一周后，俄亥俄州选民将前往共和党参议院中期初选投票站，这将是对前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)支持力的首次重大考验。

在最近的选举中，该州越来越多地投票给共和党，现在，随着填补11月退休的俄亥俄州共和党参议员罗布·波特曼(Rob Portman)空出的席位的竞争升温，许多共和党候选人正在努力超越彼此，希望吸引前总统在该州的强大基础。

川普在本月早些时候的后期支持颠覆了这场竞选，支持风险投资家万斯(J.D. Vance)，万斯因其著作《乡下人的悲歌》而闻名周末，在俄亥俄州特拉华州的竞选集会上，前总统称万斯为“美国第一勇士”

“他非常相信让我们的国家再次变得伟大，他将对我们正在竞选的这些可怕的人做点什么，”特朗普告诉人群。

对特朗普来说，这种支持是一种政治风险，他试图将自己定位为共和党的国王，并取得了不同程度的成功。在各种民意调查中，万斯落后于乔希·曼德尔和迈克·吉本斯，他们都在竞选中宣传自己对特朗普“美国第一”政策的承诺。

在全国范围内，特朗普在竞选早期支持的一些候选人未能为他带来胜利。特朗普甚至撤回了对阿拉巴马州参议员候选人莫·布鲁克斯的支持，此前布鲁克斯在民调中落后，并表示是时候停止关注特朗普关于2020年大选被盗的错误说法了。

万斯在下周的初选中获胜可能会显示特朗普支持的力量。这无疑给了候选人一种新的自信，让他进入初选的最后阶段。

万斯周四在俄亥俄州对美国广播公司新闻的雷切尔·斯科特说:“这种支持已经给了我们很大的动力。”。“我想，是的，这是我输掉的比赛，但最终，我们还是要做工作。我想我们领先了。我认为如果选举明天举行，我们会赢。”

美国广播公司新闻

美国广播公司国会记者雷切尔·斯科特采访俄亥俄州排队等待投票的选民.

周六在俄亥俄州排队看万斯的一些支持者表示，特朗普的支持让他们相信了万斯。

“如果特朗普支持他，我们也会支持，”埃德·格罗斯说。

特朗普的另一位支持者波莱特·施瓦茨(Paulette Schwartz)说，“我在他和另一个人之间，当特朗普说J.D .万斯时，那就是我要去的地方。”

但尚不清楚这种支持是否足够。一些支持特朗普的选民表示，特朗普的支持并没有消除他们对万斯之前对这位前总统的贬低性评论的担忧，包括曾称他为“应受谴责的”和“白痴”

“我们没有忘记这一点，”一位拒绝透露全名的选民贾斯汀说。另一名支持者则一拥而上:“你不能支持希拉里，然后又转而支持特朗普，”乔比·杰弗瑞(Joby Jeffery)说。

特朗普试图在周六的集会上面对批评。

“他是一个说我坏话的家伙，”特朗普告诉万斯的人群。“但是你知道吗?其他每个人也一样。事实上，如果我按照那个标准，我不认为我会支持这个国家的任何人。”

来自曼斯菲尔德的选民扎克·麦克纳特(Zach McNutt)周六在前往集会的路上，拒绝从一名志愿者手中接过万斯的竞选贴纸，抨击特朗普的支持是一个错误。

“那绝对是不幸的。我认为他真的需要检查一下他的核心圈子，”麦克纳特谈到特朗普时说。

在俄亥俄州没有获得特朗普支持的候选人现在抓住麦克纳特这样的选民不放，希望把自己描绘成最有能力推进特朗普式议程的候选人，即使特朗普没有看到这一点。

共和党候选人简·蒂姆肯(Jane Timken)周五在克利夫兰附近对一屋子的支持者发表讲话，谈到了特朗普的各种话题，包括学校选择、移民和经济。特朗普此前曾支持铁姆肯领导该州的政党，但没有支持她参加参议院竞选。她称他对万斯的支持“令人失望”

