Ordinarily, presidents don’t back primary challengers against incumbents. But Donald Trump—in case you needed a reminder—is no ordinary president.
In May alone, Mr. Trump’s preferred candidates have defeated Republican officeholders in Indiana, Louisiana and Kentucky. On Tuesday, the president endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in next week’s Senate primary. Polymarket now gives Mr. Paxton a 95% chance of victory (the general election is a different story).
No modern chief executive has held such influence over his party. Not only is it rare for presidents to intervene in primaries; it’s even more unusual for them to win. Franklin Roosevelt, perhaps the most powerful 20th-century president, tried to replace conservative Democrats with pro-New Deal liberals in 1938. It didn’t go well. “In the South, Roosevelt failed utterly in his effort to liberalize the Democratic Party,” writes historian David M. Kennedy. “He succeeded only in further alienating the Democratic southern leadership.”
Continue reading at The Wall Street Journal.
