Here are Senate, House incumbents who’ve lost their primaries

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This year’s election cycle has already seen eight congressional incumbents lose their primaries, with impacts to both parties.

In the upper chamber, Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.) and John Cornyn (Texas) lost their primaries to challengers endorsed by President Trump.

The president also took his revenge tour to Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, boosting Ed Gallrein en route to his victory over Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in the GOP primary.

While Senate Democrats have gone unscathed so far, four House Democrats lost their primaries — including Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Here are the congressional incumbents who have lost their primaries as of June 24.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)

Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump on incitement of insurrection charges at his second impeachment trial, after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The president kept that in mind and encouraged Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) to jump in the race to challenge Cassidy — who has represented Louisiana in the upper chamber since January 2015.

Trump backing a challenger to Cassidy paid off last month, as the incumbent senator finished third in the GOP primary behind Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming (R). Letlow and Fleming advanced to a runoff, which will conclude on Saturday.

Since his loss, Cassidy has publicly pushed back on the Trump administration more often. He was one of four GOP senators to vote in favor of a successful Iran war powers resolution on Tuesday, and he sought to wipe out the Justice Department’s since-abandoned “anti-weaponization” fund.

The chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has also urged Congress to reform Social Security after the administration projected the program will not provide full benefits within seven years.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)

Cornyn, a mainstay in Texas politics who was once the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, lost by more than 27 points to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in the GOP runoff earlier this month.

Despite Cornyn touting his history of backing the president’s agenda on the campaign trail, Trump endorsed the firebrand Paxton days before voting wrapped up in the heated runoff.

In backing Paxton, Trump called Cornyn a “good man” but claimed he “was not supportive of me when times were tough.” In 2023, the Texas Republican said Trump’s “time has passed him by” and Republicans should back another candidate in the 2024 presidential race.

Paxton will face off against state Rep. James Talarico (D) in the general election. During the primary, Cornyn warned the state attorney general’s baggage could lead to Talarico becoming the first Democrat to win a Senate race in the Lone Star State in nearly 40 years.

A grand jury indicted Paxton in 2015 on since-dismissed securities fraud charges, while the Texas House impeached him in 2023 amid allegations of corruption. The Texas Senate later acquitted Paxton.

His estranged wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton (R), also filed for divorce on “biblical grounds” last year.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)

A libertarian and longtime maverick within the Republican caucus, Massie lost to Gallrein by more than 9 points in the GOP primary last month.

Trump targeted the Kentucky lawmaker after Massie voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and led the charge on Capitol Hill to get the administration to release files on Jeffrey Epstein.

Massie has also repeatedly voted in favor of Iran war powers resolutions and has broadly criticized the U.S. alliance with Israel.

Gallrein is the heavy favorite over Democrat Melissa Strange, as the nonpartisan Cook Political Report (CPR) rates the district as solidly Republican.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas)

Crenshaw, who has represented the Lone Star State’s 2nd Congressional District since 2019, lost his primary by double digits to state Rep. Steve Toth (R-Texas) in March.

Trump notably did not endorse the incumbent, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) backed Toth the week before his victory.

In the wake of Jan. 6, Crenshaw criticized his Republican colleagues for backing Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. The Texas Republican, though, voted against impeaching Trump after the attack.

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas)

Green, a vocal critic of Trump, has represented Texas’s 9th Congressional District for more than two decades.

But after Republicans in the Texas Legislature redrew the state’s congressional maps last year, Green had to run for reelection in the Houston-based 18th Congressional District. That pitted the 78-year-old Green against 38-year-old Christian Menefee (D-Texas).

After finishing less than 2 points ahead of Green in the March primary, Menefee defeated the longtime representative by more than 39 points in the May runoff.

In the lead-up to the primary, Green slammed a crypto super PAC for spending more than $1 million against him.

Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas)

Johnson succeeded former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) in Texas’s 32nd Congressional District last year.

But after Allred lost to Cruz in the 2024 Senate race and ended his second bid for the upper chamber in December, he mounted a challenge to Johnson in the state’s newly redrawn 33rd Congressional District.

The new Texas map effectively merged the districts of Johnson and Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas), creating a red district in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to an analysis from CPR senior editor Dave Wasserman.

Veasey dropped his reelection bid due to the shift, while Allred is the heavy favorite to win in the new 33rd district, which the CPR rates as solidly Democratic.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.)

Espaillat on Tuesday lost by more than 3.5 points to challenger Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York’s 13th Congressional District.

Espaillat has represented the district, which comprises upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, since 2017 and has chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for nearly 18 months.

Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist, had the support of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D). Espaillat had backed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in the mayoral Democratic primary last year, but endorsed Mamdani after the upstart politician won the Democratic nomination.

After he conceded Tuesday, Espaillat said he respects Mamdani’s choice to back his opponent.

“I accept what happened tonight with elegancy,” he told MS NOW’s Mychael Schnell.

During a recent interview with the New York Editorial Board, Avila Chevalier deflected multiple times when asked whether a man convicted of murder should go to jail and said “all” deportations are “wrong.”

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.)

Also on Tuesday, Goldman lost his primary by more than 30 points to former New York City comptroller Brad Lander (D). Lander had support from Mamdani and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Goldman has backed Medicare for All, green energy and increasing the federal minimum wage. But Lander still attacked the Levi Strauss heir from the left, particularly regarding Goldman’s support for Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Both Lander and Goldman are Jewish.

Trump celebrated Goldman’s loss on Tuesday and Wednesday, as the incumbent representative was the lead majority counsel in House Democrats’ first impeachment inquiry against the president in 2019.

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Adriano Espaillat

Al Green

Andrew Cuomo

Angela Paxton

Bernie Sanders

Bill Cassidy

Colin Allred

Dan Crenshaw

Daniel Goldman

Donald Trump

Elizabeth Warren

Jeffrey Epstein

John Cornyn

John Fleming

Julia Letlow

Julie Johnson

Ken Paxton

Marc Veasey

Steve Toth

Ted Cruz

Thomas Massie

Zohran Mamdani

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