“Minnesota Republicans decisively rejected the comeback bid of former governor Tim Pawlenty, a onetime kingmaker in state politics who proved unable to overcome his 2016 description of Donald Trump as ‘unhinged and unfit’ for once boasting of grabbing women,” the Washington Post reports.

“The surprise result was just the latest evidence of the president’s rising control over the Republican Party electorate and the waning power of veteran lawmakers.”

Said Pawlenty: “The Republican Party has shifted. It is the era of Trump, and I’m just not a Trump-like politician.”