Political Tribune

Donald Trump, GOP, Opinion

Trump Stunned As His Handpicked Candidate Loses To A Man Who Wasn’t Even Running

The candidate backed by the president lost to an opponent who had previously suspended his campaign.

573
573 points

The eyes of the political world were on Michigan on Tuesday night for its primary elections. Attention was mostly focused on the competitive Democratic Senate primary, in which Abdul El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens to become the Democratic nominee. There were also competitive House primaries in both parties in that state, one of which yielded a hilarious result.

According to The Independent, Trump had endorsed Amir Hassan in the Republican primary for Michigan’s 8th Congressional District. And not only did Hassan lose the primary, but he lost it to Thomas J. Smith, a candidate who had suspended his campaign in July.

Smith won with 50.4 percent of the vote, compared to 33.2 percent for Hassan. Smith himself had endorsed Al Lemmo, another Republican candidate, who had 16 percent of the vote. Smith will face incumbent Democratic Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet in the November general election. It’s a district that Trump carried in 2024, despite a Democrat holding the House seat.

Per Politico, Smith has unsuspended his campaign, now that he’s the Republican nominee for the seat.

“I look forward to working with Speaker [Mike] Johnson and the entire Republican team to expand our House majority and advance President Trump’s America First agenda to lower costs for working families and make America affordable again,” Smith said in a statement.

What caused this most unusual result?

One GOP strategist quoted by Politico stated that the Trump-endorsed Hassan had “clear flaws as a candidate” and also that “the GOP base was reluctant to support a dude named Amir Hassan.”

Some social media users shared their thoughts on the election result.

Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library. 

, , ,
Stephen Silver

Posted by

Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy.

Comments

log in

[nextend_social_login]

Captcha!
Forgot password?

reset password

Back to
log in