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:
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
Biggs projected to win Republican nod in South Carolina's 3rd District
The AP projects that Biggs has defeated Burns in the GOP runoff in South Carolina's 3rd District. With more than 95 percent of the expected vote reporting, she leads 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent — what looks to be a narrow win. This is a somewhat surprising result: Trump had endorsed Burns, who led in the initial primary vote on June 11 and even had an endorsement from the third-place finisher.
But Biggs may have triumphed thanks to more than $500,000 in outside help from two conservative super PACs that have been spending against more anti-establishment candidates in GOP primaries like Burns. Per FEC data, Conservatives for American Excellence and America Leads Action spent mostly against Burns but also made some outlays to support Biggs.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538
Early results in New York's 22nd Congressional District
With 24 percent of the expected vote in, Mannion is leading Hood in the Democratic primary in the 22nd Congressional District, 60 percent to 40 percent, according to the AP. Hood had hoped to position herself to Mannion's left on issues like abortion and has a fundraising advantage, as Geoffrey wrote earlier. But Mannion, a state Senator, is a well-known entity in much of the district.
—Monica Potts, 538
Answer: Partly bad luck, partly not
I think there's a decent argument that Burns's loss in South Carolina was a bit of bad luck. Neither Burns nor Biggs had held elected office before, and neither had significant backing from the state party generally, so that one may have been a bit of a toss-up. As Geoffrey mentioned, Burns had some baggage, so given two unknown candidates, that might have offset the benefit of the Trump endorsement.
But in the Utah Senate race and Colorado's 5th, Trump chose to back outsider-ish candidates rather than those who were supported by other Republican institutions or the party apparatus. Dave Williams was controversial from the start, running as a candidate while maintaining his position as party chair, which many saw as a conflict of interest. And neither Utah nor Colorado have ever been states that were particularly friendly to Trump's bombastic style, so his choice of outspoken MAGA candidates in those races may not have persuaded voters to those candidates.
—Mary Radcliffe, 538