President Donald Trump’s chosen candidate in Wyoming’s governor’s race failed to secure the Republican nomination on Tuesday, adding to the growing list of gubernatorial candidates with Trump’s endorsement that have lost their primaries.
Megan Degenfelder, the state education superintendent endorsed by President Donald Trump, lost to state Sen. Eric Barlow on Tuesday. Others who had his backing and have lost this primary cycle are sprinkled across the U.S. They include Mike Lindell, the former MyPillow CEO of Minnesota, Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa, and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette of South Carolina.
The losing streak in gubernatorial contests has raised the question of whether the president’s influence over the Republican Party is hitting its limits, an idea the White House immediately struck down.
“President Trump’s endorsement is the most powerful endorsement in the history of American politics,” White House spokesperson Allison Schuster told NOTUS. “Anyone claiming otherwise is a complete and utter fool.”
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Several other gubernatorial candidates endorsed by the president have succeeded in becoming the nominee or advancing to the general election, including Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, and Vivek Ramaswamy of Ohio.
Still, Degenfelder’s loss to Barlow in a state that Trump won by more than 40 percentage points in 2024 demonstrates a rare instance where voters are willing to break with him.
“‘MAGA’ Megan Degenfelder has my Complete and Total Endorsement,” Trump posted on Truth Social in January.
Barlow comfortably defeated Degenfelder in the statewide race by a more than 20,000-vote margin.
The losses have come both in primaries and in runoffs, where Trump’s candidates have at times failed to consolidate support after advancing from the first round.
In Georgia, Trump’s chosen candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, advanced to a runoff in May and then lost to business executive Rick Jackson in June.
In South Carolina, his initial pick, Evette, advanced to a runoff election in which the president ended up backing both of the Republican candidates. Evette lost in the end, though Trump was able to claim partial victory with the double endorsement.
He’s also doubled down on some of the endorsements that he has offered. In Oklahoma, which has a runoff for the Republican gubernatorial nomination on Aug. 25, he endorsed Mike Mazzei, a financial adviser and former state senator. He also endorsed Mazzei two weeks before the initial primary in June.
The president has made clear his disdain for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, the candidate facing off against Mazzei for the state’s Republican nomination.
Trump accused Drummond of being a “FAKE Republican” as recently as Tuesday.
“Gentner Drummond has also stated publicly he had ‘no opinion’ on the BOGUS IMPEACHMENT of a young and very handsome gentleman, named, President Donald J. Trump (ME!),” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated Rep. Byron Donalds’ name.
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