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

Like voters across the country, Georgia voters name "the economy (jobs, inflation, taxes)" as the most important issue facing the state, according to an April survey from Emerson College/The Hill/Nexstar. Thirty-five percent of registered Georgia voters selected the economy as the most important issue from a list provided by the pollster, including 28 percent of Democrats, 41 percent of Republicans, and 34 percent of independents, making it the top issue for all three groups.

After that, though, the groups diverged: 19 percent of Republicans selected immigration as the most important issue facing Georgia, while less than 1 percent of Democrats agreed. The second most chosen issue among Democrats in Georgia was healthcare, with 20 percent of registered Democrats saying it was the most important issue — unlike other states we've looked at so far this primary season, where threats to democracy and abortion access tended to be top issues for Democrats. Georgia Democrats do care about abortion as well: "abortion access" was the third most selected response among registered Democrats, with 12 percent selecting it, compared to just 2 percent of Republicans.

—Mary Radcliffe, 538

It's 7 p.m. Eastern, and polls have closed in the western half of Kentucky and in Georgia, which is home to several of tonight’s marquee races. Expect results shortly! There should be plenty of races to analyze until the next polls close (at 10 p.m. Eastern, in Idaho).

—Tia Yang, 538

As usual, tonight we'll be tracking candidates in Kentucky, Georgia, Idaho and Oregon House primaries whose campaign websites use the phrase "pro-life," "sanctity of life," "right to life," "protect life," "no abortion," "against abortion" or "unborn" and do not say abortion is an issue of states' rights.

In Kentucky and Idaho, abortion is completely banned with few exceptions, and in Georgia it is banned after six weeks of pregnancy. Of the six congressional seats in Kentucky, five lean Republican and three include at least one anti-abortion Republican on the ballot.

Twelve anti-abortion candidates are running in primaries in 10 of Georgia's 14 districts. Most of those districts are safe seats for one or the other party, though, so abortion is less likely to become a major deciding factor for voters in the fall.

Idaho's 2nd District is the only of its two districts with a competitive primary, and the incumbent, Rep. Mike Simpson, faces two challengers. Simpson and one of those challengers, Sean Higgins, are both on our list of anti-abortion candidates.

Oregon is one of the most protective states for abortion rights in the country, though four Republican primary candidates in the state are on this list today. Two of them are running in the state's only solid-red district, covering much of the non-coastal part of the state. The other two are in the safely Democratic 3rd District and the potentially competitive 4th District.

—Monica Potts, 538

I'm also keeping an eye on Rep. David Scott's performance in the 13th District Democratic primary. He hasn't always had the easiest time getting renominated (viz.: his 53 percent primary performance in 2020), and this year he's running in a district that is mostly new to him after court-ordered redistricting. (According to Daily Kos Elections, Scott's current constituents make up just 29 percent of the population of the new 13th District.)

Questions about the 78-year-old incumbent's age and health were likely another factor in attracting a larger field of challengers this year. Six Democrats are running against Scott, including Army veteran Marcus Flowers, who raised a whopping $17 million for his doomed 2022 campaign against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in the 14th District. In this campaign, though, he's raised only $180,000 to Scott's $936,000, so Scott is probably going to be OK. Again, the main question on Tuesday is whether he's forced into a runoff.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538