The Freedom Caucus is having a brutal primary run

Their struggles are part of a broader pattern. The Freedom Caucus Fund has failed to elevate its candidates in four of the five races it spent in this year, spending a combined $1.5 million dollars to boost Lauf (who obtained just $30.

Key points

• Neither the Freedom Caucus Fund nor a spokesperson for Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) responded to a request for comment on Wednesday.
• Mark Amodei (R-Nevada), who has declined to backing Flippo in the general election for the deep-red seat.
• But observers say there's often a common through-line: The candidates have been mired in controversy.
• "In a day and age where candidates matter, they tend to create their own headaches, " Bartlett remarked.
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These candidates didn't all lose for the same reasons. Ogles had been plagued by various scandals, was running in a newly redrawn district with a number of new voters unfamiliar to him, and had limited campaign resources. Roy was hammered for his past backing of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and criticism of Trump in the 2024 presidential primary. Norman was running in a crowded field in which Trump was backing another candidate (and he is again in the South Carolina special Senate primary). For her part, Lauf struggled to break out in a crowded 10-way primary in a ruby red seat.

"In a day and age where candidates matter, they tend to create their own headaches, " Bartlett remarked. "Sometimes behavioral, sometimes ideological."

Neither the Freedom Caucus Fund nor a spokesperson for Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) responded to a request for comment on Wednesday. Multiple Wyoming Freedom Caucus members who lost on Tuesday additionally did not return calls.

For context, the only victory for the group where it spent funds this cycle was in Nevada's 2nd District, where it elevated Flippo in the race to replace retiring Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nevada), who has declined to backing Flippo in the general election for the deep-red seat. In other races where the campaign arm didn't spend, Donalds and Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) cruised to their states' GOP nominations for governor, and Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) won the primary to succeed Sen. Tommy Tuberville in the upper chamber.

Some of those candidates, like Biggs and Tiffany, will face tough general election bids in battleground states – providing another test for the Freedom Caucus among a broader swath of voters.

Taken together, the developments around the Freedom Caucus is having a brutal primary run point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.