National

Former President Trump asked the Justice Department to seize voting machines from state governments as part of his campaign to overturn the 2020 election, former senior DOJ officials testified at the Jan. 6 select committee's fifth hearing on Thursday.

Why it matters: Trump had repeatedly asked the DOJ to investigate election conspiracy theories, using various avenues to pressure them into doing his bidding. After senior officials refused to budge, he threatened to remove them from their positions.

What they're saying: "We had seen nothing improper with regard to the voting machines, and I told him that the real experts [at the Department of Homeland Security] had briefed us, that they had looked at it and that there was nothing wrong with the voting machines," former Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen told the panel.

There was no factual basis or legal authority to seize machines, he noted.

"The president was very agitated by the acting attorney general's response," former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue said. 

"He said, 'People tell me I should just get rid of both of you. I should just remove you and put Jeff Clark in — maybe something will get done." Jeffrey Clark was an assistant attorney general who supported Trump's election fraud claims.

"President Trump is talking about seizing voting machines ... Claim after claim knocked down. But the president didn't care," Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said. 

The next day, chief of staff Mark Meadows sent multiple emails to Rosen asking the DOJ to send Clark to Fulton County, Georgia to investigate fraud claims.

Worth noting: DOJ officials testified Thursday that Clark wanted former President Trump to install him as attorney general with a plan they called "nuts" and a "murder-suicide pact."

Top DOJ officials detail Trump's efforts to overturn election results

Ex-Trump aides say six House Republicans sought pardons after Jan. 6

Former Justice officials: Trump asked DOJ to seize voting machines

"The president was very agitated," Trump's acting deputy attorney general said.

Photo of a video screen showing a picture of Donald Trump and senior DOJ officials with the text "Why don't you guys seize machines?"

Donald Trump

2020 election

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

The Jan. 6 select committee on Thursday unveiled new information about House Republicans' involvement in former President Trump's efforts to shake up the Department of Justice and force them to investigate his false election fraud claims.

Why it matters: The panel revealed how one member in particular, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), served as a go-between for DOJ official Jeffrey Clark and the White House.

Clark was one of the few vocal proponents of Trump's election fraud claims within senior DOJ leadership, and Trump and Perry sought to install him as acting attorney general in an effort to overturn the election.

Driving the news: Perry texted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Dec. 26 encouraging him to "call Jeff" about why the DOJ wouldn't "work especially with the FBI ... to enforce what needs to be done."

Perry also brought Clark to meet with Trump at the White House on Dec. 22, according to a White House visitor log obtained by the panel.

One day earlier, GOP members huddled with White House staff on plans to overturn the election, according to testimony from a former Meadows aide. 

Perry also texted Meadows a link to a video about an unfounded conspiracy theory that Italy meddled in the 2020 election, asking: “Why can’t we just work with the Italian government?”

What they're saying: In live testimony to the committee, former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donohue said Trump told him to "just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen."

What to watch: The panel will play testimony from former Trump aides identifying which members of Congress sought presidential pardons after Jan. 6, according to Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).

Perry was one of the members previously revealed by the committee to have reached out to the White House for a pardon.

Jan. 6 panel reveals new details about GOP lawmakers' role in Trump's DOJ schemes

Rep. Scott Perry repeatedly connected the White House with Jeffrey Clark

Jan. 6 select committee

Former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said that former President Donald Trump called him or met with him "virtually every day" to pressure the Justice Department to take action on his false election fraud claims.

Driving the news: Rosen said during the Jan. 6 committee's fifth public hearing that the Justice Department declined all of Trump's requests because "we did not think that they were appropriate based on the facts and the law as we understood them."

On various occasions, Trump pushed the Justice Department to create a special counsel for election fraud, file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court, make public statements or hold a press conference, and send a letter to state legislatures urging that they overturn election results, Rosen said.

The former president also requested that Rosen meet with Rudy Giuliani, Rosen said.

"The common element of all of this was the president expressing his dissatisfaction that the Justice Department in his view had not done enough to investigate election fraud," he added.

