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:
McBath holding a strong lead in her new district
Because of redistricting, McBath is running in a redrawn 6th district instead of the 7th, which she currently represents. But her name recognition and fundraising strength looks like they're carrying over. With 37 percent of the expected vote in, she has a commanding 88 percent of the vote, according to the AP.
—Monica Potts, 538
The main characters in Trump’s Georgia trial are coasting tonight
If you’ve been following Trump’s legal woes, some of the names on today’s ballot will be familiar to you: Both Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who charged Trump in connection with his efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, and Judge Scott McAfee, who’s overseeing the case, are running for reelection this year. And neither one of them is encountering any trouble: The AP is already projecting that Willis has won her Democratic primary 90 percent to 11 percent over a token challenger. And the AP has also projected that McAfee will win reelection over his “conservative Democratic” opponent, 83 percent to 17 percent.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
There are no Republican women running in Georgia's 3rd
The primary for the GOP nomination in Georgia's 3rd District is a competitive one! Its a safely red district, where an incumbent is not seeking reelection, but as I mentioned earlier on the liveblog, there aren't any Republican women among the field. In 2020, we watched where Republicans were nominating women and found that through the August races, only six out of 77 Republican women who had won GOP nomination won in a safe Republican seat. A whopping 49 of those women won in safe Democratic seats. In other words, they were winning primaries in places where they won't win in November. We'll be looking at whether this is the case in 2024, too.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor
Scott leading in Georgia's 13th
With over a third of the expected vote in, incumbent Scott is leading in the Democratic primary in Georgia's 13th congressional district with 60 percent of the vote so far, according to the AP. The race is a microcosm of the issues affecting the entire Democratic Party, with his younger, newer challengers attacking his age, potential health and time in office. But the crowded field my split the vote against him.
—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