Georgia, Oregon, Idaho and Kentucky primaries 2024: Tough night for progressives

If you are reading this live blog, then you are interested in down ballot primary elections, and what I'm about to say probably doesn't apply to you. But there is some evidence that Americans are tuning out the 2024 election. It wouldn't be totally shocking — after all, it's a rerun of the 2020 election and the candidates are two of the least liked in the modern era.

The more interesting question, though, is what that portends for turnout this fall. Will voters tune out, but still turnout? Would either candidate benefit from higher or lower turnout, as they have in record-breaking numbers over the past decade? This was a topic of discussion on the latest episode of the 538 Politics podcast, and if you're curious about it, I'd suggest taking a listen while we wait for results tonight. It's not just an academic question, after all — recent polls of likely voters show a more optimistic picture for Biden than polls of registered voters overall.

—Galen Druke, 538

It's primary day in Georgia, Idaho, Oregon and Kentucky! We've got a break from Senate contests tonight — none of these states have U.S. Senate seats up for election in 2024 — but we'll be closely tracking U.S. House primary action and some other key races. Here's a quick roadmap of what to expect throughout the evening.

Kentucky has the earliest poll closing time tonight (6 p.m. Eastern in the eastern part of the state, 7 p.m. Eastern in the western part), but also probably the sleepiest races, with no seriously competitive House contests. We'll see more action in Georgia, where polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern and we're tracking a competitive open-seat GOP primary and a challenge to an aging Democratic incumbent. Plus, a competitive state Supreme Court race could tell us something about how much abortion is motivating voters in a key swing state.

After that, you may want to take a dinner break or, perhaps, watch Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals. The next polls close at 10 p.m. Eastern in (most of) Idaho, where incumbent centrist Republican Rep. Mike Simpson is fending off a conservative challenger. Finally, (most of) Oregon's polls close at 11 p.m. Eastern; a couple of primaries there have seen big spending from controversial sources.

As a bonus nightcap, a special election runoff in California will have an immediate impact on House majority math as voters fill former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's old seat, which has been empty since the start of the year. Polls close there at 11 p.m. Eastern as well.
—Tia Yang, 538