Trump called former AG "virtually every day" to push DOJ on election fraud

Rosen said during the Jan. 6 committee's fifth public hearing that the Justice Department declined all of Trump's requests.

Jeffrey Rosen, former Acting Attorney General, testifies before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol in the Cannon House Office Building on June 23, 2022 in Washington, DC. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former Trump officials testified Thursday that Jeffrey Clark,  former assistant attorney general, wanted to investigate election fraud and have former President Trump install him as attorney general with a plan they called "nuts" and a "murder-suicide pact."

Driving the news: Trump considered naming Clark, an environmental attorney, to replace acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen after Rosen refuted claims of fraud.

Clark had had "no prior involvement" with the DOJ's work, former Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen said.

When Clark met with the president, which circumvented White House policy, Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputy "told Mr. Clark to stand down, and he didn't," Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said.

On the same day Rosen told Clark to stop talking to the White House, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) urged Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows to elevate Clark within the DOJ.

Rosen also said he did not authorize Clark to attend a meeting at the White House. 

After receiving the letter, Donoghue discussed the issue with Clark in several "confrontational" conversations, Donoghue said. "When I said, 'This is nothing less than Justice Department meddling in an election,' his reaction was, 'I think a lot of people have meddled in this election.'"

What they're saying: Cipollone called a draft letter written by Clark that said the DOJ had evidence of fraud a "murder-suicide pact" should he send it to state officials, former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue told the committee.

"I said, good f--cking — excuse me, sorry, f'ing a-hole, congratulations, you just admitted your first step or act you would take as attorney general would be committing a felony and violating Rule 6(e)," former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann testified in a pre-taped deposition. 

Donoghue also said he told Clark, "You're an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we'll call you when there's an oil spill." 

After reading Clark's letter, Donoghue said he felt he needed to "give a prompt response rejecting" the plan. "In my response, I explained a number of reasons this is not the department's role to suggest or dictate the state legislatures how they should select their electors."

"More importantly, this was not based on fact ... For the department to insert itself into the political process this way, I think would have had grave consequences for the country. It may have spiraled us into a constitutional crisis."

He later testified he made clear to the president that Clark was "completely incompetent" to run the department. "He's never even been to Chris Wray's office," Donoghue said, referring to the FBI director.

Worth noting: Clark, who helped Trump amplify false claims around the election, largely refused to answer questions in a deposition with the special House panel. 

On Wednesday, federal investigators searched Clark's home. 

Ex-Trump officials say Clark plans to probe election "nuts"

Trump had considered installing Clark as attorney general after acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen refused to investigate.

Photo: Demetrius Freeman/Pool via Getty Image

Federal investigators on Wednesday searched the home of former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark, people familiar with the matter told multiple media outlets, including ABC News, the New York Times and CNN.

Driving the news: The law enforcement presence at Clark's Virginia home came a day before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot was set to hold a public hearing on former President Trump's efforts to pressure the Justice Department into falsely discrediting the results of the 2020 election.

Why it matters: Clark was the assistant attorney general who was supportive of Trump's efforts, and the former president sought to install Clark as acting attorney general after former Attorney General Bill Barr resigned.

The Jan. 6 committee's upcoming hearing is expected to examine Clark's role in helping Trump put pressure on other Justice Department officials to scrutinize false allegations of voter fraud in swing states in an effort to overturn election results and overturn President Biden’s victory.

Trump ultimately reconsidered appointing Clark, instead keeping Jeffrey Rosen as acting attorney general after Barr left.

What they're saying: Harry MacDougald, Clark's lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The big picture: It was unclear which federal agencies conducted the search and what the investigators may have been looking for, according to the Times and ABC, which first reported on the search.

People familiar with the situation told the Times that the search was in connection with the Justice Department's investigation into efforts to overturn the election.

Clark has repeatedly refused to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee's investigative subpoenas, and the committee has recently recommended holding him in contempt of Congress.

