WASHINGTON – 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:
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
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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-nomination
In 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
More:Primary takeaways: Trump's revenge tour falters in Georgia as Kemp, Raffensperger crush GOP rivals
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 don’t realize that. They think it’s just change that’s happened throughout history.”
Ward is a Republican and a Latina – among the many voters of color who made up 36% of Nevada's electorate in 2020 and who will cast ballots Tuesday in the state's primary elections.
-- Dylan Wells and Mabinty Quarshie
Read the whole story here:Nevadans of color worry about climate change, but will that change their primary votes?
GOP Rep. Mace voted to certify the 2020 election but says she backs Trump
Rep. Nancy Mace's criticism of Trump over the Capitol riot landed her a Trump-backed challenger in Tuesday's primary election, even as Mace now scrambles to woo Republicans and prove that she does, in fact, support the president, despite a vote to certify Joe Biden's victory in 2020.
Mace's maneuvering is about more than just her district, though. For people across the political spectrum, the race will help answer a basic question: How far can Republicans buck Donald Trump and still survive in office?
-- Dylan Wells
Read the whole story here:GOP Rep. Mace voted to certify the 2020 election but says she backs Trump. Can she win her S.C. primary?
In Nevada GOP primary, secretary of state role could see big changes
A prominent election conspiracy theorist, a pastor who is also a local councilman and a businessman who has loaned his campaign close to half a million dollars are among seven Republicans vying to be Nevada’s next secretary of state.
But while their backgrounds run the gamut, the GOP candidates have broadly centered on platforms of strengthening election security, a catchall term for proposals Republicans see as essential but that Democrats warn could suppress large swathes of voters.
The race comes to a head in Nevada's primary election on Tuesday. While the secretary of state position has often been seen as more bureaucratic than partisan, the role has recently become a flashpoint across the country for not just the counting of votes, but also for which votes get counted.
-- Ariel Gans and Katherine Huggins, Medill News Service
Read the whole story here:In Nevada GOP primary, candidates see a fundamental shift in the secretary of state role
