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.


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Morrisey projected to win in West Virginia

ABC News reports that Morrisey is projected to win the Republican primary for governor of West Virginia — thus making him the heavy favorite to succeed Justice in Charleston next year. With 91 percent of the expected vote reporting, Morrisey is leading Capito 34 percent to 28 percent.

As you can see in the map below, Morrisey's win was built on his strength in West Virginia's border counties, which perhaps makes sense for a candidate not originally from the state. Capito, meanwhile, is winning a few central counties like Charleston's Kanawha County, and Miller is doing well in southwestern West Virginia — the heart of coal country.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538


Another EMILY's List endorsee wins

With Alsobrooks as the projected Democratic winner in the Maryland Senate race according to reporting by ABC News, EMILY's List can chalk up another win. We've been tracking EMILY's List endorsees in primaries and how they're faring. So far, they've endorsed 12 non-incumbent women (including Alsobrooks). Of these, just three have lost their primaries (who all happen to be in California).

If Alsobrooks wins in November, she will be just the third Black woman ever elected to the Senate.

—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor


Trone had a ceiling

Yeah, Geoffrey, and it was a pretty convincing win for Alsobrooks at that. Pretty impressive after she trailed in polls for almost the entire primary — only the last two polls showed her ahead, and in our final average, Trone was still leading by 2 points. But Trone seemed to have a ceiling, as he just did not gain much support no matter how much more money he spent.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538


Alsobrooks projected in Maryland's Democratic primary for Senate

ABC News is reporting that Alsobrooks is projected to win the Democratic primary in Maryland's U.S. Senate race. With 53 percent of the expected vote reporting, Alsobrooks leads 53 percent to 43 percent. As the map below shows, she's ahead in the four largest localities in the state right now: Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore Counties, plus the city of Baltimore. She will face Hogan in November.

—Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News


That's a wrap!

This week's primaries are ovah, so we're calling it a night! Here are the most important races where ABC News has reported a projection:

- Maryland's Senate matchup is set. In the GOP primary, former Gov. Larry Hogan easily dispatched his primary opposition, giving Republicans their best possible nominee for what will still be a very tough general election in deep-blue Maryland. In the Democratic primary, meanwhile, Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks edged out Rep. David Trone in an expensive, hard-fought race. She now has the chance to become just the third Black woman elected to the Senate in U.S. history.

- In Maryland's 3rd District, state Sen. Sarah Elfreth won the very crowded Democratic primary, defeating Harry Dunn, the former Capitol Hill police officer who helped defend the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection. Given the district's blue lean, Elfreth should win in November, adding more women to the House, where women are still just 29 percent of its members.

- Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won the Republican primary for West Virginia governor in a close race over former state Del. Moore Capito. He's heavily favored to win in November in this red state and will likely be a hardline conservative governor, as he's associated with the tea party wing of the party.

- In the GOP primary for West Virginia senator, Gov. Jim Justice easily defeated Rep. Alex Mooney, carrying all but four counties in exurban Washington, D.C. Justice will be heavily favored to win the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who announced his retirement last year.

- In the Republican primary for West Virginia's 1st District, incumbent Rep. Carol Miller fended off a far-right challenge from former state Sen. Derrick Evans, who'd previously served three months in jail after being found guilty in a case related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. She'll be favored to comfortably hold on to her seat in November.

- In the Republican primary for West Virginia's 2nd District, state Treasurer Riley Moore romped to victory over several other GOP candidates vying to succeed Mooney (who ran for Senate). Moore is the nephew of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and the grandson of former Gov. Arch Moore; he'll be a shoo-in this fall for the deeply Republican seat.

- In Maryland's 6th District, which was vacated by Trone for his ill-fated Senate bid, Democrats went with a familiar name in their primary: April McClain Delaney, a former Biden administration official whose husband, John Delaney, held this seat for six years before Trone. On the Republican side, voters once again expressed their support for Neil Parrott, a local lawmaker who was the GOP nominee in 2020 and 2022. Delaney will be favored in the general election, but this is a seat that could get competitive under the right circumstances for Republicans.

- In Maryland's 2nd District, Democratic voters nominated Baltimore County Executive John "Johnny O" Olszewski Jr. to face off against Republican political commentator and frequent political candidate Kimberly Klacik. Biden won general election voters in this district 59 to 39 percent in 2020, so it's highly likely Johnny O will be the next representative of this northern-Baltimore seat.

- In Nebraska's 2nd District, Rep. Don Bacon easily turned back a primary challenge from right-wing Republican Dan Frei. That's bad news for Democrats, who would've had a much easier time beating Frei than Bacon in November in this swing seat.

—G. Elliott Morris, Monica Potts, Nathaniel Rakich and Geoffrey Skelley, 538; Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor; and Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections