Illinois and Ohio primaries 2024: Trump-backed Senate candidate prevails in Ohio primary
538 tracked key House and Senate races, including a California special election.
November’s presidential matchup may be set, but Democrats and Republicans still need to decide who will run in hundreds of downballot races (e.g., for Senate and House) this fall. A batch of these contests were decided on Tuesday, March 19.
Tuesday was primary day in Ohio and Illinois, and in the biggest contest of the day, Republicans chose former President Donald Trump's endorsee Bernie Moreno as their candidate in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race. It was a good night for other Trump endorsees too, as Derek Merrin prevailed in the GOP primary for Ohio's 9th Congressional District, while incumbent Mike Bost is leading his challenger in Illinois's 12th District, as of early Wednesday morning. Plus, a special election in California could have immediate implications for House Republicans’ razor-thin majority.
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:
First results in Ohio's 9th
The first votes for Ohio's 9th Congressional District are rolling in, and with 13 percent of the expected vote reporting, Merrin is slightly ahead with 46 percent of the vote, while Riedel is second with 39 percent, and Lankeneau is a distant third (14 percent). As Nathaniel wrote earlier, Merrin was a late addition to the contentious race after audio leaked of Riedel calling Trump "arrogant." And as I wrote earlier, Merrin is no stranger to intra-Republican battles.
—Monica Potts, 538
Ohio Republican and Democratic primary voters have different concerns
As we wait for the first results to trickle in, let's take a look at the issues voters are thinking about in the state. Among likely primary voters in Ohio, Republicans are much more concerned about immigration than Democrats, according to a poll released last week by Emerson College/The Hill/Nexstar. Specifically, given a list of options, 27 percent of voters who said they were very likely to vote in the Republican primary selected "immigration" as the most important issue facing Ohio, while only 2 percent of very likely Democratic primary voters said the same.
Republican primary voters were also more likely than Democratic primary voters to name "the economy (jobs, inflation, taxes)" as the most important issue facing the state, 39 percent to 27 percent. On the flip side, likely Democratic primary voters were more likely than Republicans to select "abortion access," 15 percent to 3 percent, and "threats to democracy," 18 percent to 7 percent.
—Mary Radcliffe, 538
Polls are now closed in Ohio!
Polls have now closed across Ohio. The Buckeye State usually counts its early and mail votes first, so expect to see some large vote dumps right off the bat. A word of caution, though: Early and absentee votes are not necessarily representative of the electorate as a whole. We'll want to wait to get more Election Day votes in before drawing any concrete conclusions.
—Cooper Burton, 538
A quiet but consequential primary in Ohio's 13th
Rounding out our key House races in Ohio as polls close at 7:30, the Republican primary has been pretty uneventful in another Ohio swing seat: the 13th District, which Biden would have carried by 3 percentage points in 2020. Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes will likely face either former state Sen. Kevin Coughlin or Hudson City Councilor Chris Banweg in November. Not much distinguishes the two, though: They both support Trump and share the same conservative positions on abortion, immigration, guns and more. And they both have raised only modest amounts of money: $332,000 for Coughlin, $280,000 for Banweg. Sykes, by contrast, has pulled in $1.9 million for her reelection bid so far.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Big spending in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary
The GOP primary for Senate in Ohio is, by leaps and bounds, the most expensive Republican primary race of the cycle — and the second-most expensive Senate primary overall this year (after California’s Senate contest). The three major Republican candidates and their allies have spent a combined $41.2 million through March 19.
The spending picture has largely been dominated by Dolan and Moreno, with LaRose, who is not personally wealthy like the other two, unable to keep pace. Dolan has spent $10.6 million on advertising while Moreno has spent $8.5 million. LaRose has not spent money on broadcast TV, cable, over-the-top/streaming or digital ads, according to data from AdImpact.
When it comes to outside spending, Dolan’s allies at the super PACs Buckeye Leadership Fund (which is largely funded by Dolan’s family) and Defend Ohio Values have spent $7 million and $1.7 million, respectively, bringing the pro-Dolan total to $19.3 million in spending.
Moreno’s supporters at the Club for Growth ($5.9 million), Buckeye Values PAC ($1.3 million) and Win It Back PAC ($823,000) — plus $3.3 million from a Democratic super PAC boosting Moreno because they believe he’ll be an easier general election opponent for Brown — bring the pro-Moreno squad’s total ad outlay to just under $20 million.
LaRose, who raised just $2.2 million through the end of February, is relying on support from his allied super PAC, Leadership for Ohio. That group has spent $5.4 million to boost his bid.
Ultimately, LaRose’s lack of access to significant personal funds hindered his ability to capitalize on the early name ID and polling advantage he had as a two-time statewide elected official. Dolan donated $9 million to his campaign out of his own pocket, and Moreno put $4.2 million of his own money into his campaign.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections