Republican candidate accused of killing wife wins primary race in Indiana

Trump's chosen candidate, "Hillbilly Elegy" author and one-time investment banker JD Vance (pictured), won the crowded Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Ohio, giving Trump a strong beginning to primary season.

Vance, former State Treasurer Josh Mandel, businessman Mike Gibbons and former state GOP chair Jane Timken all vied for Trump's endorsement, increasingly adopting language that mirrored the former president's bombastic, populist style. In the end, Trump went with Vance, who in 2016 said the celebrity businessman could become "America's Hitler" but has since become an avid supporter.

Vance wooed the former president by echoing his bashing of immigrants, skepticism about U.S. military involvement overseas — even in support of Ukraine — and lies about Trump's defeat in the 2020 election. Lagging in the polls when he received Trump's endorsement three weeks ago, Vance made it a centerpiece of his closing pitch and vaulted ahead of his rivals.

Vance will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan in November's general election as they compete for the seat held by retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman. Trump won Ohio by 8 percentage points in 2020, and the state has swung to the right under his influence. Replacing Portman, a traditional Republican and no fan of Trump's, with Vance would move the Senate further in the former president's direction.

Ohio's Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose (pictured), easily survived a primary challenge from John Adams, who denies that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election and ran as a full-throated skeptic of modern voting systems.

But Ohio's Republican primary still shows the power that Trump's election lies have on his party's base. An AP-NORC poll last year found two-thirds of Republicans believe Biden was not legitimately elected, even though the contest was free of any significant voter fraud and repeated investigations, audits and court cases have disproved Trump's claims.

LaRose initially said the 2020 election was secure and accurate, but as the primary neared, he began to echo some of Trump's talking points. He claimed there were problems in other states and touted his office's work to combat voter fraud.

Trump endorsed LaRose, a longtime supporter. Since Ohio wasn't a battleground and Trump won the state easily, the incumbent secretary of state never got on his bad side in the days after he 2020 loss.

In contrast, in swing state Michigan — one of the states Trump claimed to win in 2020, even though he actually lost it — Trump endorsed an election conspiracy theorist, Kristina Karamo. She won the GOP nomination for secretary of state last month. Plenty of other Trump-backed election deniers are competing in upcoming Republican primaries.

Trump and his populist supporters have shaken up their party and pushed its incumbents in Trump's direction in many places, but one weak point so far are governor's mansions.

Ohio was the clearest example of that. Trump castigated Republican Gov. Mike DeWine (pictured) for his strict coronavirus policies in 2020, but DeWine cruised to victory in the primary. He will face Democrat Nan Whaley in the general election. Whaley, the former mayor of Dayton, is the first woman nominated by a major party for Ohio governor.

Ohio is not the only place where a GOP governor is well positioned against a primary challenger. Idaho's Brad Little has a strong fundraising advantage against his conservative opponent, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp is a strong favorite against former Sen. David Perdue, whom Trump recruited to punish Kemp for not supporting his election lies and for certifying Biden's victory in the state.

Governors are helped by their incumbency, the wide range of popular conservative policies they can announce and federal coronavirus relief that has taken the pressure off state budgets. DeWine, for example, outraised his foes by millions of dollars and was able to benefit from, for example, the chip firm Intel's announcement it will invest $20 million in the state.

DeWine got another boost because his opposition was split between former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci and farmer Joe Blystone. Trump didn't make an endorsement in the race.

In the Cleveland area, Democratic Rep. Shontel Brown (pictured) trounced former state Sen. Nina Turner in yet another battle between the party's establishment and progressive wings.

Turner co-chaired Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential primary campaign and lost to Brown in last year's special election for the seat after its previous occupant, Marcia Fudge, became Biden's secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Turner ran again, hoping that the district might be more amenable to her approach after it was redrawn to include more Democratic areas.

No such luck. Brown's easy victory is a reminder that the left has a very uneven track record in Democratic primaries, notching a few high-profile wins like that of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York City, but mostly a long string of losses. Trump may have changed Republican primaries, but Democratic ones still tilt toward the same establishment that has run the party for decades.

Legislative races in Indiana showed the power of incumbency, even amid rising conservative anger.

Activists infuriated by the state's coronavirus restrictions organized roughly two dozen so-called liberty candidates to take on lawmakers in the GOP primary whom they saw as too supportive of Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb's public health measures. The picture was mixed on Tuesday night, with several of those races uncalled.

But the challengers were repeatedly coming up short taking on incumbent legislators. One incumbent targeted as too close to the party establishment lost his primary, but so did an incumbent who encouraged the liberty candidates. And in at least 10 other races, the liberty candidates fell short.

It's a reminder that, even in Trump's GOP, conservative insurgents don't always have an easy path against incumbents.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who voted to impeach President Donald Trump over the Capitol insurrection, announced Tuesday, April 5, 2022, that he's retiring after 35 years in office.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a critic of Donald Trump who is one of two Republicans on the panel investigating the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol attack, announced Oct. 29, 2021, that he will not seek re-election.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., formally announced that he will not seek a 16th term in the U.S. House. The former Black Panther who first won election in 1992 said in a speech at a Chicago church that he isn't retiring from public service.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, has joined the crowded field of Republicans mounting primary challenges against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The East Texas lawmaker is the latest prominent Republican seeking to unseat his party’s incumbent.

