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.
Latest headlines:
Checking in on anti-abortion candidates
Two of the four anti-abortion Republican candidates we've been tracking in Kentucky are projected to win their races, according to The Associated Press. Incumbents Guthrie and Massie prevailed against their challengers, while Edwards lost to incumbent Rogers.
In Georgia, Yu, McCormick, Scott, Clyde, Collins, and Greene were uncontested in their respective districts. In the 11th District Republican primary, Loudermilk is projected to defeat his challenger. With just over half the expected vote reporting, he has 88 percent of the vote.
—Monica Potts, 538
Some downballot drama in Georgia
Looking a little further down the ballot in the Peach State, Democrats are hoping they can reclaim the state legislative 56th District in Atlanta. Technically, Democrats won this seat in the last election, but state Rep. Mesha Mainor switched parties last year, after Democrats criticized her conservative stance on issues like school vouchers and policing.
Mainor is running unopposed in the GOP primary tonight, but four candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination, including 23-year-old public school math teacher Bryce Berry, who is currently leading with 55 percent, with half of the expected votes in. Berry has accumulated a decent war chest for a state House race, and has the endorsement of some high profile state Democrats, including House Democratic chairman Bill Mitchell and several local state Reps and state Senators, so it's not a total surprise to see him in the lead. If he wins the nomination tonight, he'll square off against Mainor in the fall to see if the Democrats can prevail despite no longer having the incumbent candidate.
—Kaleigh Rogers, 538
A good sign for November?
It’s only 8 p.m. Eastern, and yet 40 percent of the statewide vote is reporting in Georgia and we have a pretty good feel for where these races are headed. That could be a good sign for November, when Georgia will obviously be one of the most closely watched states in the nation. A clear winner here early-ish on election night would do a lot to avoid a repeat of 2020, when a winner wasn’t projected until the Saturday after the election. (And yes, I’m still traumatized from that.)
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
McBath projected to win her primary
McBath is projected to win her primary in Georgia's 6th District, according to The Associated Press. She is likely to win reelection in November, in this safely blue (and recently redrawn) seat.
—Monica Potts, 538
The lesson out of Oregon
Based on the blowouts in Oregon’s 3rd and 5th District Democratic primaries, is the lesson here just “big spending works”?
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538