Voters cast their ballots in four primary states on Tuesday, helping set the stage for the November general elections that will decide control of Congress — and the fate of President Joe Biden's agenda in the second half of his term.
Races across South Carolina, Maine, Nevada and North Dakota
feature candidates from the Trump-backed to the Trump-opposed, underscoring how
much of the primary races are in fact a chance for Republican voters to shape
the party's future relationship with the ex-president.
Here are the latest developments:
Republican who pushes Trump’s false election claims wins secretary of state primary
A Republican who has repeated former President Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election is one step closer to being Nevada’s next secretary of state.
Jim Marchant bested six other rivals to win the GOP nomination, according to race calls by the New York Times and the Washington Post, which sets up a crucial down-ballot contest to determine who will oversee the battleground state’s 2024 presidential election.Marchant is among a group of right-leaning candidates who have either questioned or spread misinformation about the outcome of last presidential contest.
Democrat Francisco Aguilar ran uncontested in his primary, and will face Marchant this fall.Nevada Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto sails to
victory
Incumbent Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto easily defeated two
Democratic challengers in Tuesday's primary to seize the party's nomination.
In 2016, she became the first woman elected to
represent Nevada in the Senate and the first Latina elected to serve in the
upper chamber after narrowly defeating Republican Joe Heck in a closely
watched race to succeed former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Cortez Masto will again have the spotlight on her race as
her seat is considered one of four Senate toss-up contests in 2022 midterms.
- Phillip M. Bailey
Nancy Mace: I always said I would be an "independent voice"
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace did not dwell on Donald Trump's opposition
in her victory statement, but told supporters she won over Katie Arrington
because voters realized she has been an "independent voice" in
Congress.
"I promised I would not toe the line," she told
cheering supporters.
On Twitter, Mace delivered an even more succinct message:
"We did it!!!!"
In a separate post, she said: "Just hopped off the phone
with @karringtonsc and thanked her for stepping into the arena,
working hard in her campaign and tonight endorsing us for November. Katie,
thank you!"
- David Jackson
Republicans claim House seat – temporarily – in South Texas
Republicans
who are hoping to increase their share of the Hispanic vote received good news
Tuesday when Mayra Flores won a special election to complete an unexpired
U.S. House term.
Flores, a respiratory care practitioner, won more than 50% of the vote and thereby avoided a runoff with Democrat Dan Sanchez, a Harlingen lawyer.
The Republican will now complete the term of resigned Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela, representing a district that will no longer exist after this year.Flores
is already the Republican nominee in the newly drawn district that will be
contested in November. She is running against incumbent Democratic
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.
- David Jackson
Rep. Nancy Mace fends off Trump-backed challenger
South Carolina freshman Rep. Nancy Mace defeated a Trump-backed
opponent in the first congressional district’s GOP primary.
The lowcountry congresswoman worked for the Trump campaign in
2016 but criticized him in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and
voted to certify his 2020 president election loss.
Mace has since moved back towards Trump, but he endorsed her
primary opponent, Katie Arrington.
– Dylan Well
Trump-backed state Rep. Russell Fry takes down GOP incumbent
In a victory for former President Donald Trump, South Carolina
state Rep. Russell Fry defeated incumbent Rep. Tom Rice in the GOP primary in
SC-07.
Rice was one of only 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach
Trump in the wake of Jan. 6. Trump sought to unseat him and endorsed Fry in
February.
Rice has represented the district since 2013. Fry and the former
president accused him of being a “RINO,” or Republican in name only.
– Dylan Wells
Democrat whose ex-wife endorsed opponent wins South Carolina primary
The South Carolina Democrat whose ex-wife endorsed his opponent still managed to win the party nomination for governor.Former U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, R-S.C., defeated State
Sen. Mia McLeod, who had earned a late-campaign endorsement from ex-wife Amanda
Cunningham.
In her endorsement, Amanda Cunningham praised McLeod and her
record and added that: "She is not afraid to be herself or speak up to
those who have held the mic for far too long."
Cunningham now faces an uphill fight in the fall against incumbent
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster in this GOP-leaning state.
- David Jackson
Nevada polls closed at 10 p.m. Eastern time
Polls across Nevada are closed as voters decide which GOP
candidate will face Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in the fall. Cortez
Masto is one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the Senate facing reelection.
Former state attorney general Adam Laxalt is the frontrunner in
the Republican primary but faces stiff competition from Sam Brown, who the
Nevada Republican Party endorsed.
Another race voters will decide on: The GOP secretary of state
nominee. Vocal Trump supporter and election denier Jim Marchant is
leading the field. Cisco Aguilar is running unopposed in the Democratic
primary.
- Mabinty Quarshie
U.S. Sen. John Hoeven wins re-nomination in North Dakota
There was no ultra-conservative revolt in North Dakota
U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., easily won his Republican primary
over oil field worker Riley Kuntz. The Associated Press called the race
shortly after the polls closed in North Dakota
Earlier this year, Hoeven survived a conservative challenge to
his endorsement by the state Republican Party at its convention.