Go deeper: Here's who's testifying at the fifth Jan. 6 committee hearing

Reports: Federal investigators search Trump DOJ official's home

The official supported Trump's efforts to pressure the DOJ into discrediting the results of the 2020 election.

Jeff Clark, former assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, speaking in Washington, D.C., September 2020.

Jeffrey Clark. Photo: Susan Walsh-Pool/AFP via Getty Images

The leader of the world's largest Hispanic evangelical organization tells Axios that he believes U.S. Latinos are moving away from the Democratic Party as more of them embrace evangelical churches and conservative beliefs. 

Why it matters: Latino evangelicals are among the fastest-growing segments within an increasingly powerful voting bloc.

They are more politically moderate than white evangelicals on race, immigration and the economy but more conservative than Black and white college-educated progressive Democrats.  

The big picture: Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Jr. leads the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a group that represents more than 42,000 churches around the nation.

The organization has pushed for immigration reform, and Rodriguez has advised leaders from both political parties, including former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 

Many of the group's member churches cater to Spanish-speaking immigrants from Central America, while others serve Latinos who have left the Catholic Church. 

What he's saying: Rodriguez said recent elections, including Republican Mayra Flores' victory last week in South Texas and gains former President Trump made with Latinos in 2020, show a seismic political shift. 

"The Hispanic community is not what everyone assumed it would be: this unbelievable lock-in-step voting constituency that is an integral part of the Democratic Party." 

A combination of Democrats taking Latino voters for granted, the targeting of Latinos by Republicans in local races, and an increase in the number of Latino evangelicals are pushing Hispanics into new political territories, he said. 

It's what experts have been saying and what election results have shown in the past two years. Polls also show the Democratic party losing ground with Latinos, although it's not a mass exodus. 

Yes, but: The surge in Hispanic evangelicals doesn't mean most Latinos will automatically shift from supporting Democrats to backing Republicans, Rodriguez said. 

"I would not necessarily come to the conclusion that it is this unbelievably strong, super-conservative constituency. I would argue it is now America's number one independent voting demographic." 

Plus, nearly half of all U.S. Latinos still identify as Catholic, according to the Pew Research Center. 

On the economy: Inflation, rising interest rates, high gas prices, and the COVID-19 locked down have created more doubt among Latinos over how they fit into the U.S. economy, Rodriguez said. 

Echoing what other political consultants have said, Rodriguez argued that Democrats aren't speaking to the economic anxieties of Latinos while Republicans are.

On abortion: A Pew Research Center survey released last week showed that 40% of Latinos said abortion should be illegal in most or all cases — the highest among all ethnic groups. 

"We're the most pro-life community in America... The way Democrats are speaking about this issue is alienating some Latinos." 

On LGBTQ+ rights: Rodriguez said evangelicals are very tolerant but don't believe teachers should talk about sex. 

Reality check: Educators say discussions about LGBTQ+ issues in schools are not about sex, but about gender and love. Some states now forbid teachers from mentioning that someone is gay.

An Axios-Ipsos Latino Poll in partnership with Noticias Telemundo released in March found that 62% of those surveyed said they are comfortable around people who identify as LGBTQ.

On critical race theory: Rodriguez said Latino evangelicals may have issues with some of the premises of critical race theory but feel some Republican-led states have gone too far in banning civil rights discussions in schools.

"We're both Billy Graham and Dr. King. We're both vertical and horizontal Christians. We're not married to the donkey or the elephant. We're married to the lamb."

The bottom line: The extremism in both parties has left moderate-leaning Latinos, many evangelicals, politically homeless, Rodriguez said.

He added that Democrats are losing ground, but there's no guarantee Republicans will win over Latinos long-term if candidates don't "watch their rhetoric."

Subscribe to Axios Latino and get more news that matters about Latinos and Latin America, delivered right to your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Latino evangelical leader sees major voter shifts

Latino evangelicals are among the fastest-growing segments within an increasingly powerful voting bloc.

