House Republicans get a tough lesson in running for higher office in the Trump era

It was not a great day to be a House Republican running for Senate on Tuesday.

Three of four Republican congressmen lost their bids to challenge Democratic senators in states Trump won handily in 2016.

Despite efforts to tie themselves to President Trump, all except Rep. James B. Renacci of Ohio were felled by the anti-Washington fervor that has remained a potent force in Republican contests.

Tuesday also saw the first Republican incumbent fall when Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.), a 3-term incumbent, lost his primary to a former pastor.

Reps. Luke Messer and Todd Rokita of Indiana lost their Senate bids to businessman Mike Braun, a former state lawmaker whose self-financed campaign emphasized his Washington outsider status. Both had left safely Republican districts for a chance to unseat Sen. Joe Donnelly (D).

There are 10 races in which Republicans are hoping to win seats held by Democrats in states Trump won. Tuesday’s primaries in Indiana, West Virginia and Ohio were the first glimpse of who Republicans will pick to try to regain those seats.

Renacci, the one successful House Republican climber, was a late entrant into the race. At the beginning of this year, the then-gubernatorial candidate shifted his plans when Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel dropped out of the Senate race.

[Primary results from Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia]

Outsider credentials did have limits. Republican leaders’ worst fears were avoided in West Virginia, where state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey will face Sen. Joe Manchin III. Don Blankenship, a divisive coal executive who served one year in prison for conspiring to violate mine safety laws, appeared to have momentum in the campaign’s final days. He placed a distant third. Rep. Evan Jenkins placed second.

Ultimately, party strategists thought the candidates voters selected would be worthy opponents to sitting Democratic senators.

Tuesday’s results could be cause for concern for some House Republicans running for higher office in the coming weeks and months.

Rep. Martha McSally (Ariz.), who is leaving behind a competitive House seat, faces two outsider candidates — Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former state senator Kelli Ward — in her quest to become her state’s Senate nominee. Reps. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Kevin Cramer (N.D.) face less competition in their primaries but will have competitive general election matchups.