2026-05-06T09:00:14.296Z / 《华盛顿邮报》
印第安纳州与俄亥俄州的初选进一步巩固了总统唐纳德·特朗普在共和党中的权势，并为多场顶级中期选举划定了竞争格局。
2026年5月6日 美国东部时间凌晨5:00 今日 凌晨5:00 美国东部时间
5分钟
摘要 29
共和党俄亥俄州州长候选人维韦克·拉马斯瓦米周二赢得党内提名后，在哥伦布一家体育酒吧的观票派对上与儿子们合影。（卡罗琳·卡斯特/美联社）
作者：帕特里克·马利、汉娜·诺尔斯、艾琳·考克斯
两位知名政客周二在俄亥俄州初选中胜出，与此同时，特朗普总统对违抗他的印第安纳州共和党人彰显了自身影响力。
在俄亥俄州，前总统候选人维韦克·拉马斯瓦米拿下共和党州长提名，前参议员谢罗德·布朗成功获得民主党参议院候选人提名。布朗对阵乔恩·赫斯特德（R）的竞选是最受关注的角逐之一，因为民主党正试图夺回参议院控制权。
在印第安纳州，去年协助挫败特朗普重新划分该国会选区计划的七名州参议院共和党议员，遭遇了特朗普背书的共和党对手。其中多数人已落败。
以下是这两个中西部州初选带来的几点启示。
拉马斯瓦米拿下共和党州长提名
拉马斯瓦米轻松赢得共和党州长提名，将对阵前州卫生局长艾米·阿克顿——后者曾牵头领导俄亥俄州应对新冠疫情。
这位企业家凭借一本抨击企业界“觉醒主义”的书籍打造了政治形象，随后在2024年以黑马姿态角逐共和党总统提名。尽管曾与特朗普为敌，但他随后与总统保持高度一致，成为其盟友。
他最初受命协助埃隆·马斯克领导“狗狗币计划”以颠覆联邦政府，之后退出参选州长，并早早获得特朗普的背书。
初选期间，拉马斯瓦米的对手是凯西·普奇，这位政治新手凭借“汽车人凯西”的账号在YouTube上积累了一批粉丝。普奇将自己标榜为此次竞选中的“真正美国人”，同时嘲讽拉马斯瓦米的族裔与印度教信仰。普奇的竞选活动呼应了拉马斯瓦米在社交媒体上遭遇的其他恶意攻击——这类网络恶语攻击正是拉马斯瓦多年来敦促其政党坚决反对的。
“如果你认为可以正常化针对任何族群的仇恨——针对白人、黑人、西班牙裔、犹太人、印度人，那你在保守主义运动的未来中毫无立足之地，”他去年在一场青年保守派会议上说道。
爱泼斯坦成为俄亥俄州参议院角逐的焦点
谢罗德·布朗在民主党初选中压倒性击败首次参选的罗恩·金凯德，为一场关键且耗资巨大的大选铺平了道路，这场选举将对参议院控制权的归属产生重要影响。作为俄亥俄州最知名的民主党人之一，布朗在2024年以3个百分点的差距落选，结束了自己18年的参议院任期。
他将对阵赫斯特德，后者于2025年1月被任命填补J·D·万斯辞职后的参议院席位——万斯当时已就任副总统。赫斯特德周二未面临初选挑战，从某种意义上说，大选早已拉开帷幕。布朗早在周二投票结束前就开始攻击赫斯特德，上周发布了首支电视广告，试图将赫斯特德与性 trafficker、金融家杰弗里·爱泼斯坦联系起来。赫斯特德上周也发布了首支电视广告，向选民重新介绍自己，而俄亥俄州共和党则开始售卖一款略带调侃意味的周边产品，宣传其所谓的与爱泼斯坦有关的布朗捐赠者。
11月的获胜者将完成万斯2022年当选的六年参议院任期剩余的两年。
双方均视这场竞选至关重要：民主党试图在特朗普曾三次胜出的州拿下参议院席位，预计这场竞选将耗资巨大。截至4月15日，布朗已筹集约2600万美元，是赫斯特德的两倍多。上个月，参议院领导基金宣布已拨款7900万美元助力赫斯特德的竞选。
前移民与海关执法局官员不会挑战马西·卡普众议员
在俄亥俄州第9国会选区，曾是特朗普政府高级移民官员的麦迪逊·谢伊汉未能赢得共和党提名，而共和党幕僚认为该选区是该党夺回众议院席位的最佳机会之一。
谢伊汉今年1月辞去了美国海关与边境保护局副局长一职，希望凭借自己为特朗普核心议题服务的背景拿下提名。她在竞选活动和广告中大力宣传自己在移民与海关执法局的任职经历，但民调显示特朗普在移民问题上的支持率有所下降，移民议题并未在这场拥挤的共和党初选中起到决定性作用。
她败给了德里克·梅林——该选区两年前的共和党候选人，相比谢伊汉，梅林更受选民熟知。随着梅林试图与自1983年以来一直担任该席位议员的民主党人马西·卡普展开对抗，移民议题可能会在秋季竞选期间重新成为焦点。
印第安纳州共和党人遭遇特朗普背书对手
去年，印第安纳州参议院超过半数的共和党议员与民主党人联手否决了特朗普重新划分该州国会选区的计划，该计划本可帮助共和党稳拿额外两个众议院席位。这一行动是特朗普在全国范围内推动的一部分，旨在帮助共和党在当前整体政治环境不利的情况下，于今年秋季保住众议院控制权。
周二，七名与总统意见相左的共和党议员遭遇了特朗普背书的资金充裕的对手。据美联社报道，其中五名现任议员落败，一人胜出，还有一场竞选结果在周二晚间尚未公布。
数百万美元涌入原本平淡无奇的竞选活动，向全美共和党人传递了一个信号：反对特朗普可能要付出高昂代价——即便在通常由本地议题主导的选举中亦是如此。
*戴维·中村对本文亦有贡献。
Ramaswamy advances in Ohio as Trump flexes power in Indiana
2026-05-06T09:00:14.296Z / The Washington Post
Primaries in Indiana and Ohio reinforced President Donald Trump’s power in the GOP and set the stakes for several top-tier midterm races.