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Jr. speaks during the 2021 King Holiday Observance Beloved Community Commemorative Service on January 18, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Jr. during the 2021 King Holiday Observance Beloved Community Commemorative Service in Atlanta. Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images 

Hispanic and Latino Americans

Immigration

Latin America and Latinos

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

The Jan. 6 committee's fifth public hearing will convene at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday for another day of testimony from key witnesses, as the panel continues to lay out its case for former President Trump's culpability in the attack on the Capitol.

Why it matters: Thursday's hearing will showcase Trump's attempts to pressure the Justice Department into supporting his plan to overturn the 2020 election.

What to expect: Three former senior DOJ officials in the Trump administration will testify about Trump's pressure campaign in the months after the election. 

Former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen

Former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue

Former assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel Steven Engel

Committee aides say the hearing will highlight how Trump was "trying to misuse the department to advance his own agenda to stay in power at the end of his term" and "how that really is different from historic precedent."

Aspects of the pressure campaign: The public will hear about how Trump tried to pressure the DOJ into doing a number of things on his behalf, among them filing lawsuits "for or with the Trump campaign," appointing a special counsel to investigate fraud claims, and issuing letters to states "concerning the sanctity of their elections," according to committee aides.

The hearing will also highlight Trump's threats to replace leadership within the DOJ.

There will be closed-door testimony from former Attorney General William Barr, who disputed false election claims, as well as from former assistant attorney general Jeffrey Clark, who was supportive of Trump's desire for the DOJ to declare the election fraudulent. 

Catch up quick: Trump and his allies pushed senior DOJ officials to challenge 2020 election results. The former president reportedly sent Rosen "talking points" about debunked election fraud claims in Michigan, according to emails released last year by the House Oversight Committee.

40 minutes after that email, Trump announced that Barr would step down and that Rosen would take his place. 

Donoghue sent the same documents to the U.S. attorneys for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan and was promoted to acting deputy attorney general shortly thereafter.

Trump also pressed Rosen and Clark to challenge election results during meetings on Dec. 31, 2020, and Jan. 3, 2021. 

Clark, who mostly refused to answer questions, will be "an important figure" in the hearing. 

Clark had told Rosen and Donoghue that Trump had offered to install him as acting attorney general, committee aides said. 

On at least five occasions, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows directed DOJ officials to investigate baseless fraud claims, including a conspiracy alleging that electoral data was changed in Italian facilities with the knowledge of the CIA.

Rosen forwarded one of Meadows' emails linking to a YouTube video about the Italy conspiracy to Donoghue, who responded: "Pure insanity."

The big picture: At the committee's fourth hearing, state officials testified about Trump's attempts to convince them to change the election results even as his team refused to produce evidence.

That translated into threats against elections workers, including sexual harassment, break-ins and death threats.

The committee said Wednesday that it will push its hearings schedule to July after Thursday.

Here's who's testifying at the fifth Jan. 6 committee hearing

Thursday's hearing will showcase Trump's attempts to pressure the Justice Department into supporting his plan to overturn the 2020 election.

Photo: Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua via Getty Images 

A judge ruled Tuesday that Dominion Voting Systems can move ahead with a lawsuit against Fox News' parent company over its broadcasts of conspiracy theories alleging the 2020 election was rigged, Bloomberg reports.

Why it matters: Fox Corp. had asked the judge to dismiss the suit, but Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said Dominion's allegations "support a reasonable inference that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch either knew Dominion had not manipulated the election or at least recklessly disregarded the truth when they allegedly caused Fox News to propagate its claims about Dominion."

Davis also pointed to a statement in Dominion's suit that detailed Rupert Murdoch's call with Trump days after the election. Murdoch "informed him that he had lost," the judge said.

The big picture: Davis also rejected Fox News' request to dismiss a separate lawsuit filed by Dominion.

Judge rejects Fox News parent's request to dismiss Dominion defamation suit

Dominion can now move ahead with its lawsuit over Fox News' broadcasts of election conspiracy theories.

