the Senate race is one of the few across the country that could decide whether the GOP holds the majority or if the Democrats flip the chamber.
May 16 – Louisiana
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana faces primary challenges from two Republicans: Rep. Julia Letlow and Prep. John Fleming, currently state treasurer. Trump earlier this year weighed in on the race by endorsing Letlow.
Cassidy was one of only seven Senate Republicans who voted in early 2021 to impeach Trump after he was impeached by the House for his role in the Jan. 6 in the US Capitol by supporters who intended to raise congressional certificates of victory for former President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.
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Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., seen speaking during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on September 17, 2025, faces a tough road to re-election this year. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But since Trump's second term began fifteen months ago, Cassidy has supported the president's agenda and nominees.
If no candidate breaks 50% of the vote, the top two will face off in a runoff election on June 27.
May 19 – Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, Pennsylvania
The third major test of Trump's legislative power this month is in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District, where Rep. Thomas Massie is facing a challenge from Trump-backed Ed Gallrein.
Massie has long been one of Trump's most vocal GOP critics in Congress, repeatedly targeting the president over the Epstein files and foreign policy.
Representative Thomas Massie arrives for a House vote on a funding bill to reopen the government in Washington, DC, on February 3, 2026. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Trump allies have spent big to promote Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, and target Massie.
The president's approval is also being tested in Georgia's GOP gubernatorial nomination, in the 2026 race to replace Gov. Brian Kemp, in limited condition.
Trump approved Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who trades in a bitter competition war with health care executive and major GOP donor Rick Jackson, who has poured millions of his own money into his bid. Among the other contenders for the nomination in the heavily Republican field are Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
GOP candidates for Georgia governor, Rick Jackson, left, and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, right, is pictured with President Donald Trump as they campaign as Trump loyalists. (Getty Images/Rick Jackson)
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who later ran for then-President Joe Biden, is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. Among the other contenders in the crowded field are Mike Thurmond, the former DeKalb County CEO and former state Labor Commissioner, and former Republican Lieutenant Governor-turned-Democrat Geoff Duncan.
Republicans are hoping to pick up a US Senate seat this year in Georgia. The GOP is watching Sen. First-term Jon Ossoff is the most vulnerable Senate Democrat seeking re-election this year. But beating Ossoff, who built a huge war chest, will not be easy in the southeastern province of the battlefield.
To make matters worse for the GOP: There is a nasty primary rivalry between competing major Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter, and college football coach Derek Dooley, supported by Kemp. Trump has remained neutral so far in the Senate primary in Georgia.
May 26 – Texas
Longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn is fighting for his political life as he heads into a tight election against state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a MAGA hotshot and big Trump supporter.
Trump has remained neutral in the contest between the two Republican leaders in right-leaning Texas.
The incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, left, faces Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the GOP primary. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Antranik Tavitian/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Cornyn narrowly edged Paxton in an early March GOP primary that included Rep. Wesley Hunt, but without a candidate leading 50%, Cornyn and Paxton advanced to a runoff.
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The winner of the contest will face Democratic nominee James Talarico in November, a state representative and rising star of the Democratic Party who has raised $27 million in fundraising in the first three months of this year.
Democrats are confident, and Republicans are worried, that if Paxton wins the GOP nomination, Republicans will have a tough time in the general election and hold the seat. And like the Senate race in Ohio, the contest in Texas is one of the few nationwide that could decide whether the GOP holds the majority.
