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


Welcome!

It's primary day in Georgia, Idaho, Oregon and Kentucky! We've got a break from Senate contests tonight — none of these states have U.S. Senate seats up for election in 2024 — but we'll be closely tracking U.S. House primary action and some other key races. Here's a quick roadmap of what to expect throughout the evening.

Kentucky has the earliest poll closing time tonight (6 p.m. Eastern in the eastern part of the state, 7 p.m. Eastern in the western part), but also probably the sleepiest races, with no seriously competitive House contests. We'll see more action in Georgia, where polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern and we're tracking a competitive open-seat GOP primary and a challenge to an aging Democratic incumbent. Plus, a competitive state Supreme Court race could tell us something about how much abortion is motivating voters in a key swing state.

After that, you may want to take a dinner break or, perhaps, watch Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals. The next polls close at 10 p.m. Eastern in (most of) Idaho, where incumbent centrist Republican Rep. Mike Simpson is fending off a conservative challenger. Finally, (most of) Oregon's polls close at 11 p.m. Eastern; a couple of primaries there have seen big spending from controversial sources.

As a bonus nightcap, a special election runoff in California will have an immediate impact on House majority math as voters fill former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's old seat, which has been empty since the start of the year. Polls close there at 11 p.m. Eastern as well.
—Tia Yang, 538