Sarah Palin has had much more success endorsing gubernatorial candidates than any other office, but on Tuesday that trend reversed itself for the second time in a week.
Wyoming Auditor Rita Meyer narrowly lost a primary election to former U.S. Attorney Matt Mead, becoming just the second of Palin’s nine gubernatorial candidates to be defeated.
Karen Handel was Palin’s first gubernatorial hopeful to be defeated, losing a primary runoff to Rep. Nathan Deal in Georgia last week.
Palin has endorsed only one other candidate for governor, giving a nod earlier this month to Republican outsider Brian Murphy in Maryland, who is challenging the state’s former chief executive, Bob Ehrlich.
Tuesday’s primary results brought two defeats, in fact, for Palin, putting her overall record closer to .500. Palin has now backed 11 candidates who have won primary elections, while putting her name behind 10 others who have lost.
Palin has also endorsed three other House candidates who skated through without a primary challenge, and on Tuesday told the Daily Caller that she is endorsing Nevada Republican Sharron Angle, who already won the primary and is challenging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat.
In Washington Tuesday, Palin’s Senate candidate, former Washington Redskin Clint Didier, was knocked out by former state senator Dino Rossi, who will take on incumbent Democrat Sen. Patty Murray.
Didier gained a respectable 12 percent of the Washington primary, which is open, but still came in far behind Rossi, who garnered 34 percent to Murray’s 46 percent.
House candidate John Koster, in Washington’s second district, was the only Palin candidate to win on Tuesday. He came in a narrow second in the open primary to incumbent Rep. Rick Larsen, Democrat, and will face Larsen in the general election.
Breaking Palin’s record down by category, she has fared the worst in her endorsements for the House. She has backed three winners and six losers in GOP House primaries.
In the Senate, she has been more selective, endorsing winners Carly Fiorina in California and Rand Paul in Kentucky, but supporting losers Didier in Washington and Todd Tiahrt in Kansas.
There are 10 other candidates endorsed by Palin still awaiting primaries: four of those primaries will take place next week on Aug. 24, while the last six will happen on Sep. 14.