Trump's failure in a Texas runoff means nothing else ... yet

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

An endorsement by Donald Trump is the most coveted prize in the GOP. For Republican candidates, the former president's imprimatur is a powerful way to stand out from competitors while courting base voters.

If a Trump endorsement helps, though, it's no guarantee of success. On Tuesday night, Republican state representative Jake Ellzey defeated Susan Wright in a runoff to represent Texas' 6th District in Congress. Trump endorsed Wright and recorded a robocall on her behalf, while his Make America Great Again PAC spent about $100,000 on pro-Wright ads. It wasn't enough. Ellzey won by 53 percent to 47 percent.

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Samuel Goldman

Samuel Goldman is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, where he is executive director of the John L. Loeb, Jr. Institute for Religious Freedom and director of the Politics & Values Program. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard and was a postdoctoral fellow in Religion, Ethics, & Politics at Princeton University. His books include God's Country: Christian Zionism in America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) and After Nationalism (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021). In addition to academic research, Goldman's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.