WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump is again boasting about his record of endorsing candidates who win races across the country.
“We got a lot of good, tough Republicans around that people are going to run against them and people are going to win and they’re going to get my endorsement every single time,” Trump said at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. “And they’re going to win because we win almost every race.”
But how does Trump’s claim line up with the results of recent elections?
Hans Hassell, an associate professor of political science at Florida State University, told USA TODAY that while Trump’s endorsee’s have generally fared well in elections, part of that is because Trump tends to back candidates who are likely to win.
“(What’s) really hard to tease out is what is the actual effect (of Trump endorsing the candidates) because a lot of the people that he’s picking are people that are ahead of the polls or ahead in fundraising (and) are doing really well,” Hassell said.
Here’s a look at who Trump endorsed − and whether they won their races − in three recent elections: the 2018 midterm election, the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms.
2018 midterm election
The 2018 midterm elections took place while Trump was president and the Republican party held majorities in both chambers of Congress. It featured 435 seats open in the House and 35 seats open in the Senate, along with state-level races.
Trump made over 130 endorsements in 2018, according to Ballotpedia. Some candidates received both general and primary election endorsements from Trump.
Thirty-five out of the 37 candidates Trump endorsed for Republican primaries won, according to the Washington Post. But out of the 95 candidates he endorsed in the general election, 56 won. The election resulted in Democrats gaining control of the House and Republicans keeping their majority in the Senate .
Some of the most prominent candidates who won included Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the state official Trump pressured to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif..
Hassell and and his fellow colleagues researching the election found that while Trump endorsed 80 candidates for the U.S. Senate and House in 2018 for the general election, he also drew attention, and additional donations, to their opponents.
2020 House, Senate and state races
Along with the race for the White House, the 2020 election also featured House seats, Senate seats and other state seats up for re-election.
Trump made more than 300 primary and general election endorsements, according to Ballotpedia. But nonetheless, Democrats ended up winning control of the Senate.
Out of the 121 candidates that Trump endorsed in the primaries for the 2020 races, 117 ended up winning, according to the Washington Post. But the record for Trump’s endorsee’s in the general election was lower. Out of the 182 endorsements he made for that election, 142 candidates from the list ended up winning.
Some of the prominent candidates he endorsed in the election included Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa.
2022 midterm election
The 2022 midterm election featuring competitive races for seats in Congress, state legislatures and other offices took place halfway into President Joe Biden’s four-year term. The Democrats held a majority in both the House and the Senate.
Trump made over 400 endorsements in the primary and general elections, according to Ballotpedia.
At least 224 out of 241 candidates he endorsed ended up winning their primary elections, the Washington Post reported. Trump endorsed more than 250 candidates who appeared on the Nov. 8 general election ballot, and his endorsees won 216 of the called races, according to Ballotpedia.
His endorsees also won 16 of the 41 called elections in battleground states.
Some of the prominent candidates he endorsed included Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C.., and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.
Although Republicans ended up flipping the House, several prominent Trump-backed candidates lost elections. For instance, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., beat Republican challenger Mehmet Oz in the race for Senate.
