Georgia, Oregon, Idaho and Kentucky primaries 2024: Willis, McAfee win; tough night for progressives

Abortion didn’t help liberals flip a Georgia Supreme Court seat.

On May 21, voters in Georgia, Idaho, Oregon, Kentucky and California held key elections for Congress and nationally watched local races. Two key figures from one of Trump’s legal cases, Fani Willis and Scott McAfee, easily won their races, while conservatives won a Georgia Supreme Court election fought largely over abortion. In the House, progressives lost two key races in Oregon, while California voters picked a successor to Kevin McCarthy.

As usual, 538 reporters and contributors broke down the election results as they came in with live updates, analysis and commentary. Read our full live blog below.


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Knott County, Kentucky, residents will soon be able to buy booze

In Kentucky, each county can determine whether to allow alcohol sales, and to what degree. In the 2023 general election, several counties approved the sale of alcohol after having been dry for decades. Tonight, after 3 previous failed attempts, a small southeastern Kentucky county finally voted to approve liquor sales. Cheers, Knott County.

—Mary Radcliffe, 538


Keeping an eye on a GOP incumbent in Idaho’s 2nd District primary

Polls close in part of Idaho in about a half an hour, but the only race we're really watching there is the GOP primary in the 2nd Congressional District. Republican Rep. Mike Simpson has represented the solidly red seat since first winning it in 1998, and he seems more likely than not to claim a 14th term in Congress this year. However, Simpson's relatively centrist brand has previously caused him trouble, like in 2022 when he only won 55 percent against a well-funded primary challenger.

Now, Simpson doesn't have the same scale of opposition this time around: His main competitor is Scott Cleveland, an Ada County (Boise) GOP central committee member running to Simpson's right who's only raised $100,000. Still, we're keeping an eye on Simpson's vote share because some establishment Republicans this cycle have had weak primary performances against more right-wing challengers, like Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack and Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales (who still has to face his challenger again in a May 28 runoff).

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538


Scott still has a big lead in Georgia's 13th District Democratic primary

With 62 percent of the expected vote in, incumbent Georgia Rep. Scott has 61 percent of the vote so far, according to The Associated Press. His closest challenger, Baker, a former city council member who lost to Scott in 2022, is at 11 percent.

—Monica Potts, 538


Barrow wasn’t always such a crusader for abortion rights

Matt Klein, from the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, reminds us that before reinventing himself as a crusader for abortion rights in this year's election, Barrow was a conservative Blue Dog Democrat in Congress:

Hard to come up with a better illustration of the old way to win elections as a Democrat in the Deep South vs. the new way!

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538


Georgia voters split on issue priorities by partisanship — except on the economy

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