Takeaways from Tuesday's primaries: Massie's loss leaves no doubt about Trump's power over the GOP

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump scored another win Tuesday against a Republican rival, dislodging Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s primary and knocking out one of his most outspoken critics on Capitol Hill.

Massie has been a particularly difficult thorn in Trump’s side. He pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, opposed the war with Iran and voted against Trump’s signature tax legislation last year. He lost to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein following the most expensive U.S. House primary in history.

While Trump has racked up several wins this primary season, this one perhaps sends an even more forceful message to the president's Republican critics. Massie was entrenched in his deep-red Kentucky district before his feud with Trump exploded, cutting short a congressional career that began in 2012.

Still, Massie will remain in Congress until his term ends in January, and without a Republican primary on the horizon, he now has a freer hand than ever to antagonize Trump.

Massie’s defeat is another sign that Republicans give their politicians vanishingly little leeway to cross Trump, who is bent on retribution and has persuaded his voters to defeat his adversaries again and again.

Here are takeaways from primaries in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

Gallrein was boosted by significant spending from AIPAC and pro-Israel groups, which provided about half of the money benefiting his candidacy, according to AdImpact.

However, there's no question Trump was the key factor. He has repeatedly shown that Republican primary voters will follow his lead, even as his popularity wanes with the broader electorate.

Before Massie's loss, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana failed to even make a runoff on Saturday, unable to repair his relationship with Trump five years after voting to convict him during his second impeachment trial. And earlier this month, Trump successfully dislodged five of seven Indiana Republicans he targeted for voting against his redistricting plan.

Trump is flexing his influence in other places Tuesday.

In the race for Georgia governor, Trump backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in an unexpectedly ugly battle for the Republican nomination. Jones, who comes from a wealthy Georgia family, has given his campaign $19 million. But billionaire Rick Jackson, a healthcare tycoon, has put more than $83 million of his fortune into the race. Trump’s endorsement power has rarely been tested against that level of lopsided spending, and Jones and Jackson are heading for a June 16 runoff.

Trump stayed on the sidelines of Georgia’s Senate race, leaving a crowded field of hopefuls seeking to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who’s running unopposed for his party’s nomination. But in Alabama, Trump endorsed Rep. Barry Moore for Senate to replace Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor.

After staying on the sidelines of a Senate runoff in Texas that's taking place next week, Trump on Tuesday endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.

While Trump had a big night on the Republican side, Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro showed some political strength of his own.

Shapiro, who may look to succeed Trump in the White House, endorsed four Democrats running for Congress, three of them in contested primaries. And all four won their primaries.

Shapiro’s endorsed candidates included Paige Cognetti, mayor of Scranton; Bob Brooks, president of the state firefighters’ union; Bob Harvie, a Bucks County commissioner; and Janelle Stelson, a former television news personality who narrowly lost two years ago.

It was a relatively low bar in some cases — Cognetti ran unopposed — but Shapiro did not show any weakness as he plows toward a November reelection in swing-state Pennsylvania that is expected to launch him into the 2028 presidential contest.

Shapiro may have an even stronger case if the four Democrats he picked Tuesday succeed in flipping Republican seats in the fall.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party chairman Eugene DePasquale told an election night crowd that “no one” is more invested in flipping seats and “taking back the country” than Shapiro.

Georgia offered a case study in just how bad it can get for Republicans who defy Trump — especially those who push back on his false claims of election fraud.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan were among the few Republicans to speak out against Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 loss. They were on the ballot for governor on Tuesday — Raffensperger as a Republican and Duncan as a Democrat.

Both lost decisively.

Raffensperger spent millions of his own money trying to reintroduce himself to Republicans by reminding them of his long career in conservative politics before defying Trump. Duncan, meanwhile, tried to convince Democratic voters that they can trust him after renouncing his prior opposition to abortion rights, gun control and the expansion of Georgia’s Medicaid program.

It didn't work.

The president has continued to falsely insist that he only lost the 2020 election because of fraud, and he's spread baseless fears about the upcoming November midterm elections.

But the results for Raffensperger and Duncan may remind Republicans of the risks of pushing back.