“我们在这场比赛中有很多展示用的马，但我是真正的主力，我一直在战壕里为美国第一的政策而战，”铁姆肯告诉斯科特。

俄亥俄州前财政部长乔希·曼德尔(Josh Mandel)一直在教堂开展竞选活动，向宗教保守派兜售他认为是“美国第一”运动基石的“犹太-基督教价值观”。在他的活动中，竞选标志将曼德尔称为“亲上帝、亲枪支、亲特朗普”。

周四，当美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)在俄亥俄州辛辛那提的一座教堂会见曼德尔时，一位令人惊讶的客人加入了他的行列:川普四面楚歌的前国家安全顾问迈克尔·弗林。

“让我非常明确地说:我认为这场选举是从唐纳德·特朗普那里偷来的，”曼德尔在挤满人的教堂前说。欢呼爆发。一位老人跳了起来，大喊有一个“阴谋集团”试图“夺走婴儿的生命”——这是对极右政党卡侬阴谋论的认可。曼德尔没有打断，反而点头鼓掌。

这场竞赛一直备受争议。在一次辩论中，曼德尔和吉本斯差点打起来。曼德尔对此不屑一顾，称他是保守价值观的“斗士”，当被问及他的言论时，他反驳说，他的言论包括在推特上进行民意调查，询问他的追随者哪些“非法者”犯下更多罪行——“穆斯林恐怖分子”或“墨西哥黑帮分子”。

但是在距离曼德尔的辛辛那提活动100英里的格罗夫市，一些选民认为该党需要重新聚焦。

“我不是特朗普的粉丝。我是共和党人，不是特朗普的粉丝，”唐·里德(Don Reed)在礼来厨房的餐桌边喝着咖啡、吃着鸡蛋时说。

他说他的政党正处于十字路口。

“这似乎是特朗普支持者中更直言不讳的一派，我把骂人者称为‘bullier’。”然后是另一个派系，他们试图保守，试图成为小政府，没有那些策略。

这场竞选中只有一名候选人准备放弃特朗普最具争议的一些立场。本月早些时候，当参与者被问及特朗普是否应该从2020年的选举中继续前进时，州参议员马特·多兰(Matt Dolan)是唯一一位在辩论台上举手的候选人。

多兰表示，专注于2020年选举的候选人正在采取“错误的方法”。他说，他不是在寻求特朗普的支持。

“我的整个竞选活动都围绕着俄亥俄州。我竞选不是为了获得支持，”多兰说。“然而，在整个竞选中具有讽刺意味的是，我是竞选中唯一一个真正执行特朗普政策的人。”

赢得下周二参议院初选的共和党候选人可能会在秋季继续面对民主党领先者蒂姆·瑞恩。

Looming Ohio primary promises early test of Trump's endorsement power

In one week, Ohio voters head to the polls for the Republican Senate midterm primary election that is set to be the first major test of former President Donald Trump's endorsement power.

The state has voted increasingly Republican in recent elections, and now, as the race to fill the seat being vacated in November by retiring Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman heats up, many GOP hopefuls are angling to out-Trump one another in hopes of appealing to the former president's robust base in the state.

Trump upended the race with a late-term endorsement earlier this month, throwing his weight behind venture capitalist J.D. Vance, most well-known for his book "Hillbilly Elegy." At a campaign rally in Delaware, Ohio, over the weekend, the former president branded Vance as "an America first warrior."

"He believes so much in making our country great again, and he's going to do a job on these horrible people that we're running against," Trump told the crowd.

The endorsement is a political risk for Trump, who has tried -- to varying degrees of success -- to position himself as a GOP kingmaker. In various polling, Vance has lagged behind Josh Mandel and Mike Gibbons, who have both run campaigns hawking their own commitments to Trumpian "American First" policies.

Nationally, some of the candidates backed by Trump early in their campaigns have failed to deliver wins for him. Trump went as far as to withdraw his endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks after Brooks lagged in the polls and said it was time to stop focusing on Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

A victory for Vance in next week's primary could show the might of the Trump endorsement. It's certainly given the candidate a newfound sense of confidence going into the final leg of his primary campaign.

"The endorsement has already given us a ton of momentum," Vance told ABC News' Rachel Scott in Ohio on Thursday. "And I think, yeah, it's my race to lose, but at the end of the day, we still have to do the work. I think we're in the lead. I think if the election were held tomorrow, we would win."

