Trump endorsed candidates in the great states of Ohio and Indiana won big last night The anti -Trump candidates learned a very valuable lesson yesterday, you go against Trump and you are out.
Trump-backed candidates take out GOP incumbents in Indiana, dominate Ohio primary in big night for president
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Published May 5, 2026, 11:52 p.m. ET
“Everyone in Indiana politics should have learned an important lesson today: President Trump is the single most popular Republican among Hoosier voters,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) said in a statement.
“Indiana is a conservative state, and we deserve conservatives in our State Senate who have a pulse on Republican voters,” he added.
Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Braun, who staunchly supported the failed redistricting effort, called it a “historic night for Indiana.”
“[R]epublicans stood with me and President Trump to nominate some great America First conservatives,” Braun wrote on X. “I look forward to winning big in November and serving Hoosiers with this team in the statehouse!”
The victories by Trump-backed candidates were decisive.
Trevor De Vries topped Indiana state Sen. Dan Dernulc by a 75%-24% margin; Tracey Powell beat state Sen. Jim Buck in a 65%-35% race; and Brian Schmutzler and Michelle Davis defeated state Sens. Linda Rogers and Greg Walker, respectively, by 18-point margins.
The first incumbent taken out by Trump was longtime Indiana state Sen. Travis Holdman, who has been in office since 2008 and is a member of Indiana Senate leadership.
Holdman was bested by Blake Fiechter by a 61%-39% margin.
At press time, Indiana state Sen. Greg Goode was the only incumbent opposed to redistricting who was able to fend off a Trump-backed primary challenge.
Goode defeated Brenda Wilson in the state’s District 38 primary, where a third Republican candidate in the race, Alexandra Wilson, received about 10% of the vote.
The White House had pressured Alexandra Wilson to get out of the race ahead of Tuesday’s primary, reportedly over concerns her candidacy would confuse voters attempting to cast ballots for Brenda Wilson.
“Good luck to those Great Indiana Senate Candidates who are running against people who couldn’t care less about our Country, or about keeping the Majority in Congress,” Trump wrote on Truth Social before the results rolled in, decrying the incumbents opposed to redistricting as “Long seated RINOS,” or Republicans in name only.