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:
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
Trump and Justice celebrate their GOP Senate primary victory
Former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Justice in October, celebrated the governor's victory on his social media account shortly after the race was called in West Virginia. "Congratulations to Big Jim Justice!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Justice, in his own post (on X), nodding to the former president's "America-First" agenda. "Thank you, West Virginia, for placing your support and trust in me. I am truly humbled and will work every day to win in November so we can flip the Senate and deliver on our America-First agenda!" Justice wrote.
The two have a short but storied history. Justice switched his party registration from Democratic to Republican in 2017, announcing the high-profile shift at a Trump rally in Huntington, West Virginia.
—Isabella Murray, ABC News