May 6, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. EDT Today at 5:00 a.m. EDT
5 min
Summary 29
Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy smiles with his sons during a watch party at a sports bar in Columbus after winning the party’s nomination on Tuesday. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
By Patrick Marley, Hannah Knowles and Erin Cox
Two brand-name politicians advanced in Ohio’s primaries Tuesday, while President Donald Trump flexed his power over Indiana Republicans who defied him.
In Ohio, one-time presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy nabbed the GOP nomination for governor and former senator Sherrod Brown secured the Democratic nomination for Senate. Brown’s race against Sen. Jon Husted (R) is one of the most closely watched contests as Democrats try to take control of the Senate.
In Indiana, seven GOP state senators who helped defeat Trump’s plan to redraw their state’s congressional districts last year faced Republican opponents endorsed by Trump. Most of them lost.
Here are takeaways from the primaries in the two Midwestern states.
Ramaswamy secures GOP nomination for governor
Ramaswamy easily won the Republican nomination for governor and will face Democrat Amy Acton, the former state health director who helped lead Ohio’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The entrepreneur built a political profile with a book attacking “wokeness” in the corporate world and then mounting a longshot bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Despite running against Trump, he aligned himself closely with the president and became an ally.
He was initially tasked with helping Elon Musk lead the DOGE efforts to upend the federal government but left to run for governor, winning an early endorsement from Trump.
In the primary, Ramaswamy faced Casey Putsch, a political novice who built a YouTube following as “Casey the Car Guy.” Putsch cast himself as the “true American” in the race while mocking Ramaswamy’s ethnicity and Hindu faith. Putsch’s campaign echoed other ugly attacks that Ramaswamy has faced on social media — online vitriol that Ramaswamy has urged his party to draw a hard line against.
“If you believe in normalizing hatred towards any ethnic group — toward Whites, toward Blacks, toward Hispanics, towards Jews, towards Indians, you have no place in the future of the conservative movement,” he told a youth conservative conference last year.
Epstein plays a starring role in Ohio Senate jockeying
Sherrod Brown decisively defeated first-time candidate Ron Kincaid in the Democratic primary, setting the stage for a pivotal — and costly — general election that will play an important role in determining control of the Senate. Brown, one of the state’s best-known Democrats, ended his 18-year tenure in the Senate when he lost in 2024 by 3 percentage points.
He will face Husted, who was appointed in January 2025 to fill the Senate seat vacated by JD Vance when he became vice president. Husted did not face a primary challenger on Tuesday, and in some ways the general election was already underway. Brown pivoted to attacking Husted well before polls closed Tuesday, releasing his first television ad last week trying to tie Husted to sex trafficker and financier Jeffrey Epstein. Husted also aired his first television ad last week, re-introducing himself to voters, while the Ohio Republican Party started selling tongue-in-cheek merchandise highlighting what it said were Brown donors with ties to Epstein.
The winner in November will serve the last two years of the six-year Senate term that Vance won in 2022.
Both sides view the race as crucial as Democrats try to win a Senate seat in a state Trump won three times, and it’s expected to be expensive. Brown had raised about $26 million as of April 15, more than twice as much as Husted. Last month, the Senate Leadership Fund announced it had set aside $79 million to help Husted.
Former ICE official won’t face Rep. Marcy Kaptur
In Ohio’s 9th House District, Madison Sheahan, a former high-ranking Trump administration immigration official,lost her bid for the Republican nomination in a district that GOP operatives believe offers one of the party’s best chances to flip a House seat.
Sheahan left her job as deputy director at U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement in January, hoping that her background in service of Trump’s top issue would propel her to the nomination. She touted her ICE service at campaign events and in advertisements, but immigration did not play a defining role in the crowded GOP primary as polling shows Trump’s approval on the issue declining.
She lost to Derrick Merrin, the Republican nominee in the district two years ago, who was better known to voters than Sheahan. Immigration could gain more prominence in the fall as Merrin seeks to define himself against Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D), who has held the seat since 1983.
Indiana Republicans faced Trump-backed opponents
Last year, more than half the Republicans in Indiana’s state Senate joined with Democrats to vote down Trump’s plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts, which would have given Republicans a strong shot at winning two more House seats. The effort was part of a nationwide push by Trump to help Republicans keep control of the House this fall in an otherwise unfavorable political environment.
On Tuesday, seven of the Republicans who broke ranks with the president faced well-funded opponents endorsed by Trump. Five of the incumbents lost, one of them won, and one race had not yet been called late Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Millions of dollars poured into ordinarily sleepy races, giving Republicans across the country that going against Trump can come at a steep cost — even in races that are normally dominated by local issues.
David Nakamura contributed to this report.
