Mark Jacobs pumped $3 million of his own money into the Iowa Senate race. The primary season's biggest losers

Primary season is finally over, and we’ve heard plenty about the big-name winners: The incumbent senators who went undefeated for the first time since 2008 and the GOP establishment that finally tamed its tea party problem.

But enough about that. Let’s get to the more interesting list — the biggest losers.


One governor and four House incumbents went down, including Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) on Tuesday night. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was the highest profile and most surprising among the small group, which also included 91-year-old Ralph Hall in Texas and Michigan’s Kerry Bentivolio, a reindeer farmer and mall Santa before coming to Congress.

Here are POLITICO’s biggest losers from the primary season:

Pat Roberts

Lindsey Graham, Lamar Alexander and John Cornyn didn’t want to get “Lugar’d,” so they geared up early and aggressively to fend off primary challenges.

But not Roberts, who probably would have lost if his main opponent, radiologist Milton Wolf, didn’t post patient X-rays on Facebook for fun.

The Kansas GOP senator prevailed last month with only 48 percent of the vote, bloodied by revelations about how little time he spends in the state and the fact that he rents a room from a supporter to claim residency.

With a strong independent candidate and a Democrat trying to get off the ballot, national Republicans now find themselves preoccupied with dragging Roberts across the finish line. Roberts could become Agriculture Committee chairman in a Republican majority, but GOP colleagues grumble privately about his campaign work ethic and poor fundraising.

Mark Jacobs and Clay Pell

It was actually a good year for self-funders. Tom Wolf, whose family owns a kitchen cabinet company, spent $10 million of his own money to win the Pennsylvania Democratic primary for governor and is now coasting to victory over unpopular incumbent Tom Corbett. Private equity executive Bruce Rauner spent $6 million of his own money to win the Illinois Republican primary for governor. Former Dollar General CEO David Perdue spent more than $3 million of his own money to win an upset in the Georgia Republican primary for Senate.

Those victories make the two guys who spent lots of their own money only to lose look even worse.

Mark Jacobs, former CEO of Reliant Energy, pumped $3 million of his own money into the Iowa Senate race. But Jacobs ran some of the most boring ads of the year and then — after leading in some polls — finished a humiliating third place (with 16.8 percent of the vote) behind Joni Ernst.

Clay Pell, who finished third in the Democratic primary for governor in Rhode Island Tuesday, spent $3.4 million of his family’s money. The 32-year-old’s wife, Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, cut ads for him. But opponents mocked him for not being able to hold a job; Pell “had nine jobs in the past eight years, two of them internships,” an ad for second-place finisher Angel Taveras declared.

House members who gave up safe seats

Pennsylvania Rep. Allyson Schwartz’s gubernatorial bid ended with a crushing, 40-point loss to Wolf in the Democratic primary, despite significant help from women’s groups.

Texas Rep. Steve Stockman filed paperwork to challenge Cornyn minutes before the filing deadline, but he ran a listless campaign and found himself decked by oppo — including the publication of a 1977 mug for a drug arrest.

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ retirement prompted a free-for-all GOP primary that drew three congressmen holding safe seats: Phil Gingrey, Paul Broun and Jack Kingston. Broun and Gingrey fell short in the primary, and Perdue edged Kingston in the runoff.

Hawaii Rep. Colleen Hanabusa thought she’d get appointed to fill Daniel Inouye’s seat when he died in 2012. But after Gov. Neil Abercrombie passed her over for his lieutenant governor, Brian Schatz, she challenged Schatz for the unexpired term — losing narrowly.

Ray Allen and John McLaughlin

Cantor’s main consultant and pollster appeared caught off guard by the majority leader’s June primary loss. A McLaughlin internal poll released by the campaign one week before the primary had Cantor ahead by 34 points. Oops.

Some second-guessed the decision to run the negative ads against Dave Brat that elevated his profile. Cantor’s operation also turned down offers for significant outside help, afraid it could backfire.

The Republican Party of Virginia cut off business with Allen after the loss. McLaughlin has been working to protect his existing client base.

Cantor is as much winner as loser: His Potomac fever has broken, and he’s laughing his way to the bank. The investment bank Moelis & Co. is paying him $3.4 million.

Neil Abercrombie

Hawaii state Sen. David Ige had about one-tenth as much cash as Gov. Neil Abercrombie, but he won more than twice as many votes in last month’s primary.

Abercrombie became the first Democratic governor to lose a primary since 1994, and he did so in spectacular fashion. Abercrombie won only 31 percent of the vote, despite Barack Obama, a Hawaii native and family friend, cutting a radio ad for him.

Liz Cheney

No primary challenger underperformed expectations more than the daughter of the former vice president. She ended her primary bid against Sen. Mike Enzi in January after failing to get any traction in the polls, hemorrhaging money and taking lots of heat over alleged carpet baggin g.

That’s not to mention the ugly, very public back-and-forth with her sister over gay rights. Mary Cheney even said she was not supporting the campaign.

Cheney is widely believed to harbor simmering political ambition, but crossing Enzi made her a lot of enemies in the state’s GOP circles.

T.W. Shannon

The former speaker of the Oklahoma state House was a darling of national outside groups in the race to fill the unexpired term of resigning Republican Sen. Tom Coburn. Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz led a rally for him.

But Shannon, who is half African-American and half Native American, lost badly. James Lankford, a two-term congressman, won the primary with more than 50 percent — avoiding a widely expected runoff and putting Shannon’s prospects on ice.

South Dakota Democrats

Former Republican Gov. Mike Rounds is coasting to a GOP pickup, despite running a mediocre campaign and raising little money. But for Democrats, it didn’t have to be this way.

After Sen. Tim Johnson announced his retirement, national Democrats badly wanted to recruit former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin to run in his stead.

Majority Leader Harry Reid met with the outgoing senator and his wife to urge them to persuade their son Brendan, a U.S. Attorney, not to run so they could clear the field for Herseth Sandlin.

Meanwhile, ex-Majority Leader Tom Daschle privately encouraged former aide Rick Weiland to get in. Daschle’s support for Weiland helped persuade Herseth Sandlin to pass, and then the national party — at the direction of a piqued Reid — refused to offer any help for Weiland.

Chris McDaniel

The Mississippi state senator received more votes than Sen. Thad Cochran in the June 3 primary but was knocked off by Cochran in the runoff. McDaniel, who had the backing of major outside groups like the Club for Growth and SCF, is only 42 and may still have a bright future in the deeply-red state.

But instead of graciously conceding, his quixotic — and ongoing — legal challenges have made him look like a sore loser and hurt his public image.