John Gibbs, a candidate for the Republican nomination in Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District, gives a toast to his supporters as his lead increases against incumbent Peter Meijer, Tuesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo

Their elevation to the statewide ticket could hamper other Republican candidates — who would have to answer for a running mate’s election denialism, as many try to dance around the question in front of a general election audience. And their presence would ensure that, instead of moving past the lies about the 2020 election, they would remain center stage well into 2022.

That class of conspiracy theorists includes Nevada’s Jim Marchant and Michigan’s Kristina Karamo, alongside Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, who would appoint the state’s leading election official if he wins in November.

Just one of them winning in November could set up an unprecedented — and dangerous — situation in which an election official’s first priority is not running a fair election, but trying to vindicate the fantasies of a former president.

And yet … Trump takes a hit

Finchem may have won in Arizona and Meijer lost his seat in Michigan. But two other House Republicans who, like Meijer, voted to impeach Trump were in far better shape on Tuesday in early returns.

If Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse of Washington survive their primaries, impeachment backers will go 2-for-3.

And if the results shift and they don’t make it? The fact that the outcome in any race hinging on impeachment is even close is indicative of a gradual weakening of Trump’s hold on the GOP. Impeachment for Trump-ists was not a minor offense, after all, but the gravest sin.

The standard — and fair — knock on Trump’s midterm endorsement record is that it’s padded, with the former president going in for any number of Republicans who face nominal or no opposition at all. His farcical endorsement in Tuesday’s Missouri Senate primary of “Eric” — in a race featuring both Eric Greitens and eventual winner Eric Schmitt — underscored the point.

But the real evolution in Trump’s endorsement record may be its diminishing significance. Yes, he can still pull a Republican across the finish line, and he may be the most dominant force in the party. But he isn’t the only one anymore.

John Thomas, a Republican strategist who works on House campaigns across the country, said late Tuesday that Republicans “playing for keeps in November” may have started by nominating “some of the more electable candidates tonight.”

Republicans, he said, were “willing to buck Trump in certain circumstances to protect their chances of victory in November.”