Trump’s endorsement power just met its $100M limit

President Donald Trump’s primary victory spree has a new $100 million asterisk.

That’s the record-breaking sum the upstart self-funding businessman Rick Jackson spent to defeat Trump’s chosen candidate in the GOP primary for Georgia governor. Jackson’s flood of ads helped drown out Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and other Republicans up and down the ballot, as the billionaire tried to convince voters that he didn’t need Trump’s explicit endorsement to be a true MAGA warrior. In the end, his pitch worked, through persuasion or sheer force.

Tuesday’s result is the latest embarrassing and high-profile blemish in what had been a near-perfect record this year for the president. Just two weeks ago, another Trump-backed candidate — Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa — failed to win his gubernatorial race. And across the map Tuesday he saw mixed success.

Trump-endorsed Rep. Barry Moore cruised in his Alabama Senate runoff, though he had help from a pro-crypto super PAC that spent millions. Trump’s picks in two Oklahoma races are headed to runoffs after failing to surpass 50 percent of the vote in crowded primaries. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) won the Senate runoff to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, but it was far from a blowout victory and Trump’s 11th-hour endorsement makes it hard to give him full credit for the win.

"The Trump endorsement has an effect, but it's not overwhelming. It's not the end-all-be-all for politics in Georgia," said Jason Shepherd, the former Cobb County Republican chair who supported Jackson in the race.

Jones supporters and Trump allies were quick to blame Jackson’s cash — but some in the lieutenant governor’s orbit also suggested the president didn’t do enough to hit Jackson.

“[Trump] absolutely moved the needle. He just moved the needle 15 points when we needed him to move the needle 25 points,” said a Georgia operative who backed Jones and was granted anonymity to discuss the dynamics of the race candidly.

Trump endorsed Jones early in a crowded race. But while Trump often unloads against his political rivals, he was notably quiet on Jackson, even as he chipped away at Jones’ lead in the polls.

Jackson, a onetime Trump-skeptic turned MAGA ally and Trump donor, tied himself closely to the president on the campaign trail, repeatedly insisting he would be “Trump’s favorite governor.”

“I feel pretty certain that there's never been a candidate that the president endorsed that got outspent by $90 million in the primary,” said a second GOP operative who supported Jones. Still, the person acknowledged: "If you're a Jones supporter, you would have loved if the president would have said something bad about Rick Jackson.”

Trump brought Jones on stage at an official White House event in February in the northwestern corner of the state and appeared on a pair of telerallies, but some Jones supporters questioned Tuesday night whether he could have done more to boost his candidacy amid the onslaught of spending from Jackson.