Some supporters who lined up to see Vance in Ohio on Saturday said the endorsement from Trump sold them on Vance.

"If Trump supports him, we will too," Ed Gross said.

"I was kind of between him and another one and when Trump said J.D. Vance, that's where I'm going," said Paulette Schwartz, another Trump supporter.

But it's not clear whether the endorsement will be enough. Some voters who stand with Trump said Trump's support doesn't quell concerns they still have about Vance's previously disparaging comments about the former president, including once calling him "reprehensible" and an "idiot."

"We didn't forget that," said one voter, Justin, who declined to give his full name. Another supporter piled on: "You can't support Hillary and then turn around and support Trump," Joby Jeffery said.

Trump tried to get out in front of that criticism during Saturday's rally.

"He's a guy that said some bad shit about me," Trump told the crowd of Vance. "But you know what? Every one of the others did also. In fact, if I went by that standard, I don't think I would have ever endorsed anybody in the country."

Zach McNutt, a voter from Mansfield on his way to the rally on Saturday, refused to take a Vance campaign sticker from a volunteer, blasting Trump's endorsement as a mistake.

"That is absolutely unfortunate. I think that he really needs to check his inner circle," McNutt said of Trump.

Candidates who fell short of the Trump endorsement in Ohio are now clinging to voters like McNutt, hoping to paint themselves as the candidate best positioned to advance a Trump-style agenda, even if Trump failed to see it.

GOP hopeful Jane Timken spoke to a room of supporters near Cleveland on Friday, hitting on a variety of Trump talking points including school choice, immigration and the economy. Trump had previously endorsed Timken to lead the state's party but didn't back her for the Senate race. She called his endorsement of Vance "disappointing"

"We've got a lot of show horses in this race, but I'm the real workhorse and I've been in the trenches fighting for the America First policy," Timken told Scott.

Josh Mandel, former Ohio Treasurer, has been running his campaign through churches, pitching religious conservatives on "Judeo-Christian values" he sees as the bedrock of the "America First" movement. At his event, campaign signs branded Mandel as "Pro-God, Pro-Guns, Pro-Trump."

When ABC News met up with Mandel in Ohio on Thursday at a Cincinnati church he was joined by a surprise guest: Michael Flynn, Trump's embattled former national security adviser.

"Let me say it very clear: I believe this election was stolen from Donald Trump," Mandel said in front of a packed church. Cheers erupted. An elderly man jumped up and shouted something about a "cabal" trying to "take the lives of little babies" -- a nod to the far-right Qanon conspiracy theory. Mandel didn't interrupt, nodding and clapping instead.

The race has been contentious. At one point during a debate, Mandel and Gibbons nearly got into a fistfight. Mandel brushed it off, saying he's a "fighter" for conservative values, and he pushed back when asked about his rhetoric that includes running a Twitter poll asking his followers which "illegals" commit more crimes -- "Muslim Terrorists" or "Mexican Gangbangers."

But 100 miles away from Mandel's Cincinnati event, in Grove City, some voters think the party needs to refocus.

"I'm not a Trump fan. I'm a Republican, not a Trump fan," Don Reed said over coffee and eggs at Lilly's Kitchen Table.

He said his party is at a crossroads.

"It seems to be a faction of the Trump supporters who are the more outspoken, I call the name-callers 'the bullier.' Then you've got the other faction where they tried to be conservative, try to be small government without those kinds of tactics," he added.

Only one candidate in the race is ready to move on from some of Trump's most controversial positions. State Sen. Matt Dolan was the only candidate to raise his hand on a debate stage earlier this month when the participants were asked if it was time for Trump to move on from the 2020 election.

Dolan said his fellow candidates who are focusing on the 2020 election are taking the "wrong approach." He wasn't angling for Trump's endorsement, he said.

"My entire campaign was about Ohio. I wasn't running an election to get this endorsement," Dolan said. "What's ironic in this whole race, though, is I'm the only one in the race who's actually executed on Trump policies."

The Republican candidate who wins next Tuesday's Senate primary will likely go on to face Democratic frontrunner Tim Ryan in the fall.