Trump-backed candidates lose three 2026 Republican primaries in Florida and Wyoming
Cory Mills, Catalina Lauf and Megan Degenfelder all lost despite endorsements from the former president
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
President Donald Trump speaks during an executive order signing event in the Oval Office of the White House on March 31, 2025.
Photograph: Newsweek (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Donald Trump endorsed Cory Mills, Catalina Lauf and Megan Degenfelder in 2026 Republican primaries, all of whom lost on 19 August.
- Mills lost Florida’s 7th District to Ryan Elijah; Lauf lost Florida’s 19th District to Jim Schwartzel; Degenfelder lost Wyoming’s gubernatorial primary to Eric Barlow.
- The Associated Press projected the results for Mills and Lauf, while Newsweek counted nine endorsement losses across House, Senate and gubernatorial contests in August 2026.
- No right-rated outlet reported on the losses, though six left- and centre-rated outlets did.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
78/100
Craft
70/100
Hype
25/100
7 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
On 19 August 2026, three Republican candidates endorsed by Donald Trump lost their primaries in Florida and Wyoming. Cory Mills, a U.S. representative, was defeated in Florida’s 7th Congressional District by Ryan Elijah, a former television journalist. Catalina Lauf, a conservative media executive, lost Florida’s 19th District to Jim Schwartzel. In Wyoming, Megan Degenfelder, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, lost the gubernatorial primary to Eric Barlow, a state senator.
The Associated Press projected the results for Mills and Lauf on the night of the election. Trump had endorsed Mills in February 2026 but later said on Truth Social that he had urged Mills to withdraw from the race. Lauf received Trump’s endorsement late in the campaign, after early voting in Florida had already begun. Degenfelder’s loss in Wyoming was part of a gubernatorial primary to succeed term-limited Governor Mark Gordon.
Newsweek reported that the three losses accounted for one-third of the nine endorsement defeats Trump had suffered across House, Senate and gubernatorial contests in August 2026. Daily Kos counted 13 endorsement failures in total for 2026, including state legislative races. The losses followed earlier defeats in August for Trump-backed candidates in Minnesota, Michigan and Tennessee.
Disagreement on the scale of Trump’s endorsement record
Newsweek reported that a White House official told Politico before the 19 August primaries that Trump had a 98% success rate, with 233 wins from 238 endorsements. Daily Kos, however, reported that Trump’s endorsement failures totaled 13 in 2026, including state legislative races. The Washington Post’s digest stated that 10 Trump-endorsed candidates had lost their primaries by 19 August, nearly tying Trump’s worst year in 2022.
What the coverage left out
No right-rated outlet ran the story at all. None of the left- or centre-rated reports mentioned Trump’s statement on Truth Social urging Mills to withdraw from the race. The centre-rated reports did not include the total count of 13 endorsement failures in 2026 reported by Daily Kos.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 6 times, most recently on 19 Aug 2026, 19:15, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
5 rated outlets
- The left-rated reports led on the scale of Trump’s endorsement failures. Daily Kos’s full report described the losses as a humiliation for Trump and noted that his total endorsement failures in 2026 had reached 13, including state legislative races. The report framed the defeats as evidence of Trump’s weakening grip on the Republican Party and suggested they could limit his influence in his final two years in office.
- Daily Kos used the phrase "right-wing lunatic" to describe Degenfelder and called Mills "scandal-tarred". The report also stated that Trump’s ability to "get away with both literal and figurative murder" could diminish if fewer Republican politicians feared his wrath. The Washington Post’s digest noted that 10 Trump-endorsed candidates had lost their primaries by 19 August, nearly matching Trump’s worst year in 2022.
- NBC News’s digest described Trump’s endorsement record as having taken a "notable hit" in August, while The New Republic’s digest stated that Trump’s endorsed candidates kept losing "even in deep-red states". All four left-rated digests and reports carried the names of the losing candidates and the races they lost.
Centre
2 rated outlets
- The centre-rated reports focused on the immediate results rather than the broader implications for Trump’s influence. Newsweek’s full report described the losses as Trump’s "most concentrated series of endorsement defeats of the 2026 primary cycle" but noted that they did not erase his long list of successful endorsements. The report included a quote from Chuck Todd, who wrote on X that "August has been a cruel month for Trump politically."
- Newsweek’s report also provided context for the losses, noting that Mills’ campaign had faced controversies and investigations, and that Lauf’s endorsement came late in the race, after early voting had begun. The report stated that Trump’s endorsement could still be highly valuable, even if it was not universally decisive. Political Wire’s digest simply noted that three Trump-backed candidates had lost their primaries on 19 August.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Read it at the source
7 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
5- Three more Trump-endorsed candidates lose their primaries (opens The Washington Post in a new tab)
The Washington Post — is The Washington Post biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Trump’s endorsement record takes a hit at the end of primary season (opens NBC News in a new tab)
- Trump-Endorsed Candidates Are Having a Rough Go of It Lately (opens New York Magazine in a new tab)
New York Magazine — is New York Magazine biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Trump humiliated again as three more of his endorsees are losers (opens Daily Kos in a new tab)
Daily Kos — is Daily Kos biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- Trump’s Epic Losing Streak Continues With Three More Primary Flops (opens The New Republic in a new tab)
The New Republic — is The New Republic biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
2Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Trump-backed candidates lose three 2026 Republican primaries in Florida…?
- Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 71% are rated left, 29% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Trump-backed candidates lose three 2026 Republican primaries in Florida… left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Trump-backed candidates lose three 2026 Republican primaries in Florida… biased?
- Trump-backed candidates lose three 2026 Republican primaries in Florida and Wyoming is one event reported by 7 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Trump-backed candidates lose three 2026 Republican primaries in Florida…?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Trump-backed candidates lose three 2026 Republican primaries in Florida…?
- 7 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Which Trump-endorsed candidates lost on 19 August 2026?
- Cory Mills lost Florida’s 7th Congressional District to Ryan Elijah, Catalina Lauf lost Florida’s 19th District to Jim Schwartzel, and Megan Degenfelder lost Wyoming’s gubernatorial primary to Eric Barlow. The Associated Press projected the results for Mills and Lauf on the night of the election.
- How many endorsement losses has Trump had in 2026?
- Newsweek reported nine endorsement losses across House, Senate and gubernatorial contests in August 2026. Daily Kos counted 13 endorsement failures in total for 2026, including state legislative races. The Washington Post’s digest stated that 10 Trump-endorsed candidates had lost their primaries by 19 August.
- Did any right-rated outlets report on the Trump endorsement losses?
- No right-rated outlet reported on the losses of Trump-backed candidates in the 2026 Republican primaries. The story was covered by four left-rated and two centre-rated outlets.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
