Indiana, Ohio and Michigan primary election takeaways

The biggest winner in Tuesday night’s primary elections could be President Trump, who flexed his political muscle and exacted revenge on Indiana Republican lawmakers who defied his redistricting push. 

Here are six key takeaways from these contests in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. 

Trump is still king of the GOP 

The outcome of the Indiana state Senate GOP primary proved – decisively – that the president is still a political force to be reckoned with. 

Trump waded into legislative primaries in the Hoosier state, which is rare for a president to do, in an effort to unseat Republicans he viewed as disloyal for opposing last year’s redistricting effort in Indiana. 

The president was largely successful, with five out of the six candidates he endorsed to take on incumbent state GOP senators winning their races in landslides.

One race was still too close to call as of press time. 

“Everyone in Indiana politics should have learned an important lesson today: President Trump is the single most popular Republican among Hoosier voters,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) said in a statement. 

Trump in position to put pressure on more states to pursue redistricting ahead of midterms 

Time is running out, but the election results in Indiana could embolden the president to amp up the pressure on red states to redraw state maps ahead of the midterm elections.  

Louisiana has already suspended its congressional primary elections to pursue redistricting in the wake of the landmark Supreme Court decision outlawing racial gerrymandering. 

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) on Tuesday urged Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to delay House primaries and take up redistricting to give the GOP a boost before November.

The state primary is May 19, and Kemp is opposed to taking up redistricting. 

Ohio’s top players succeed, setting up potential political second acts

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy cruised to victory in the Ohio GOP gubernatorial primary. 

Ramaswamy, a former 2024 GOP presidential primary candidate, was briefly the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) but left the post on Trump’s inauguration day too seek the Buckeye State governorship. 

He became the frontrunner in the race after receiving endorsements from Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Ramaswamy will take on Democrat Amy Acton in the November general election, which polls show could be a close race.

Down ballot, Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), who ran unopposed in the special election Senate race, is now set to square off against former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who marks one of the Democrats’ best hopes of flipping a seat in the upper chamber.

Brown served in the upper chamber from 2007 to 2025. 

He was defeated by Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) in the 2024 election. 

Ohio Democrats reject AG candidate who hoped to ‘kill’ Trump 

Former state lawmaker Elliot Forhan lost the Democratic primary for Ohio attorney general after causing a firestorm for vowing to execute the president. 

Columbus attorney John Kulewicz defeated Forhan in a 66%-33% contest and will face Republican Keith Faber in November. 

In a video posted on Facebook in January, Forhan explained that he was “going to kill Donald Trump” by securing a legal conviction against him “resulting in a sentence, duly executed, of capital punishment.”

Kulewicz condemned Forhan’s comments as “disgraceful.” 

Vulnerable Ohio House Democrats learn their opponents 

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the longest-serving woman in Congress, will face Republican former state Rep. Derek Merrin in the November election for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District. 

The race is a rematch of the 2024 election in the 9th District. 

However, the northwestern Ohio district was redrawn in October 2025, making it more GOP-friendly ahead of the midterms.

Meanwhile, Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) fended off a primary challenge in Ohio’s 1st Congressional District and will face Trump-endorsed Air Force veteran and ex-CIA officer Eric Conroy in the fall.

Landsman’s district was also redrawn after the 2024 election to be more favorable for Republicans. 

Michigan Democrats hold onto slim majority in state Senate 

Democrat Chedrick Greene defeated Republican Jason Tunney Tuesday in the special election to fill Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet’s (D-Mich.) old seat in the state Senate. 

Republicans had hoped Tunney, an attorney, would be able to flip the seat and bring the state Senate to an even,19-19 partisan split. 

Greene, a firefighter, Marine Corps veteran and former aide to McDonald Rivet, topped Tunney by a 57%-40% margin. 

Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer waited months to call the special election to replace McDonald Rivet, leaving the seat vacant for the last 14 months and the 1-seat Democratic majority in place.