The leading Republican candidates in the governor’s race, Jackson and Jones, have both questioned or denied the 2020 election outcome. Jackson actually ran a political ad in the weeks leading up to the primary attacking Raffensperger for defying Trump’s effort to overturn 2020.

More than 100,000 people cast ballots in four of Alabama’s seven congressional districts that may not count.

That’s because Republican Gov. Kay Ivey moved just last week to postpone the primaries until Aug. 11, emboldened by the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that hollowed out the Voting Rights Act. Republicans across Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana and Tennessee are now scrambling to redraw congressional boundaries to eliminate some majority-Black U.S. House districts to maximize their political advantage.

Over the weekend, thousands of civil rights activists rallied in Alabama against the changes, but the redistricting plan is moving forward. That means ballots cast Tuesday in primaries for Alabama’s 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th congressional districts will be voided, the secretary of state says, while state officials restore a previous set of Republican-drawn district boundaries.

However, the district lines remain the subject of litigation as the NAACP Legal Defense Find and other groups try to stop the use of the new map. If they are successful, the Tuesday primaries will determine the party nominees.

You’d be excused for being confused. Alabama voters still chose nominees Tuesday as planned for the 3rd, 4th and 5th congressional districts, as well as for U.S. Senate and a full slate of state and local offices.

Oregon voters overwhelmingly rejected a 6-cent gas tax increase proposed by the state's Democratic lawmakers.

The measure was failing by huge margins in every county, crossing every political divide — liberal and conservative, urban and rural, prosperous and struggling.

Tax proponents may have fallen victim to bad timing, with the vote coming as Americans already feel stretched by high gas prices brought on by the war in Iran.

Oregon legislative Democrats voted last year for the tax increase and a series of related fee hikes to help pay for road improvements and plug a hole in the state’s transportation budget. Republicans responded by launching a successful referendum campaign to put the issue before voters.

The failure of the gas tax was no surprise to Democrats. It also ran counter to the party’s national strategy that relies on channeling voter angst about the high cost of living to win back control of Congress.

The late Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., was the fourth Democrat to die in office this term, fueling a growing restlessness on the left over the party's aging leadership. Scott, who was 80 when he died, was seeking a 13th term.

Scott's name appeared on the ballot alongside five other candidates running in the Democratic primary, but votes for him will not be counted.

State Rep. Jasmine Clark won the nomination Tuesday night, and she is almost certain to win the general election in a district that tilts overwhelmingly toward the Democrats.

Young Democrats have been challenging their elders in primaries around the country. Although some have fallen short, the races have channeled angst that an aging generation of lawmakers is unable or unwilling to mount a bare-knuckles opposition to Trump.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., holds a drink as he speaks during an election night watch party after losing the Republican party's nomination at the Marriott Cincinnati Airport, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Hebron, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

An empty glass is seen after Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., spoke during an election night watch party after losing the Republican party's nomination at the Marriott Cincinnati Airport, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Hebron, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Georgia gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson speaks to the Atlanta Young Republicans in Atlanta Thursday, May 7, 2026 (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Georgia Republican candidate for governor Burt Jones speaks to supporters Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Smyrna, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Republican congressional candidate for Kentucky, Ed Gallrein, stands for a portrait during the Kenton County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner, Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Covington, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY, sits at a table alone in the studio ahead of a Kentucky Educational Television (KET) debate, Monday, May 4, 2026, in Lexington, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

President Donald Trump gestures to reporters as he walks across the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, May 15, 2026, in Washington, on return from Beijing where he met with China's President Xi Jinping. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A former police officer convicted of the on-duty rape and murder of a young girl was put to death Tuesday, the first of two lethal injections planned for a single day in Florida, hours before an 80-year-old man was to become the second-oldest inmate executed in modern U.S. history.

Tuesday marked the first time since two convicted murderers were executed on a single day — in Arkansas in 2017 — that a state has planned virtually back-to-back executions. It also comes 18 months after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis began stepping up executions at a pace unseen in Florida since the U.S. death penalty was reinstated in 1976, making his the busiest death chamber in the nation.

Since the beginning of 2025, Florida has carried out nearly half the state executions in the U.S.

