With the 2026 primary season quickly coming to a close, President Trump, who already has a 97% success rate in backing eventual GOP winners, is looking to again use his Midas touch to bring the best candidate across the finish line and add to his numbers over the final few contests.  

"President Trump has backed people who believe in the Make America Great Again agenda," California GOP Rep. Darrell Issa told Just the News on Wednesday, the day after Darline Graham won the South Carolina GOP Senate primary runoff with Trump's endorsement. 

"He's backed people who are popular back in their districts, people who want to bring home jobs and who want to make America strong and independent. So there's a consistency between his endorsements, and quite frankly, that which the non-socialist party believes in, and I think that's where our party is so strong. 

"It's the contrast in these midterms between the Democratic Socialists or communists, and people who want to make America strong and independent, and who understand America's greatness."

While only two officially Trump-endorsed candidates remain on the primary calendar, other races feature Republicans whose campaigns have straddled a delicate line between overt support for the president and appeasing a New England crowd that's only delivered Trump one electoral vote in each of his elections. 

New Hampshire

New Hampshire's Senate Republican primary will take place Sept. 8, along with the Granite State's 1st Congressional District. 

Trump has endorsed former Sen. John Sununu over former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. And he is also backing Portsmouth businessman Anthony DiLorenzo in the crowded open-seat GOP primary in the state's 1st Congressional District.  

Sununu, who served in the Senate from 2003 to 2009 and comes from a prominent political family, holds a commanding lead, according to polling. A mid-August Saint Anselm College poll of likely Republican voters showed him at 54 percent to Brown’s 24 percent, with 23 percent undecided.  

Brown, the 2010 Massachusetts Senate winner and later Trump ambassador to New Zealand, has struggled to overcome establishment snubs and higher unfavorables despite a more combative style. 

In the general election, polls have shown Democrat Rep. Chris Pappas leading both Republicans, though the Sununu matchup is closer (Pappas 48–41 in the same August survey). In NH-1, Trump and House GOP leadership have backed DiLorenzo, a self-funding auto-dealership owner added to the NRCC’s MAGA Majority program.   

An August Saint Anselm poll put DiLorenzo at 30%, former 2024 candidate Hollie Noveletsky at 17%, and state Rep. Brian Cole at 8 percent, with 44 percent still undecided in a fragmented field.

In other New Hampshire races, incumbent Democrat Gov. Kelly Ayotte faces minor challenges from Shaun Fife and Robert McClory, but Ayotte is heavily favored to win. 

In the state's 2nd Congressional District race, Republicans Lily Tang Williams, Michael Callis, Dan Nicholson and Victor Orlando are competing to advance to the general election. 

Massachusetts

In the Massachusetts Senate primaries on Sept. 1, Republican John Deaton, a Marine veteran, trial attorney, and cancer survivor who previously lost to Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2024, is running unopposed after the state GOP endorsed him early. 

He has publicly stated he has never voted for Trump and positions himself as an independent voice focused on working families, the border, and common-sense policies rather than party loyalty. 

Democrats frequently try to link him to Trump, but Deaton rejects the association, saying he can “validate a Trump voter without validating Trump.” The winner of the Democratic primary (incumbent Ed Markey vs. Rep. Seth Moulton) is heavily favored in the general election.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The race is rated Solid or Safe Democratic by Cook, Inside Elections, and Sabato. Deaton has raised more than $1.56 million, giving him resources for a longer general-election runway while Markey and Moulton spend against each other. Recent UNH polling has shown Markey pulling ahead of Moulton in the Democratic primary.

Rhode Island 

The Sept. 8 Republican primary for Rhode Island governor pits Aaron Guckian (backed by the state party in some reporting) and Elaine Pelino (plus any others still on the ballot). 

Guckian, a former aide to Gov. Don Carcieri and 2022 lieutenant-governor nominee, won the convention endorsement 72–44 but has trailed in limited polling. 

A June UNH survey showed Pelino, a first-time candidate who brands herself a “real MAGA Republican,” leading 42–17 with 39 percent undecided; an August Salve Regina/Embold poll had her at 37–17 with 44 percent undecided. The GOP electorate is small and hard to poll, so the race remains fluid despite Pelino’s numbers.

In the U.S. Senate race for Rhode Island, Raymond McKay, a former Rhode Island Republican State Central Committee member and 2024 Senate candidate, meets Allen Waters, who won the uncontested Republican primary in 2020.

The state party endorsed McKay; some later filings list Waters as withdrawn, leaving McKay the presumptive nominee against longtime Sen. Jack Reed in a Solid Democratic seat.

Delaware

Delaware’s Republican primaries fall on Sept. 15. In the U.S. Senate race, pediatric anesthesiologist and former Democratic state Sen. Michael Katz, who later ran as an independent and now as a Republican, faces retired Army Col. John Shulli, an instructor at the Army War College. 

Katz won the state GOP convention endorsement with roughly 82% of delegates and has backing from some party figures, including former U.S. Attorney Julianne Murray.

Shulli emphasizes military service and accountability. Neither candidate has a prominent Trump endorsement. Public primary polling is scarce; prediction markets have shown a split field. The winner will challenge Sen. Chris Coons in a seat rated Solid Democratic.

In the state's at-large House race, businessman and former pastor Earl Cooper – who in 2024 ran as a Democrat against now Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride in 2024 – won the state GOP party endorsement and in the party primary will face political scientist Joseph Arminio and 2024 GOP nominee John Whalen III, a retired state trooper and contractor. 

Prediction markets have leaned toward Cooper. The winner will face McBride, who is running unopposed. The seat is rated Solid Democrat.