Photo of a phone screen showing Fox News' website and Donald Trump's picture

Photo: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Fox News

Media

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Georgia election worker Wandrea’ ArShaye "Shaye" Moss testified Tuesday that the threats of violence she faced in the aftermath of the 2020 election "turned my life upside down" as she and her mother Ruby Freeman struggled to escape unwanted visibility spurred on by attacks from former President Trump and his allies.

Why it matters: At the Jan. 6 select committee's fourth hearing, multiple election officials spoke about the intense harassment and protests targeting them in the aftermath of the election. 

What they're saying: After then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani released a video claiming Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman were colluding to commit voter fraud, the two Black women became targets of threats and hateful messages, many of which were racist, Moss testified.

"A lot of threats wishing death upon me. Telling me that, you know, I'll be in jail with my mother and saying things like, 'Be glad it's 2020 and not 1920."

At one point, Trump supporters showed up at her grandmother's home and attempted to push their way through the door, Moss said. 

"This woman is my everything. I've never even heard her or seen her cry ever in my life, and she called me screaming at the top of her lungs ... [They claimed] they were coming in to make a citizen's arrest. They needed to find me and my mom."

"I felt horrible," said Moss, who had earlier told the committee she pursued her job in part because she recognized that voting hadn't been an option for her forebears. 

"It's turned my life upside down. I no longer give out my business card. I don't transfer calls. I don't want anyone knowing my name," she said. "I've gained about 60 pounds. I just don't do nothing anymore. I don't want to go anywhere. I second-guess everything that I do."

"It's affected my life in a major way. In every way. All because of lies. For me doing my job. Same thing I've been doing forever."

Her mother had to leave her home for two months after the FBI issued a warning about her safety being compromised. In a clip aired at the hearing, Freeman told the committee that she has lost her "sense of security."

"Now I won't even introduce myself by my name anymore. I get nervous when I bump into someone I know in the grocery store who says my name. I'm worried about who is listening. I get nervous when I have to give my name for food orders .... I've lost my name and I've lost my reputation."

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said he and his family also faced a barrage of violent threats, including sexual harassment and a home break-in, after he refused to aid in former President Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. "My email, my cell phone was doxed and I was getting texts all over the country and then eventually my wife started getting texts," Raffensperger said. 

"Hers typically came in as sexualized texts which were disgusting ... They started going after her I think just to probably put pressure on me: 'Why don't you quit and walk away.'"

"And then some people broke into my daughter-in-law's home," he said. "My son has passed and she's a widow and has two kids and so we're very concerned about her safety also." 

Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) fought back tears as he testified that it is now a "pattern in our lives" to worry about what will happen on Saturdays because so many different groups have set up shop outside his home and caused public disturbances with their protests. 

They've brought video panel trucks to blare claims that Bowers is "a pedophile and a pervert and a corrupt politician," left literature on his property and argued with Bowers and his neighbors, he said.

In one incident, a man who had a pistol verbally threatened his neighbor, Bowers added.

"We had a daughter who was gravely ill who was upset by what was happening outside and my wife was and is a valiant person, very strong."

"It was disturbing," he said as he struggled to speak evenly. "It was disturbing."

Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting implementation manager, recounted a call he received from the project manager at Dominion Voting Systems after the election. "She was oddly audibly shaken ... and informed me about a young contractor they had who had been receiving threats from a video that had been posted by some QAnon supporters," he said.

He later searched the man's name, a first-generation American, and found a tweet which he called "the straw that broke the camel's back."

"It said, 'You committed treason, may god have mercy on your soul' and a slowly twisting gif of a noose," he added, noting that the tweet and a profound impact on him, it pushed him to make a public statement calling on Trump to condemn the threats. 

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said while protests were underway outside her home, "The uncertainty of that was what was the fear. Like, are they coming with guns? Are they going to attack my house?"

"Donald Trump did not care about the threats of violence," said Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). "He did not condemn them. He made no efforts to stop them. He went forward with his fake allegations anyway.”

Worth noting: Cheney embraced Bowers after his testimony. 

