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.


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ABC projects Moreno to win

ABC News has projected Moreno will win the GOP primary for Senate in Ohio, setting up a clash with three-term incumbent Sherrod Brown this fall. Moreno was endorsed by Trump, but also benefitted from spending by a Democratic super PAC that viewed him as a weaker general election opponent than the man he beat, state Sen. Matt Dolan.

—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections


Trump's having a good night so far

Let's check in on how Trump's three endorsed candidates are doing tonight! As it turns out, all three are currently leading their races (though we're just now getting the very first results from Illinois's 12th District, so take that one with a grain or ten of salt).

—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections


The AP has called for Moreno

The Associated Press has called the GOP Senate primary in Ohio for Moreno, though ABC News has not yet made a projection. He currently leads with about 42 percent of the vote, and 25 percent of the expected vote reporting.

—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections


Abortion may motivate Ohio Democrats

Cooper, I wonder how much the potential threat of limiting abortion access in Ohio could impact that Supreme Court race. In 2023, voters in the state passed a constitutional amendment protecting abortion access. In a sign that abortion may continue to be an issue that divides Republican-leaning voters, a November Emerson College/WJW-TV/Nexstar survey conducted just after that election asked registered Ohio voters how they voted on the abortion measure and how they plan to vote in November this year.

Twenty-six percent of those who voted to pass the abortion rights measure said they plan to vote for Donald Trump, suggesting that a fair number of Republican or Republican-leaning voters supported it. (In comparison, just 10 percent of those who voted against the measure said they planned to vote for Joe Biden.) Abortion also seemed to drive turnout among Democratic-leaning voters in last November's election: Among those that said they voted on the abortion referendum (either for or against), 41 percent said they'd vote for Biden, while only 28 percent of those who didn't vote supported Biden. (About half of both 2023 voters and nonvoters supported Trump.)

So if the issue of abortion becomes salient in the state Supreme Court race, there could be a close race coming our way in November.

—Mary Radcliffe, 538


How geography has helped make for a close Illinois's 12th District GOP primary

With 68 percent of the expected vote reporting, Bost leads Bailey 53 percent to 47 percent in the Republican primary in Illinois's 12th District. But Bost looks to be on pace for a potentially narrower win — and perhaps could even lose. After the 2020 Census, Illinois Democrats drew a gerrymander that packed more Republican-leaning turf into Bost's 12th District in southern Illinois, which he had represented since 2015. About half of the new-look version of the seat had been in Bost's old district, but much of the eastern part of the seat was new to him. Meanwhile, Bailey's old state Senate seat made up a large chunk of that eastern section, giving him a geographical base of support for this primary despite facing the incumbent Bost.

As things stand, Bost is winning about 70 percent of the vote so far in the area he represented prior to the 2022 election, while Bailey is winning 73 percent in the counties that were in his old state Senate seat. The two are running about even in the remaining turf. The good news for Bost is that more of the primary vote will likely come from his neck of the woods. But the good news for Bailey is that more outstanding votes are likely left to be counted in his area of the district. A back of the envelope calculation based on each candidate's showing so far would put Bost up about 51 percent to 49 percent by the time all is said and done, but that is too close to call.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538