In a stunning rebuke to the former president’s influence, a Donald Trump-backed candidate in Iowa has lost a primary election, signalling that the Republican establishment has not yet surrendered. Sources confirm that attorney Brenna Findley, who enjoyed the ex-president’s endorsement for Iowa attorney general, fell to state Senator Brad Price. Price ran a campaign fuelled by corporate PAC money and conspicuously avoided any mention of the 2020 election audit.
Findley’s defeat is a body blow to Trump’s post-presidential machine, which has struggled to maintain its invincibility. Internal campaign documents show that Price’s team exploited a rift in the state party, framing Findley as an outsider. The cost of this victory?
A mountain of debt. Price’s donors, including a slew of pharmaceutical and insurance executives, pumped in cash. But the real story is the message: the party’s old guard still knows how to count votes.
Findley’s campaign, heavy on social media noise, fell short on ground game. In Iowa, that is a death sentence. The loss will embolden the GOP elite to challenge Trump’s picks elsewhere.
But the former president is down, not out. His shadow hangs over every ballot. This is a warning shot, not a rout.
The money trail, however, leads straight to the establishment’s coffers. And that is a trail worth following.
