Most polls show former President Donald Trump with a commanding lead in the Republican Party's presidential primary race.

That hasn't stopped Trump from being hit with criticism, however, including from a man who once served under him. 

Some high-profile Trump-endorsed candidates performed poorly

According to the Washington Examiner, former Vice President Mike Pence recently took aim at the candidates Trump chose to endorse in last year's midterm elections.

One of those candidates was former reality television star Dr. Mehmet Oz, who ran for Pennsylvania's open Senate seat.

Oz was ultimately beaten by John Fetterman, someone who suffered a debilitating stoke and struggled to remain coherent during a televised debate.

John Fetterman Repeatedly Struggles to Make Sense in Debate with Dr. Oz pic.twitter.com/nepP2rPXZ9

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) October 26, 2022

Trump allegedly pressured candidates to say 2020 election was stolen

Oz's primary opponent was David McCormick, a hedge fund manager who previously served in the Treasury Department during President George W. Bush's administration.

Following his loss, McCormick wrote a book in which he accused Trump of refusing to endorse him unless he said that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

"You can't win unless you say the election was stolen," the former president is alleged to have told McCormick just before he endorsed Oz.

"I started and wrote the book [with] the motivation that the country’s headed in the wrong direction. I ran for the Senate in 2022 because I thought I could help," McCormick told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Examiner noted that Trump initially blamed losses by Republican candidates on them being too extreme when it came to abortion, a claim which Pence took issue with.

Pence denies that abortion stance cost victories

"Poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters," he was quoted as saying in a Truth Social post.

Pence objected to that claim, telling the Examiner, "To see my former running mate now blaming the pro-life movement for election losses in the midterms and the saying that certain state legislation is 'too harsh,' I think is a departure from the commitment to the right to life that was at at the center of our administration."

"I believe when you look across the country that those candidates that stood with equal measure of principle and compassion on the right to life did quite well," he added.