Maryland, West Virginia and Nebraska primaries 2024: Alsobrooks beats Trone

For a few cycles now, 538 has been eyeing the relationship between the Democratic Party and its progressive wing by tracking primary endorsements from progressive groups. One progressive we've been watching for several cycles is Sen. Bernie Sanders. In 2018, capitalizing on the momentum gained from his 2016 Democratic primary, he became a real player when it came to elevating progressive candidates. That cycle, he endorsed in nine open primaries, but only five of whom won. In 2020, he endorsed in eight open primaries, six of whom won, and in 2022 he endorsed in ten primaries, eight of whom won.

In short, his endorsees are doing a little better, each cycle. Today's primaries marks his first open primary endorsement of the cycle — John Morse, a labor attorney, running in the very crowded Maryland's 3rd.

—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor

With 14 percent of the expected vote reporting, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice looks headed for an easy defeat of U.S. House Rep. Alex Mooney in the race to be the GOP nominee for Senator from West Virginia. Mooney currently leads Justice only in Jefferson and Berkeley Counties in the Northeastern panhandle of the state — an area with a lot of exurban communities of the Washington, DC, metro area. Our polling average for the race had Justice ahead of Mooney by 34 percentage points. He is currently up by 29 points, 59 percent to 30 percent, though of course it is still early in the night.

On the Democratic side, coal executive Don Blankenship currently trails his competition with 16 percent of the vote, and 10 percent of the expected vote reporting. Glenn Elliott, the mayor of Wheeling, West Virginia, holds a sizable lead over Zachary Shrewsbury, a Marine Corps veteran, though again it's too early to call a winner in that race too.

—G. Elliott Morris, 538

Nathaniel, in 2018 Blankenship won just four counties in the GOP primary. One of them was Mingo County, on the state's southern edge and Blankenship's home base. He won it with 45 percent of the vote in 2018, and in 2024 it's the only county he's carrying so far, with about 52 percent of the vote. Mingo was once staunchly Democratic but has zoomed rightward, as has most of the state. In 2004, John Kerry carried over George W. Bush by 13 percent. In 2020, Biden only won 13 percent of the vote!

—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections

Real heads may remember Blankenship, a convicted criminal, from 2018, when he almost won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, which would've been establishment Republicans' worst nightmare as they sought to take down Manchin. Well, he's trying for a comeback tonight in the Democratic primary for Senate, and he's in a distant third place.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538