Rep. Ron Kind (left), who served more than 24 years in a southwestern Wisconsin district that former President Donald Trump carried in 2020, announced Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, that he won't seek reelection in 2022.

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., has joined a crowded field hoping to replace outgoing Mayor Eric Garcetti for Los Angeles mayor.

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, the first of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, announced Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, he will not seek re-election.

Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., who was one of just 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, has announced that he will not seek reelection this year.

U.S. Senate candidate U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa., during a campaign event in Glenside, Pa., Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. Lamb is running for the open U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania being vacated by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.

Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., one of the impeachment managers in Donald Trump's first impeachment, is leaving her U.S. House seat to run for U.S. Senate in Florida, seeking the seat currently held by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., who spoke at the Jan. 6 rally in Washington D.C. seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, is running for the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama being vacated by retiring Sen. Richard Shelby.

Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., is retiring from the U.S. House to run for Georgia's secretary of state against Brad Raffensperger, the official who caught former President Donald Trump's ire for not overturning the results of the 2020 election. Trump has endorsed Hice.

Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., announced she will not seek reelection. The Florida Democrat, a leader of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition and member of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, said she is retiring from Congress to spend more time with her family.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., a five-term congresswoman, announced that she will not seek re-election.

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said April 14, 2021, that he won't run for re-election after 25 years in Congress, making him the most senior House Republican to announce he won't be back in 2022.

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, a 10-term representative from Ohio's blue-collar Mahoning Valley, officially launched his bid April 26, 2021, for a coveted open Senate seat in Ohio. He becomes the Democratic frontrunner as the party goes after Republican Rob Portman's seat in what stands to be one of 2022's most closely watched Senate contests.

Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., who was accused in March 2021 of rubbing a female lobbyist’s back and unhooking her bra without her consent in 2017, announced that he will not run for reelection in 2022.

Vermont's sole member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic Rep. Peter Welch, will run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by retiring Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy.

Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., is leaving his House seat to join the race for North Carolina's U.S. Senate seat, being vacated by Sen. Richard Burr. Budd received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the longest serving U.S. House member in Oregon's history, said Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021, that he won't seek reelection.

Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., says he won't run for reelection after serving in elected office for more than 30 years. Cooper announced that there was "no way" for him to win his seat under a new congressional map drawn up by state Republicans.

Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., who as chairman of the House Budget Committee has played a key role in pushing for President Joe Biden's efforts to expand the nation's social safety net, announced Oct. 12, that he will not seek another term.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., right, poses during a ceremonial swearing-in with Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Texas, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019, during the opening session of the 116th Congress. Washington, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, says she won’t seek re-election in 2022 after 30 years in Congress. The 85-year-old trailblazing Black Democrat made her announcement Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021 in Dallas.

In this image from video, Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., speaks on the floor of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 23, 2020.

Rep. Michael Doyle, D-Pa., the longest-serving member of Congress from Pennsylvania, announced in October that he will not seek reelection.

Rep. Thomas Suozzi, D-N.Y., is joining a competitive primary race for New York governor that became wide open when Andrew Cuomo resigned.

Rep. Albio Sires, D-N.J., speaks during a news conference on infrastructure, Wednesday, May 12, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Rep. David Price, D-N.C., a 17-term congressman representing much of the North Carolina "Triangle," is retiring.

Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., announced he'll retire from Congress next year after Republican-drawn map put him in a toss-up district. Butterfield is the second Democratic North Carolina congressman to decide against a reelection bid.

Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., has joined the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Roy Blunt.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., leftt, announced June 10, 2021, that she will run for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2022. Incumbent Republican Sen. Roy Blunt announced in March he would not seek reelection. Hartzler has been in Congress since 2011.

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., a five-term Arizona Democrat, announced March 12, 2021, she won't run for reelection in 2022.

Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., plans to retire from Congress at the end of her term, the 25th House Democrat at the time to decide against seeking reelection in 2022, she announced Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022.

Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, R-Ind., says he won't seek reelection to the southern Indiana congressional seat that he first won in 2016 despite criticism that the wealthy Tennessee transplant had little connection to the state. Hollingsworth has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Indiana governor in the 2024 election.

Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., says she will not seek reelection. She is stepping aside after playing a lead role in an unexpectedly bad 2020 election that saw her party nearly lose House control. 

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., announced he won't seek re-election in a competitive district in Denver's western suburbs, making him the 27th Democrat to retire from the House before an election cycle that's expected to be difficult for their party.

Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., who was first elected to this seat in 2013, will retire at the end of this term.

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., the first Mexican-American woman elected to Congress, announced she will not seek re-election in her Los Angeles-area district. 

Rep. Van Taylor, R-Texas, was seen as vulnerable in his GOP-dominant district for criticizing the Jan. 6 insurrection and voting to certify Trump's loss in the 2020 election.

Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., says he will not seek reelection in the fall. He is the 31st House Democrat to announce plans to leave the chamber as this year's midterm elections draw closer.

Rep. Fred Keller, R-Pa., said Feb. 28, 2022, that he would not be seeking reelection. He cited new congressional maps that would combine his district with one represented by a fellow Republican. Keller has served in Congress since 2019 and is the 14th House Republican to announce he's not seeking reelection.

Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., said Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, she will not seek reelection this fall, making the New Yorker the 30th Democrat to announce they're leaving the House before November elections when Republicans are making a strong push to win the majority.

Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, announced his sudden retirement on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, declaring himself a casualty of "the circus" over Ohio's still-unresolved congressional map.