Missouri, Michigan, Washington and Kansas primaries 2024: Cori Bush loses

When looking ahead to this primary day, a blast from the past popped up on the radar in Kansas: former Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda is seeking her party's nomination in Kansas's solidly red 2nd District. With a little more than a quarter of the expected vote in per the AP, Boyda and community developer Matt Kleinmann are running neck and neck in the Democratic primary. (To be clear, the eventual nominee will almost certainly lose in November.)

Turning back the clock, Boyda ran for an old version of the 2nd District in 2004, losing badly to conservative Republican Rep. Jim Ryun. But during the 2006 blue wave, Boyda made headlines when she defeated Ryun. Yet Boyda lost reelection by 5 points in 2008 despite what was broadly another strong Democratic cycle. Her defeat may have come in part from her decision to ask the DCCC — the Democrats' House campaign arm — to not run ads on her behalf, prompting them to cancel a $1.2 million ad buy. Boyda later left a remorseful voicemail with then-DCCC Chair (and now Sen.) Chris Van Hollen, asking him to use her as an example in the future if members wanted to reject the DCCC's assistance. Boyda then served in the Obama administration before trying her hand at a Senate bid in the 2020 cycle, although she dropped out of the race before the primary.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538

Yeah, Jacob, which is kind of remarkable after Kansas Republicans cracked Wyandotte County between two districts in the 2022 redistricting process in order to make Davids more vulnerable. Her district went from 53 to 44 percent Biden to 51 to 47 percent Biden. However, the district is zooming to the left so quickly that it doesn't seem to have mattered. Davids won reelection in 2022 by 12 points.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538

Nathaniel, candidly, the 3rd District is a clear second- or third-tier target for Republicans, which may explain a bit of why nobody was there to make sure Reddy was dotting his i’s and crossing his t’s. Just take a look at the TV reservations from the major outside groups on both sides of the aisle — the NRCC and Congressional Leadership Fund for Republicans, and the DCCC and House Majority PAC for Democrats. Democrats have laid down just $800,000 in the Kansas City media market, while Republicans have put down a whopping $0.

—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections

Jacob, I'm surprised that Reddy is doing so poorly given his financial advantage, but in-district observers seem to have had a feeling something like this might happen. As Matt Klein wrote for the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Reddy ran kind of a lackluster campaign, and Crnkovich even snagged the endorsement of the Kansas City Star.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538