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:
Moore leading in West Virginia's 2nd
As I wrote earlier, West Virginia voters have a slew of anti-abortion candidates to choose from. Justice represents the first winner on that list. Miller and Evans in the 1st District are both on our list, and several candidates in the 2nd District also qualify as anti-abortion candidates by our definition.
With the first batch of about 12 percent of the votes in, incumbent Miller is comfortably leading her challenger, Evans, in West Virginia's 1st congressional district. The current leader in the 2nd District is Moore, with 48 percent of the vote share (27 points ahead of his closest rival) and 21 percent of the expected vote reporting. Three candidates for West Virginia governor are also anti-abortion, including the current leader, Morrisey.
—Monica Potts, 538
West Virginia polls seem to have been ... mostly ... on target
So far, it looks like the polls in West Virginia's GOP Senate and gubernatorial primaries did a pretty solid job, even with the four-way pileup for governor.
However, there is one race looks to be a bit of a polling miss in the state: the GOP primary for attorney general. So far, with about 20 percent of the expected vote reporting, state Auditor John McCuskey leads state Senator Mike Stuart by 22 points, a far cry from the 1-point race we saw in recent preelection polling from Research America/WV Metro News. McCuskey significantly outspent Stuart throughout the race, and it looks like that investment might be paying off.
—Mary Radcliffe, 538
Blankenship bears a striking resemblance to another oddball figure in politics
Every time I see a picture of him, I have to remind myself he's not Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy. They have an uncanny resemblance.
—Mary Radcliffe, 538
Justice projected to win GOP West Virginia Senate primary
ABC News reports Jim Justice is projected to win the West Virginia Republican Senate primary. In a deep-red state, he is also overwhelmingly likely to defeat his Democratic opponent. That race is yet to be projected.
—G. Elliott Morris, 538
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