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:
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 worried should Democrats be about the polls?
The general election campaign has only just begun, and already the presidential candidates are trying to crowd us out of the polling analysis business. At a recent campaign stop, Biden suggested the polls showing him losing to Trump nationally and in all the major battleground states may not be accurate because it takes “six zillion calls to get one person on their cell phone.”
In the latest installment of the 538 Politics podcast we assess whether Biden has a point and what we should make of general election polls seven and a half months out from voting. We also look back at a viral YouGov poll that showed 20 percent of young Americans believe the Holocaust is a myth. It turned out to likely be entirely bogus. Plus, we tackle the main event of the evening — the Republican Senate race in Ohio.
If you want to take a listen while we wait for results to come in, smash the play button below!
—Galen Druke, 538