WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on 2018 midterm primaries (all times EDT):
5:35 p.m.
South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford is attributing his Republican primary defeat to voters mainly concerned with whether he was sufficiently loyal to President Donald Trump.
Sanford lost a bid for a seventh House term in Tuesday’s voting. Trump had tweeted an endorsement of his opponent and said Sanford has been “very unhelpful” and “nothing but trouble.”
Sanford tells reporters that the race devolved down to whether he was “Trump enough.” He says it’s “a very tribal environment right now.”
Trump even took a personal swipe at Sanford, saying he is “better off in Argentina.” As governor, Sanford secretly traveled there while having an affair.
Sanford says, “It’s not what anybody would yearn for in the world of politics, but it is what it is.”
__
12:10 p.m.
Don’t cross President Donald Trump.
That’s the lesson being learned by Republicans after Trump critic and GOP Rep. Mark Sanford lost his primary election in South Carolina hours after the president tweeted that he was “very unhelpful.”
Sanford is the second incumbent House Republican to lose a primary this year - and the latest victim of intense divisions among the GOP in the Trump era.
The president took a victory lap on Twitter early Wednesday, touting his success in ousting a foe and reinforcing, once again, that the Republican Party is Trump’s party now.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.