Hoeven will be favored to win a third term this fall in
Republican-leaning North Dakota against Democrat Katrina Christiansen who won
her primary Tuesday as well.
- David Jackson
Texas rounds out the day with a special congressional election.
Whether Republicans can continue making gains with Hispanic
voters – a top goal for the party in 2022 – is getting an early test
in a South Texas special election.
Four candidates are running to finish the term of former Rep. Filemon Vela, a five-term Democrat who left Congress earlier this year to take a job in the private sector. They include Republican Mayra Flores, who won the GOP nomination for the seat in March and hopes that a short-term victory Tuesday will give her momentum toward flipping the seat in November.
Big gains by Trump along the border with Mexico in 2020 have put Democrats on the defensive after decades of one-party control in South Texas. Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez switched from a neighboring district because of redistricting to run for Vela’s seat and is the party’s nominee for November. But he isn’t running to finish Vela’s term, and party leaders have rallied in the special election behind Democrat Dan Sanchez.The first-place finisher would need more than 50% of the vote
Tuesday to win outright. Otherwise, the top two finishers will go on to an
August runoff.
- Associated Press
Polls across the state of Maine closed Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
The primary race for the gubernatorial election is already set, as neither incumbent Democratic Gov. Janet Mills nor former Republican Gov. Paul LePage faced any primary challengers. LePage is seeking a third term, but it will be a competitive race. Physician Sam Hunkler is also running for election as an independent candidate.
Polls also closed at 8 p.m. in South Texas as voters select a candidate to serve the remaining months of former Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela’s term. Vela resigned from Congress to work for a lobbying group.Republican Maya Flores is hoping to flip the seat but faces
stiff competition from Democrat Dan Sanchez.
- Mabinty Quarshie
Primary challenge in Nevada's safest GOP House seat
Rep. Mark Amodei is facing a primary challenge from a perennial
candidate with a famous last name.
Danny Tarkanian, son of legendary University of
Nevada, Las Vegas basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, is trying
to knock off the six-term incumbent in the sprawling, rural northern district
that no Democrat has won in its 40 years.
Over the years, Tarkanian has launched two Senate campaigns and
lost numerous congressional bids in two other districts. But he created enough
of a stir in 2018 in a primary challenge to Sen. Dean Heller that Trump
intervened to persuade him to drop out and run again for the House.
Amodei won a special election for the seat in 2011 after Heller
was appointed to fill an unexpired Senate term. A member of the House
Appropriations Committee, Amodei has easily turned back previous primary
challenges in the past.
- Associated Press
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster easily wins re-nominationIn the no-surprise department, incumbent South Carolina
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster cruised to re-nomination.
McMaster now gets to sit back and follow a fractious Democratic
primary between former U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham and State Rep. Mia
McLeod – who has the endorsement of her opponent's ex-wife, Amanda
Cunningham.
- David Jackson
Sanders-backed Democrat challenging incumbent in NV-01
In the 1st District, incumbent Democratic Rep. Dina Titus faces
a primary challenge from Amy Vilela, the co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders'
presidential campaign in Nevada in 2020. Sanders endorsed Vilela last week.
Vilela is a liberal who was featured alongside Reps. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Cori Bush, D-Mo., in the documentary "Knock
Down the House."
The race is rated a "toss-up" by the nonpartisan Cook
Political Report, meaning it is expected to be one of the most competitive
House primary races this cycle.
– Dylan Wells and Mabinty Quarshie
South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott easily wins primary
Incumbent South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, facing no Republican
opposition, won the Senate GOP primary Tuesday night.
Scott is running for a second full six-year term. Scott said the
2022 run will be his last.
Meanwhile three women are running in the Democratic Senate
primary. The winner will face Scott in the general election.
- Mabinty Quarshie
K-Pop and democracy show up in southern Nevada
Around 3 p.m. PDT, Eric Jeng, outreach director for the Asian
Community Development Council, stepped away from his team’s tents in the
parking lot of the Desert Breeze Community Center in Las Vegasto wait in line
with a first-time voter.
“He’s 18,” Jeng later told the Reno Gazette-Journal after
rejoining his team in the parking lot, a smile stretching across his face.
“He’s so excited.”
Today, ACDC and One APIA Nevada, a nonprofit that advocates for
the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, were stationed outside the
popular voting site in the Spring Valley area of Las Vegas with free COVID-19
tests, stickers that read “Hot people vote!” and other resources for voters.
A DJ played Korean pop music on large speakers, the heavy bass
greeting voters as they arrived to cast their ballots. Some voters danced as
they walked past the music and toward the polls.
The organizations have been a fixture at the Desert Breeze
voting site on every election day since 2018, according to Jeng, “to make sure
we’re here to celebrate voting and encourage our communities to vote
... It’s just inspiring to see democracy in action."
- Rio Lacanlale, Reno Gazette-Journal
Texas is having a seemingly low-stakes election. The GOP is pouring their all into it.
