Trump’s Endorsements Lead To Impressive String of GOP Primary Wins
Tuesday’s wave of primary elections underscored the continued influence of President Donald Trump within the Republican Party, as several candidates backed by the former president secured victories in major races across the South.
The results also helped shape a series of general election matchups that could test whether Democrats are able to capitalize on Trump’s low approval ratings in traditionally Republican-leaning states.
In Alabama, retiring Sen. Tommy Tuberville won the Republican nomination for governor, setting up a high-profile general election contest against former Sen. Doug Jones, who emerged from Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Tuberville defeated Jones in Alabama’s 2020 Senate race, and while the Cook Political Report currently rates the governor’s race as solidly Republican, Jones remains one of the few Democrats to achieve statewide success in Alabama in recent years.
During his primary victory speech, Jones focused heavily on economic issues, pledging to raise the minimum wage and expand Medicaid coverage.
Tuberville, meanwhile, said he would spend the coming months campaigning against what he described as “socialism and communism.”
In the state’s Senate race, Trump-backed Rep. Barry Moore (Ala.) appeared positioned to succeed Tuberville, finishing well ahead of former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall by double-digit margins in Tuesday’s primary.
The race for second place had not yet been officially called, but Moore is expected to face either Hudson or Marshall in a runoff election, with the eventual Republican nominee viewed as the favorite heading into November.
In Kentucky, the spotlight was fixed on the 4th Congressional District, where Trump-backed challenger and former decorated Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein defeated Rep. Thomas Massie in what became the most expensive House primary race in American history.
Massie, who had publicly broken with Trump over issues including the Epstein files controversy and the Iran conflict, used his concession speech to criticize both the president and several of Trump’s political allies.
“I got to watch Fox also for the first time in 18 months,” Massie told supporters, “and there was the president talking about, by the way, while gas is almost $5 and diesel’s almost $6, they’re talking about this big ballroom they’re going to build, and … it looks like the Roman Empire, architecture from the Roman Empire. I see a few analogies there.”
It should be noted, however, that Massie opposed making Trump’s first-term tax cuts that have benefitted some 85 percent of Americans, as well as the president’s enhanced border security measures.
The Hill added:
Trump-backed Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) won the GOP battle to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). On the Democratic side, former state representative Charles Booker beat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine fighter pilot, reversing the outcome from 2020.
Georgia voters also made their party’s picks for Senate and the governor’s mansion on Tuesday, with Trump backing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones against billionaire Rick Jackson in the Republican primary for governor. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp (Ga.) is term limited.
Neither candidate secured enough votes to avoid a June 16 GOP runoff, but Jones topped Jackson by 6 points — and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffersperger (R), who defied Trump after the 2020 election, was knocked out.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic primary for governor in Georgia after leading most public polling despite facing a crowded field of candidates. She will advance to the general election to face either Jones or Jackson in November.
The Cook Political Report currently rates Georgia’s gubernatorial contest as a toss-up.
Meanwhile, incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for reelection.
On the Republican side, voters selected former football coach Derek Dooley — who was backed by Gov. Brian Kemp — along with Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) to advance to a June 16 runoff after neither candidate secured more than 50% of the vote in the primary.
Trump Admin Says It Uncovered $10 Billion Obamacare Fraud Scheme
The Trump administration says it has uncovered what it describes as a massive fraud scheme within the Affordable Care Act.
Members of Trump’s administration allege that roughly $10 billion in taxpayer money was improperly paid out between 2021 and 2024 because of weakened enrollment safeguards under former President Joe Biden.
According to a Department of Health and Human Services report, officials have already removed nearly three million fraudulent or improper Obamacare enrollments and estimate another 2.6 million questionable enrollments remain.
Administration officials say the findings are part of a broader government-wide effort to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse across federal programs.
The report traces the alleged problems to changes made during the Biden administration that expanded enrollment opportunities while relaxing income verification and eligibility checks.
At the start of Biden’s presidency, approximately 10 million people were enrolled through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. By 2024, enrollment had surged to roughly 22 million.
Federal investigators now believe millions of those enrollments were improper, fraudulent, or created without the knowledge of the individuals involved.
“By our estimate, improper, phantom, and fraudulent enrollment peaked at 5.6 million people in 2025,” the report states.
“We estimate 2.6 million improper and phantom enrollments remain, including over 1 million enrollments without a Social Security number.”
According to the report, several different forms of abuse contributed to the alleged fraud.
Officials say some applicants intentionally understated their income to qualify for larger taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Others allegedly received premium assistance despite failing to meet eligibility requirements.
Investigators also identified what they describe as “phantom enrollments,” in which insurance brokers allegedly enrolled people in Obamacare plans without their knowledge to collect federal commissions.
The report argues that reduced verification requirements made those practices significantly easier to carry out.
Since taking office, the Trump administration says it has restored stricter income verification requirements, ended several special enrollment periods, increased screening for duplicate Medicaid enrollment, and launched investigations into brokers suspected of creating phantom policies.
Officials also say they have strengthened oversight of agents participating in the federal marketplace.
As a result of those efforts, nearly three million enrollments have already been removed from the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Even after those removals, approximately 19.2 million people remain enrolled.
The administration says its goal is not to reduce legitimate coverage but to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent only on individuals who actually qualify.
“Preserving the fiscal and programmatic integrity of the ACA Exchanges is key to safeguarding taxpayer-funded resources for those that truly need them,” the report states.
“The federal government paying brokers to enroll individuals without their knowledge is not.”
The report also says the administration will continue pursuing additional enforcement actions against brokers and others accused of exploiting the program.
“The Trump Administration continues to aggressively root out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption by promulgating new regulations to improve program integrity, investigating suspected improper or fraudulent enrollment, and taking action against agents and brokers committing fraud.”
The findings are likely to reignite debate over the Affordable Care Act and how aggressively eligibility rules should be enforced.
Supporters of the administration argue the report demonstrates that stricter oversight is necessary to protect taxpayers and preserve benefits for those legally entitled to receive them.
Critics of previous verification rollbacks have long warned that loosening enrollment safeguards could increase improper payments and fraud, while supporters of the Biden-era policies argued the changes made healthcare more accessible to eligible Americans, Fox News reported exclusively.
The administration says its investigations remain ongoing, with an estimated 2.6 million additional enrollments still under review as officials continue auditing the federal health insurance exchanges.
Trump has been pushing to replace Obamacare for over a decade, and this may give Republicans enough motivation to actually do something.
