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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Is a Democratic incumbent in danger in Georgia’s 13th?

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


Who will be the next representative for Georgia’s 3rd District?

After Rep. Drew Ferguson announced his retirement from Georgia’s 3rd District in December, five Republicans threw their hats into the ring for the primary — which will be tantamount to election in a seat former President Donald Trump would have won 64 percent to 34 percent in 2020. The front-runner looks to be Brian Jack, a longtime Trump staffer who helped coordinate the former president’s endorsements in downballot races like this one.

It won’t surprise you to learn, then, that Trump has endorsed Jack in this race, and Jack has raised the most money as well ($925,000 as of May 1). However, the primary also features two former local elected officials who have raised credible sums too: former state Sen. Mike Crane ($559,000) and former state Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan ($398,000). The crowded field also raises the prospect that no candidate will receive a majority of the vote, which would trigger a June 18 runoff.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538


There aren’t many Republican women running in today’s primaries

There aren't many Republican women to watch today in Kentucky, Georgia, Idaho or Oregon.

In Georgia, eight out of nine Republican House incumbents are running for reelection. The only open seat (due to retirement) is in the solidly Republican 3rd District, and there are no women among the five hopefuls, so the GOP won't be adding any more women to their state's congressional delegation. The only Republican woman in the delegation is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who represents the 14th District and is running unopposed in her party primary. Georgia also happens to be one of 18 states that have never had a female governor.

In Idaho, both House incumbents (who are Republican men) are running for reelection, and their only challengers are men. Like Georgia, Idaho is one of the 18 states that has never had a female governor (they've never had a female senator, either). Similarly in Kentucky, the five Republican incumbents in the House are running for reelection either unopposed or without serious primary competition; those incumbents and their challengers are all men.

In Oregon, there are two Republican primaries, in the 4th and 6th Districts, where voters will choose who faces off against two Democratic incumbent women. No Republican women are running in the 6th District race to challenge Rep. Andrea Salinas, who won her general election in 2022 by less than 3 points. But in the 4th District, two women are running to face Rep. Val Hoyle, who won her seat by 7 points in 2022: Air Force veteran and attorney, Monique DeSpain, and former Keizer city councilmember, Amy Ryan Courser. DeSpain has vastly outraised Courser and is endorsed by Maggie's List, a group working to elect more Republican women to Congress.

—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor


One of today’s biggest elections is for Georgia Supreme Court

Georgia Supreme Court elections are usually quiet affairs; from 2012 to 2018, not a single one was even contested. But this year, a clash over abortion has thrust one of these races into the spotlight. While ideological control of the court isn't at stake on Tuesday, a win by Democrats' preferred candidate in this contentious race could tell us something about the electoral landscape in Georgia, and the continuing salience of abortion, ahead of November.

Four of the court's nine justices are up for reelection this year, and three are running unopposed. But the court's newest member, Justice Andrew Pinson, drew a challenge from former Rep. John Barrow. Georgia Supreme Court elections are technically nonpartisan, but in this race, the battle lines are clear: Pinson was first appointed to the court by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, and Barrow is a former Democratic member of Congress who has campaigned on the idea that Georgia's six-week abortion ban is unconstitutional.

Barrow's comments on abortion got him in hot water with the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission for taking a position on an issue that he might have to rule on if he is elected to the court. Barrow went to federal court to argue that he had a free speech right to say whatever he wanted in his campaign, but a judge disagreed — and he could face charges, and even be removed from the Georgia Supreme Court should he win on Tuesday, if he continues to speak out on abortion.

Barrow's campaign is undoubtedly hoping that the kerfuffle, and the issue of abortion more generally, will energize liberals to vote for him on Tuesday. But based on the usual metrics, Pinson looks favored to keep his seat. We haven't seen any polls of the race, but Pinson has outraised Barrow $1.5 million to $881,000, and Kemp is spending $500,000 on Pinson's behalf too.

Importantly, a victory for Barrow wouldn't drastically alter the Georgia Supreme Court's partisan makeup; eight of the court's nine justices, including Pinson, were appointed by Republican governors. But Democrats would surely see an upset win from Barrow as more evidence that abortion is a winning issue for them.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538


Major outside spending could tip the scales in Oregon’s 3rd District

Looking ahead to Oregon's results, the Portland-based 3rd District hosts one of the big contests of the night. Longtime Rep. Earl Blumenauer's retirement has left open this solidly blue seat, and three contenders with progressive brands are competing for the Democratic nomination: state Rep. Maxine Dexter, former Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal and Gresham City Councilor Eddy Morales. At first blush, Jayapal looked to be the front-runner, as she previously represented close to 30 percent of the 3rd District's overall population — far more than Dexter or Morales. She also sports ties to national progressives via her younger sister, Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Yet a late campaign cash bonanza may have turned the race on its head, to Dexter's benefit. Pre-primary financial reports through May 1 showed that Dexter had received a massive late boost to bring her campaign total to $919,000, ahead of Jayapal's $773,000 and Morales's $606,000. And from May 2 to May 19, Dexter reported $419,000 in major contributions, far more than her opponents' combined $150,000. Meanwhile, outside groups have spent more than $5 million either supporting Dexter or opposing Jayapal. The 314 Action Fund, a progressive group that supports candidates with science backgrounds, has doled out $2.2 million on ads promoting Dexter and a super PAC with unclear ties, Voters for Responsive Government, has spent $3.2 million on spots attacking Jayapal.

This surge of money has brooked controversy because it appears at least partly connected to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a bipartisan pro-Israel group opposed to progressive critics of Israel's military action in Gaza. While Dexter supports "a negotiated cease-fire" and Morales has called for aid to Gaza, Jayapal has emphasized her consistent and early calls for a cease-fire — so it would follow that groups like AIPAC would prefer that someone else wins. Tellingly, an analysis by Oregon Public Broadcasting found that a substantial portion of Dexter's last-minute donors have a history of giving to AIPAC, and some recently supported notable Republicans such as House Speaker Mike Johnson.

More controversially, The Intercept published reports in early May alleging that AIPAC funneled money to the 314 Action Fund to spend on Dexter's behalf, presumably because more direct intervention by AIPAC could backfire in a progressive-inclined district. The 314 Action Fund denied the allegations, and in the last pre-primary filing from the group on Monday evening, it turned out that a substantial chunk of the organization's recently raised cash came from billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and financier Rob Granieri. Either way, the money could prove to be a massive difference-maker for Dexter's campaign.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538