What’s in a foreign-sounding name? Trump’s first House primary loss

On Tuesday, Michigan’s Democrats served up a string of victories for the left. Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow triumph in the Senate primary may even have raised President Donald Trump hopes about his chances of keeping the chamber. But my favorite subplot of Michigan’s primary night, and surely the result that most surprised Trump, came in the 8th District. Amir Hassan, a candidate Trump had endorsed and rallied with, lost his Republican primary to Thomas Smith, an unknown who had withdrawn in mid-July after mounting basically no campaign and raising basically no money.

“I fell short last night. I make no excuse. It was a tough race,” Hassan said in a video from his car Wednesday morning. Reflecting on his failed endorsement, Trump lamented: “It was a little bit of a person that I thought was a good person — didn’t have much of a chance, but I said: ‘I don’t care. I’m doing it anyway.”

Fundraising cannot explain Hassan’s defeat. He had ample financial backing, though he still raised less than the Democratic nominee. Nor is Trump reviled in the predominantly white 8th District, which backed him for president in 2024 even as it sent a Democrat to Congress. The apparent explanation is that the Republican electorate could not get past Hassan’s Muslim-sounding name.

Hassan, who has described himself as Christian since early in the........

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