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:
Early and clear leads for Hurd, Evans in CO-03 and CO-08
With nearly half of the vote reporting in Colorado's 3rd and 8th Congressional Districts, mainline Republican candidates Jeff Hurd and Gabe Evans have pulled ahead of the competition. Evans is endorsed by both Trump and the conservative activist organization Americans for Prosperity, funded by the influential Republican Koch brothers, so no surprises here really. Hurd's race was closer though. Going into the night he had a clear fundraising advantage and the support of several "normie" Republican organizations — like the national cattleman's association and the association of automobile dealers. A victory for Hurd (which looks likely, but there's quite a few rural votes left to be counted) would be a defeat for the other MAGA-aligned candidates in the race — such as Ron Hanks, who has previously called himself a "pro-Trump warrior".
—G. Elliott Morris, 538
Latimer holds early edge over Bowman in New York's 16th District Democratic primary
In perhaps the highest-profile race of the evening, Latimer leads Bowman 56 percent to 44 percent in the Democratic primary for New York's 16th District, with a little more than a quarter of the overall expected vote reporting, per the AP. Bowman is running up huge numbers in the small part of the district that's in the Bronx — he leads 84 percent to 16 percent there — but about nine-tenths of the district's population lives in Westchester County, where Latimer currently leads 69 percent to 31 percent.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538
Lopez looks good in Colorado 4
Greg Lopez, the Republican nominee in the special election in Colorado’s 4th District (to fill Rep. Buck's vacant seat), is well ahead with about two-thirds of the vote counted so far. According to the AP, he leads Democrat Trisha Calvarese, 55-38 percent. That 17-point margin is roughly in line with how the district voted in the last presidential election (for Trump by 19 points).
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
Colorado voters are concerned about housing
Perhaps uniquely among states that have held their primaries so far, Colorado voters are particularly concerned with on housing, according to a March poll from New Bridge Strategy/Aspect Strategic/The Colorado Polling Institute. Asked in an open-ended question to name the most important issue for the state government to address, 23 percent of likely voters in the state named homelessness, housing affordability or lack of housing — more than any other issue area. Twenty-one percent named issues related to the economy, including taxes, the cost of living, jobs and inflation. Fourteen percent named issues related to immigration. No other issues were named by more than 6 percent of respondents.
—Mary Radcliffe, 538
Answer: Maybe the Mountain West is different?
I'm an Idahoan, so this take might be wildly insular, but I think that Republicans in western states (like Colorado and Utah) are still able to put forward candidates that are conservative enough to ward off Trumpian (typically newcomer) candidates with anti-democratic tendencies, armed with conservative bona fides that still serve what Trumpian conservatism feeds, like anti-establishment, anti-authority authenticity. But it is of a frontier flavor that I think Trump and many Trumpy candidates don't have.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor