President Donald Trump has lashed out against television journalist Kristen Welker and the "radical left" news media for casting doubt over the success of his endorsement record, which he described as "the strongest" in "the history of politics." In a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday, Trump attacked Welker, who moderates NBC News’ Meet the Press for alleging that he had "mixed results" in his endorsement of candidates in recent elections. Welker, according to the president, will be reported to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for "rebuke or punishment" because of the "purposeful inaccuracy" with which she portrayed his endorsement record. "Kristen Welker, the Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has ‘mixed results; on his Endorsements of Candidates, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100 percent for the U.S.
Senate, and 98 percent for the U.S. House," Trump wrote on social media. The FCC is an independent agency that oversees broadcast, radio and other networks, and which critics say has become increasingly politicized during Trump’s second term under the leadership of Brendan Carr.
Newsweek reached out to NBC News and the White House for comment by email on Sunday. During Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, Ballotpedia tracked 305 endorsements. In 2026 alone, the president has made 312 primary endorsements so far, with 97 percent of his endorsed candidates winning their primaries through early July, according to the elections tracker.
When looking at his long-term record, Trump has had more success in primaries than in general elections. In 2018, his primary success rate was 95 percent, while his general election success rate was 59 percent; in 2019, these were 80 percent and 67 percent, respectively. In 2020, he reported a 97 percent success rate in primaries and a 79 percent success rate in general elections; in 2021, he had a 100 percent success rate in both primaries and general elections, but he also made an unusually lower number of endorsements, five in total.
In 2022, he had a 93 percent primary success rate out of 241 endorsements, and an 84 percent general election success rate out of a total of 254 endorsements. In 2023, he had a primary success rate of 67 percent, the lowest during both his terms so far, and a general election success rate of 80 percent; in 2024, his primary success rate had gone up to 96 percent and his general election success rate to 89 percent. In 2025, he endorsed a total of nine candidates, four in primaries and nine in general elections, with a success rate of 100 percent and 43 percent, respectively.
This year, as of August 5, he had endorsed 313 primary candidates with a success rate of 96 percent, as well as 39 general election candidates, according to Ballotpedia. General elections still need to take place later this year, and that is why the president’s success rate in this field is currently 0 percent on the tracker. Since 5 August, Trump’s record in major Republican primaries has been mixed but still positive.
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