New York, Colorado and Utah primaries 2024: Bowman loses, Boebert wins
Three Trump-endorsed candidates also lost in Republican primaries.
June 25 was one of the most jam-packed primary election days of the year: Democrats and Republicans in Colorado, New York, Utah and parts of South Carolina picked their party's nominees for this fall's elections.
Two incumbent representatives — Jamaal Bowman and Lauren Boebert — who have made enemies inside and outside their own parties faced serious challengers in their primaries, but they met with different fates. Bowman lost to a more moderate Democrat, George Latimer, in what was the most expensive congressional primary in history. However, Boebert easily prevailed in her Republican primary despite running in an entirely new district.
It was also a bad night for former President Donald Trump. Going into these primaries, only one candidate he had endorsed for Senate, House or governor had lost; tonight alone, three did, including his preferred candidate to replace retiring Sen. Mitt Romney in Utah.
In addition, the fields are now set in some key congressional matchups this fall. In Colorado, Republicans avoided nominating far-right candidates who could have put normally safe red districts in play. Meanwhile, Democrats picked their fighters in two competitive New York House districts that could help them reclaim the House majority.
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:
EMILYs List candidate loses in New York
We've been tracking candidates this cycle who have earned an endorsement from EMILYs List, the prominent political action committee formed to elect pro-choice Democratic women. With Avlon's win in New York's 1st, the EMILYs List candidate, Goroff, has lost. According to our analysis of primaries this cycle through May 21, EMILYs List has a win rate of 77 percent in primaries in which no incumbent ran, so their candidates are performing well overall.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor
Polls are closing in Utah
It's 10 p.m. Eastern, and the final polls of the night just closed in Utah, where the biggest prize is Romney's open Senate seat. Stick with us for results from the Beehive State.
—Tia Yang, 538
A race call in New York's 1st
The AP projects that former CNN anchor John Avlon will win the Democratic nomination in New York's 1st District. He's leading 2020 nominee and chemistry professor Nancy Goroff, 70 to 30 percent, with 80 percent of the expected vote reporting. Avlon faces an uphill battle against GOP Rep. Nick LaLota this fall, as Long Island has gotten to be very fraught territory for Democrats.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
Biggs and Boebert are the first winners in our anti-abortion tracker
With Biggs projected to win her South Carolina runoff, she's the first winning candidate (in a contested race) in our anti-abortion tracker. In an interview with The State newspaper, she said, "I am firmly against abortion except in the rarest and most extreme circumstances when the life of the mother is in immediate and severe danger and all other medical options have been exhausted." She said she otherwise does not support abortion at any stage of pregnancy. South Carolina does not allow abortion after six weeks, but such strict views are unpopular even in the state. A Winthrop University poll from May found that nearly half, 48 percent, of adults in the state opposed the ban, while 31 percent supported it.
Boebert has also won her primary contest in Colorado's 4th District, a deep red district where both her challengers were also on this list.
—Monica Potts, 538
Answer: Candidates still matter to some extent!
It's not exactly breaking news that Trump has a strong hold over the GOP. But if you look at the three cases where his endorsees lost tonight, each pick had potential challenges, either because of their own weaknesses as candidates or strong candidates running against them. In South Carolina's 3rd District, Mark Burns had a controversial past that invited outside spending to help his opponent, and Burns also barely raised any money from donors, mostly self-funding his bid with loans. In Colorado's 5th District, Dave Williams had rubbed a lot of people the wrong way as state party chair, to the extent that outside groups spent more than $2.6 million against him or on behalf of his main primary opponent. And Trump doesn't have as firm a hold over GOP politics in Utah, indicative of how his endorsee, Trent Staggs, couldn't beat out the establishment choice in Rep. John Curtis, who had a stronger track record as an incumbent congressman and received a ton of outside support.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538