Go deeper: Kinzinger shares letter that threatens to "execute" him and his family

Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.

Atlanta

Atlanta Alerts

A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting Atlanta. Written by Emma Hurt, Kristal Dixon and Thomas Wheatley.

Axios Atlanta Thought Bubble

Axios Atlanta

Jan 6. panel witnesses recount post-election threats of violence

"It's turned my life upside down...I don't want anyone knowing my name."

Mark Meadows, chief of staff to then-President Donald Trump, discussed sending Georgia election investigators "a sh**load of POTUS stuff," like coins and autographed MAGA hats, as they investigated claims of voter fraud, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot, said during Tuesday's hearing.

Driving the news: Meadows called and texted Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office 18 times to set up the now-infamous Jan. 2 call among Raffensperger, Trump and their staffs in which the then-president urged Raffensperger to "find" the votes needed to reverse the results.

Schiff said Tuesday that the panel has texts that show Meadows wanted to send the state election investigators, in the words of one aide, a “sh**load of POTUS stuff” including “coins, actual autographed MAGA hats.” 

“White House staff intervened to make sure that didn’t happen,” Schiff added.

Why it matters: In his campaign to overturn election results in several key contested states, Trump "had a particular obsession with Georgia," said panel Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) on Tuesday. 

Combatting the ongoing election disinformation, which Trump and his allies pushed about Georgia, was like "a shovel trying to empty the ocean," Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer of the Georgia Secretary of State's office, told the committee.

Go deeper: Meadows doubted Pence's authority to reject electors, Short tells Jan. 6 panel

Editor's note: This is a developing story. Check back for updates. 

Meadows wanted to send gifts to Georgia election officials, Jan. 6 panel says

“White House staff intervened to make sure that didn’t happen,” Adam Schiff said on Tuesday.

Brad Raffensperger, Georgia secretary of state, testifies during the fourth hearing on the Jan. 6 investigation on June 21. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Note: This data includes only those races in which Axios research determined at least two candidates have a reasonable chance of winning; Data: Axios research; Chart: Jared Whalen/Axios

Candidates endorsed by former President Trump were largely successful during primaries on Tuesday in a reversal from last week, when the two congressional candidates he supported lost their runoffs in Georgia. 

Why it matters: A string of losses among candidates endorsed by Trump in May has punctured perceptions of his dominance over the GOP for the first time in years, raising questions about the competition he could face in a 2024 Republican presidential primary.

The latest: Trump backed a number of safe incumbents ahead of Tuesday's primaries, including Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who won with 65% of the vote.

Tuesday's primary marked Boebert's first challenge after her surprise win in 2020 and served as a test of whether voters in the rural district wanted to keep the controversial firebrand in office, Axios' Alayna Alvarez reports.

Trump-backed Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) faced a tougher test against fellow House Rep. Rodney Davis, who voted to certify President Joe Biden's electoral victory, leading Miller to label him a "RINO," (Republican in name only).

Miller's victory — she won with 57% of the vote — demonstrates the power of Trump's endorsement, even for a controversial candidate without strong local party backing, Axios' Monica Eng reports. 

In Utah, Trump-backed Republican Sen. Mike Lee fended off his GOP challengers, despite text messages he exchanged with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows outlining tactics to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election were revealed.

The big picture: An Axios analysis of Trump's 173 endorsements found his record — while still positive overall — is far weaker when candidates running unopposed or in non-competitive races are filtered out.

Seven candidates endorsed by Trump were defeated in GOP primaries last month, including four high-profile challengers in Georgia who were crushed by incumbents.

11 of his candidates in competitive races have lost so far, while 30 have won.

Another 16 competitive races are still in progress.

Editor's note: This tracker will be updated throughout the primaries.

Trump endorsement tracker: Which candidates have won and lost

Axios analyzes the outcomes of competitive races where Trump-endorsed candidates ran.

Sections

Axios Local

Axios gets you smarter, faster with news & information that matters.

About

Subscribe

All Donald Trump stories