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:
Miller will get the chance to hold onto her seat in West Virginia's 1st
ABC News is reporting that Miller is projected to win the GOP primary against her challenger, Evans. She has 64 percent of the vote with a little more than a third of the expected vote reporting.
Miller has stood by Trump and even voted to overturn the 2020 election results, but that didn't stop Evans from calling her a "commie RINO." The primary was more evidence that state Republican Parties have been tearing themselves apart over issues like loyalty to Trump and the 2020 election results, even as there are only small differences between candidates.
—Monica Potts, 538
More Moores in Congress
ABC News reports that Riley Moore, the state treasurer, will win the GOP nomination in West Virginia's 2nd District. He'll be a shoo-in for the general election this fall and will take his seat alongside his aunt, Shelley Moore Capito, who is set to be the state's senior senator at the beginning of next Congress.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
Johnny O has a fortuitous last initial
This Olszewski ad might be my favorite of the cycle so far. He’s shamelessly capitalizing off the success of the American League East-leading Baltimore Orioles — nicknamed the O’s — one of the most exciting young teams in baseball.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Johnny O will face Kim Klacik in Maryland's 2nd
ABC News reports that Kim Klacik is the Republican's nominee for Maryland's 2nd. Klacik also ran in 2020, when her ad that followed her walking the streets of Baltimore in a red dress and heels went viral. You could write a book about how Republican women campaign for Congress (and people have, FWIW). Klacik's would earn its own chapter, if I was writing it!
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor
Maryland voters are more focused on crime than voters in other states
If you've followed our live blogs for previous elections, you're probably familiar with the issues that have generally been motivating voters across the country: for Republican primary voters, economic issues and immigration; for Democratic primary voters, abortion access and threats to democracy.
Well, Maryland is here to upset the trend! In a May poll from Emerson College/The Hill/WDVM-TV, registered Republicans were still most likely to select the "economy (jobs, inflation, taxes)" as the most important issue facing the state, with 38 percent choosing that issue. But the second-most chosen issue among Republicans was crime, at 18 percent, followed by immigration at 11 percent; no other issue was chosen by more than 10 percent of registered Republicans.
Among registered Democrats, we also see some differences from other states. They were most likely to select the economy, at 24 percent, then crime, at 17 percent. These were followed by "threats to democracy" at 16 percent, "housing affordability" at 15 percent and health care at 11 percent. Perhaps surprisingly, abortion access was selected by only 5 percent of registered Democrats in Maryland.
—Mary Radcliffe, 538