James Aren Duckett, 68, was pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. The 11th inmate executed by the state this year, Duckett was convicted of raping and drowning an 11-year-old girl while working as a police officer in a small central Florida city in 1987.

Duckett declined to make a final statement, responding “no sir” when asked. About 4 minutes after the execution began, the prison's warden shook Duckett and shouted his name, but there was no response.

Later Tuesday, barring any last-minute development, 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone was scheduled to become the oldest prisoner executed in Florida’s modern history starting at 6 p.m. Occhicone was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986.

Until Tuesday, a total of 17 executions had been carried out in the U.S. so far this year, with Florida leading the way with more executions than all other states combined.

Both men had made last-ditch appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, and last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied appeals by both men to intervene.

Duckett’s attorneys had unsuccessfully claimed Duckett’s innocence and argued the state’s handling of the DNA evidence is the reason for the inconclusive results.

Occhicone’s attorneys had argued that several age-related ailments, including kidney and prostate problems, could make his execution especially painful, constituting cruel and unusual punishment.

DeSantis hasn’t said why he scheduled two executions six hours apart. A Florida prison official said Tuesday morning that the department was confident in its readiness to carry out both executions. All Florida executions are by injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.

DeSantis, who leaves office in January, oversaw a record 19 executions in 2025, more in a single year than any other Florida governor since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the U.S. in 1976. The previous high was eight executions set in 2014.

Florida has executed 29 people since the beginning of 2025 while the rest of the U.S. states combined have carried out 35 executions over the same time frame.

If the day’s final execution is carried out Tuesday evening, that would bring total executions for DeSantis’ final two years in office to 31 overall, compared to just nine executions during his first six years in office. With another execution set for August, 2026 could also be a record-breaking year.

Nationwide, it’s not uncommon for two different states to hold executions on the same date, but it’s less common for a single state to perform two in a day. Before Florida, Arkansas last executed two inmates on the same day by lethal injection three hours apart in April 2017. And Texas executed two convicted killers on the same day in 2000, the year the state executed 40 prisoners.

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty urged DeSantis ahead of Tuesday to halt both executions.

“July 28 represents an unprecedented escalation of Florida’s use of the death penalty,” the group’s executive director, Grace Hanna, said in a statement. “These are two profoundly different cases, but they point to the same troubling reality: Florida continues to expand the use of capital punishment, despite mounting evidence that it is not what Floridians want.”

DeSantis has rarely commented on the pace of executions, but previously said that his goal is to bring justice to victims’ families who have waited decades for death sentences to be carried out.

“Some of these crimes were committed in the ’80s,” the governor said last year. “Justice delayed is justice denied. I felt I owed it to them to make sure this ran very smoothly. If I honestly thought someone was innocent, I would not pull the trigger.”

If his execution proceeds as planned, Occhicone would become the state’s oldest inmate to be executed just weeks after two 74-year-old men briefly held that spot, the second man just a week older than the first at his time of death.

Occhicone also would become the second-oldest prisoner known to be put to death in modern U.S. history after 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr. was executed in Alabama in 2018 for a wave of southern mail bombs in 1989 that killed a federal judge and wounded a Black civil rights attorney.

DeSantis initially signed a death warrant for Duckett in February, scheduling his execution for March 31. But the Florida Supreme Court issued a stay just days before the planned execution to allow for DNA testing of old evidence that couldn’t be performed at the time of the original trial because of technological limitations. The results came back inconclusive, meaning that they did not exonerate Duckett or definitively connect him to the crime. Judges have allowed the jury verdict to stand.

When Occhicone’s death warrant was signed late last month, his was the only execution scheduled for Tuesday. But after the Florida Supreme Court removed Duckett’s stay on July 8, DeSantis signed a new death warrant on July 14 and added Duckett to Occhicone’s execution date, which hadn’t been done in Florida in more than 60 years. Florida Department of Corrections records show multiple executions on a single day were more common in the past, with the last being on May 12, 1964.

This combo from photos provided by Florida Department of Corrections shows from left, James Aren Duckett and Dominick Anthony Occhicone. (Florida Department of Corrections via AP)

FILE - Clouds hover over the entrance of the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla., Aug. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Curt Anderson, file)