45th President Donald Trump’s lasting influence on American politics was once again on display Tuesday night as his endorsed Senate candidate J.D. Vance dominated the Ohio Republican primary.
Vance, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy” and Trump’s biggest endorsement of primary season so far, is now set to square off against Democrat Tim Ryan in the November Senate race.
Vance held strong throughout the primary against former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, who also vied for Trump’s ever-important endorsement. But late in the race, despite gaining Trump’s nod, Vance faced a surging Matt Dolan, who managed to reel in 23.3% of the vote to Mandel’s 23.9%.
Dolan, relatively moderate compared to the other frontrunners, was by far favored in counties in and surrounding the state’s two most left-wing cities, Cleveland and Columbus:
However, despite the late push from Dolan’s campaign, J.D. Vance reeled in 32.2% of the vote, defeating Mandel by nearly ten points.
This graphic from the New York Times shows the results as of Wednesday morning:
Vance’s campaign will now look to ride its momentum into the Senate race with Trump’s full political weight at his back. Vance will be strongly favored to replace Rob Portman in November, but Democrat Tim Ryan is regarded as a rising star in the party.
The Republican primary in Ohio was President Trump’s first real test in the midterm cycle, and the former president’s influence is clearly still holding strong.
Governor Mike DeWine, however, still claimed victory despite facing Trump’s pick Jim Renacci. Renacci split the MAGA vote with farmer Joe Blystone, who many Renacci supporters suspect to be a buffer candidate for Dewine.
Combined, the Renacci and Blystone vote share would have added up to 49.8%, nearly two points higher than DeWine’s 48.1%.
