Election updates: Mixed results for Trump-backed candidates in GOP primaries

ABC News projects Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman will win the Senate Democratic primary in Pennsylvania -- after a stroke just five days ago took him off the campaign trail.

Fetterman, the lieutenant governor since 2019, who led in the polls for the Democratic nomination, beat out Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta. Fetterman and Kenyatta both staked out progressive positions on policy, while current Lamb is considered more centrist.

Fetterman will not be present at his campaign party Tuesday while he recovers in the hospital, but his wife, Gisele, will speak instead.

Earlier Tuesday, Fetterman underwent a "successful procedure," his campaign said, to get a pacemaker and defibrillator, after suffering a stroke late last week. He also voted via an emergency absentee ballot from his hospital.

Fetterman doesn't fit the mold for what a typical senator looks like: Standing 6-foot-8, he is bald, goateed and tattooed and frequently eschews traditional suits and ties in favor of shorts and Dickies shirts. He earned his master's degree in public policy from Harvard University but has campaigned with a blue-collar approach, having served as the mayor of the small borough of Braddock, just outside Pittsburgh, for 16 years before being elected alongside Gov. Tom Wolf, a fellow Democrat, four years ago.

The general election in Pennsylvania later this year could help decide the balance of power in Congress. Democrats see the Keystone State as their best shot to pick up a seat from retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.

Fetterman will face either Trump-backed Dr. Mehmet Oz, businessman David McCormick or right-wing fringe candidate Kathy Barnette.

Often when checking for candidates who endorse Trump's “big lie” -- his baseless claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent -- they wind up being fringe candidates or trailing in their races. But that’s less so the case Tuesday night, where multiple candidates who support 'the big lie" are competitive, or even the front-runners in some of tonight’s biggest races.

Take Pennsylvania, where Doug Mastriano, a retired Army colonel who marched with Trump supporters on Jan. 6, is the front-runner in the Republican primary for governor. He’s been a proponent of "the big lie" from the start, claiming in December 2020 that “cheating and fraud happened in our state.” As a state senator, he also attempted to launch a forensic “audit” of the state’s election results, similar to the partisan inquisition that took place in Arizona. (It failed to find any evidence of widespread fraud.) He recently gained Trump's endorsement.

"The big lie" has cast a shadow over another hot race: the GOP primary for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat. All three front-runners have offered mixed responses regarding whether they endorse the idea that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.

FiveThirtyEight's Kaleigh Rogers is tracking all of these races and others where “the big lie” believers are on the ticket here.

After news surfaced of voting issues in Lancaster County, it became clear that Berks County is also dealing with minor issues but will be able to keep its polling places open an extra hour.

The Reading Eagle, a local news outlet, reported that polling places in Berks County were having issues with new electronic poll books, forcing a return to paper. Attorneys for both Democratic and Republican county parties successfully filed emergency petitions to keep the polls open past the regular 8 p.m. closing time.

ABC News has projected Rep. Ted Budd will win the North Carolina GOP Senate primary, setting him up to run against North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley, the projected Democratic nominee, in November.

There were over 10 candidates in the GOP race -- but Budd, carrying the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, came out victorious and led the pack heading into the primary after lagging in the polls and in fundraising early on. Other candidates included former Gov. Pat McCrory, who had a record of running statewide, and former Rep. Mark Walker, a Trump loyalist who stayed in the race even though he faded down the stretch.

Budd voted against the certification of election results after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, though he has acknowledged Joe Biden’s legitimacy as president.

Democrats are hoping to pick up the seat from retiring Republican Sen. Richard Burr -- but it's an uphill battle as the seat leans red.