AZLE, Texas — Rep. Kay Granger wanted to win. Cash in hand, she kept raising her bid as the auctioneer at Silver Creek United Methodist Church rattled off prices for a chocolate cake.

The Texas Republican eventually paid $220 for the cake, leaving a candidate forum here Thursday night with a wave to the crowd after she collected her dessert. Her primary opponent, former technology executive Chris Putnam, did not bid on the cakes, which were auctioned off between candidate speeches to raise money for the church.

But a different kind of spending — the hundreds of billions negotiated annually between the White House and congressional Democrats and Republicans — is very much the focus of his Republican primary challenge to Granger in the Forth Worth-area 12th District. The race is reminiscent of tea party primary challenges from the last decade, with an insurgent hopeful taking on a longtime incumbent and railing against government spending.

But Putnam could have one problem: The GOP isn’t the tea party. It’s Donald Trump’s party now.

The president has endorsed Granger, which she’s touting in television ads and flyers. Trump’s backing helped her win over Frank Zamarron, a 53-year-old truck repair shop manager from Parker County, who attended the forum Thursday. With all of the negative ads he’s seen, Zamarron said he might have voted against Granger otherwise.