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:
Final thought: A good night for Democratic women
Although the table here suggests a lot of Democratic women lost tonight, that's because a lot of Democratic women ran. But Democrats nominated women in a number of places that will be competitive or safe in November, like Maryland's Senate race, and in Maryland's 3rd and 6th Districts. As I mentioned earlier on the blog, as of May 8, 41 percent of Democratic nominees are women, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. Tonight will likely boost that number.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor
Final thought: Trone didn't break the self-funding record for a Senate race
Trone ended up spending just about $62 million out of his own pocket in Maryland's Democratic primary for Senate, but it wasn't enough for him to defeat Alsobrooks. It also left Trone just short of the all-time record for self-funding in a Senate race. In 2018, now-Sen. Rick Scott spent more than $63 million of his personal wealth on his successful campaign. (He's up for reelection this year.) But to put that in perspective, Scott spent that amount over the course of the whole cycle, whereas Trone shelled out nearly the same total for just the primary!
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538
Final thought: Incumbents are powerful
My main final thought for the night is that we've seen once again how powerful incumbency can be. Incumbents won against far-right challengers in primaries throughout the states. In the race I was watching, West Virginia's 1st, there was very little daylight between the two Republican candidates, Miller and Evans. Both were extremely loyal to Trump and the MAGA agenda, but Evans's candidacy largely hinged on him being more loyal to Trump than his opponent because he actually protested on Jan. 6, while Miller had avoided angering the base by voting against certifying the election. As we race toward an election that appears to be a 2020 rematch, the same 2020 spirit pervades many downballot races as well.
—Monica Potts, 538
Final thoughts from a busy night?
All the races we were tracking tonight have now been projected! What are everyone’s takeaways from the night’s results?
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
West Virginia's Moore-Capito political dynasty
The names Moore and Capito look set to remain emblazoned on West Virginia's political landscape. We've mentioned that Riley Moore has claimed the GOP nomination in West Virginia's 2nd District, making it very likely that he'll join his aunt, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, in Congress after the 2024 general election. Meanwhile, the senator's son, Moore Capito, is currently in second place in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
The Moore name has been around West Virginia politics for quite a while. Sen. Capito's father, Arch Moore Jr., was a major figure in West Virginia politics for decades. He served in the U.S. House for six terms, served an unprecedented three terms as governor (in two separate stints) and also lost major statewide contests for Senate and governor. After leaving the governorship the second time, he pleaded guilty to federal charges related to bribery, extortion, tax fraud and obstruction of justice, serving time in prison as a result. Going even farther back, Arch Moore Jr.'s grandfather had been a minority leader in the state House of Delegates.
Seems like the Moore-Capito clan's tenure will only grow from here on.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538