In South Texas, a special election is being held to determine
who will serve the remainder of Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela Jr., who resigned
from the seat to join a lobbying firm. While the winner of this election only
serves until January, Republicans are seeking to prove they can make inroads in
what has been a traditionally blue area.
Republicans are backing Mayra Flores, who is also endorsed by
Texas’ Republican Governor Greg Abbott. She faces off against Democrat Dan
Sanchez. Flores and the GOP have heavily outspent Sanchez in a bid to take the
seat.
The election could lead to a runoff in the summer if no one
candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, as two other, lesser-known candidates
are on the ballot.
- Kenneth Tran
Nevada is shaping up to be the state for Republicans to flip the Senate
Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is likely to face a tough
election against the winner of tonight’s Republican primary.
Former state attorney general Adam Laxalt is the favorite to win
tonight’s primary, riding on the endorsement of former President Trump. But he
is also facing a challenge from Sam Brown, a veteran who has the endorsement
from the Nevada Republican Party.
Laxalt’s campaign is focused on flipping Nevada to red, as
disapproval of President Biden grows in the state. In a rally last Saturday,
Laxalt told supporters Masto is “the most vulnerable senator in America.”
- Kenneth Tran
South Carolina polls close; Trump is put to the test
The night's first poll closing is in South Carolina, and
Republicans will soon know whether Donald Trump has succeeded in knocking off
two U.S. House incumbents who displeased him.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., are facing Trump-backed challengers Katie Arrington, a former state representative, and Russell Fry, a current member of the state legislature respectively.
Mace has confidently predicted victory, while Rice's crowded primary could lead to a runoff on June 28.There are also primaries for other U.S. House seats, as well as the governor's race in the Palmetto State.
-- David Jackson
What time do polls close Tuesday?
The first polls to close Tuesday are in South Carolina,
at 7 p.m. ET.
Maine's polls
close an hour later, at 8 p.m. ET.
Nevada and North Dakota both
close their polls at 10 p.m. ET.
-Ella Lee
One Maine race is already set: Governor vs. ex-governor
The polls are still open in the state of Maine, but one fall
race is already set: Current Democratic Gov. Janet Mills will be challenged by
former Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
Both are unopposed in their party primaries.
LePage, who became nationally known for offensive comments about
women and minorities, won election as governor in 2010 and 2014. The politician
who once described himself as "Trump before Donald Trump became
popular" could not run in 2018 became of term limits.
Election SoS?:In
Nevada GOP primary, candidates see a fundamental shift in the secretary of
state role
Races and themes to watch:South
Carolina, Donald Trump, Nevada, abortion, Senate control
Mills won the Maine statehouse four years ago. Before
that, she served as attorney general, a job in which she had opposed
LaPage in court over attempts to expand gubernatorial powers.
A little-known independent candidate, Sam Hunkler, is also
planning a fall run for Maine governor.
-- David Jackson
In Nevada, many young voters lean independent
Voters under 34 make up a third of Nevada’s total registered
voters -- and young people are more inclined to vote independent than any other
age category.
Registered voter demographics from the Nevada Secretary of State
show that under-34 voters make up 29% of the state’s Democrats and 40% of the
state’s nonpartisan voters. While first-term Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto -- the
first Latina elected to Senate -- is the clear Democratic frontrunner, the race
between politician Adam Laxalt and retired Army Capt. Sam Brown has tightened
in recent weeks.
Nonparty voters won’t have the chance to decide between Laxalt
and Brown, as Nevada runs closed primary elections.
Another trend that may tip the scales is a surge in mail-in
voters. In 2016, only 7% of Nevada voters cast a mail ballot, while 48% voted
by mail in 2020. That’s the first election where Nevada began mailing ballots
with prepaid postage to every active, registered voter. The benefit is clear to
rural voters, 53% of whom voted by mail in 2020.
-- Katherine Swartz
South Carolina Republican who voted to impeach Trump vies to keep seat
Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., was one of 10 House Republicans to vote
to impeach former President Donald Trump for "incitement of
insurrection."
"I have backed this President through thick and thin for
four years," Rice wrote on Twitter at the
time. "I campaigned for him and voted for him twice. But,
this utter failure is inexcusable."
Now, Rice is vying to keep his seat in the deep-red state that
swung for Trump by more than 11 points in the 2020 election. Trump, who after
Rice's impeachment vote called him a "coward who abandoned his
constituents by caving to (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and the Radical
Left," has endorsed South Carolina state Rep. Russell Fry.
-- Ella Lee
Nevadans of color, climate change and the primaries
Cheryl Ward has noticed more summer wildfires in her
hometown of Elko, Nevada, than ever.
Last year, 610 fires burned 134,145 acres in Nevada. The
number of acres burnt by wildfires in Nevada more than doubled from
the 1980-to-1999 period to the stretch from 2000 to 2018.
“We’ve had more and more severe fires as we have the increase in
the temperatures each year and less precipitation,” Ward told the Reno
Gazette Journal, part of the Gannett network, in April. “But a lot of
people here in Elko do
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