Maryland, West Virginia and Nebraska primaries 2024: Alsobrooks beats Trone, GOP incumbents survive
538 tracked over 10 competitive primaries for Senate, House and governor.
Tuesday, May 14 was another busy primary day, as voters in three states decided who would be on their general election ballots this fall. In Maryland, Democrats nominated women in two safely Democratic congressional seats, including Angela Alsobrooks, who is poised to become only the third Black woman ever elected to the Senate. In West Virginia and Nebraska, incumbent Republican representatives fended off far-right challengers.
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:
Johnny O's lead is Johnny whoa
Not only did Olszewski win, Elliott, but he is blowing the competition out of the water with 82 percent of the vote (with 30 percent of the expected vote reporting). I can't remember ever seeing a non-incumbent doing that well in a primary.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Maryland race has its GOP Senate nominee, but Democratic race is close
ABC News reports that former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is projected to win the Maryland Republican Senate primary. He leads Ficker 68 percent to 24 percent with 28 percent of the expected vote reporting. The popular former governor can now look ahead to a difficult campaign to win in his blue state, but one that has put the race on the map.
And with 25 percent of the expected vote reporting in the Democratic primary, Alsobrooks holds a slim lead over Trone, 49 percent to 48 percent. It's early to make much of the county-level patterns here, but it may be a good sign for Alsobrooks that she's down only 53 percent to 43 percent in Montgomery County, which is Trone's home county and where part of his congressional district sits. Meanwhile, she's taking care of business at home, as Alsobrooks leads 69 percent to 29 percent in Prince George's County.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538
'Johnny O' gets a projected W in Maryland's 2nd District's Democratic primary
ABC News reports John Olszewski, Jr., the county executive for Baltimore County, also known as "Johnny O," is projected to win the Democratic primary for Maryland's 2nd Congressional District. He will face Republican nominee Kimberly Klacik, a commentator and former nominee for Maryland's 7th Congressional District, in November.
—G. Elliott Morris, 538
Get ready for Senator Babydog
With Justice very likely to get elected to the Senate in the fall, the nation is about to meet Babydog, his bulldog who has become a folk icon in West Virginia during his governorship.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Answer: Electability, shmectability
Echoing what everyone else has said about Alsobrooks, I also would question the utility of being seen as "electable" in the first place. Plenty have written over the years about how the term can carry with it racial or gender-based undertones — the electability conversation loomed large leading up to the 2020 election, when a number of women were vying to be the Democratic nominee. But nationwide considerations about electability are one thing; I'm doubtful it'll matter at all in deep-blue Maryland.
—Irena Li, 538