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:
A Biggs win in South Carolina would be notable for a couple reasons
If Biggs wins her race in South Carolina’s 3rd, that will be notable not only because the Trump endorsee would lose, but because the GOP has been slow to nominate women for safe Republican seats. Earlier in the cycle, in North Carolina’s 13th (a safe red seat), Kelly Daughtry was a contender, where she was set to face off against Brad Knott in a runoff. However, Trump endorsed Knott ahead of the runoff, and she dropped out.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor
Biggs maintains slim advantage in South Carolina's 3rd District
The AP reports that about 82 percent of the expected vote has reported from the GOP primary runoff in South Carolina's 3rd District, and Biggs's lead over Burns now stands at around 4 points, 52 percent to 48 percent. Looking at the results from the South Carolina Election Commission, Burns has not gotten the boost from the Election Day vote that we expected. In fact, Biggs leads among votes cast on election day, 53 percent to 47 percent, and that group of votes looks set to make up close to 80 percent of the final overall vote total. (Biggs leads 51 percent to 49 percent among the smaller number of early and absentee votes.)
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538
Maloy is still fighting for her seat in Utah's 2nd
Utah 2nd District Rep. Celeste Maloy is the last moderate incumbent in Utah who has drawn a right-wing challenger, and she may be in slightly more danger than the others. Not only did she lose the state party's endorsement at its April convention, but she only narrowly won the Republican nomination for this seat in a 2023 special election with 39 percent of the vote. Her opponent this time around, Army veteran Colby Jenkins, has also raised a credible $379,000, and tea party-aligned outside groups have spent $534,000 to support him. But while Jenkins has the influential support of Lee, Trump's last-minute endorsement of Maloy may have halted Jenkins's momentum.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Keeping an eye on some hard-right challengers in Utah
We're also keeping an eye tonight on a few mild-mannered Republican incumbents who are probably safe for reelection but have displeased the GOP's right flank enough to earn a primary challenge.
For example, hardline state Rep. Phil Lyman won the state GOP's official endorsement for governor over incumbent Gov. Spencer Cox at an April party convention, but a HarrisX/Deseret News/University of Utah poll earlier this month showed Cox leading Lyman 71 percent to 29 percent among the broader primary electorate. (Republican conventions in Utah, which are largely attended by dogmatic party activists, tend to be more conservative in their tastes than voters.)
Similarly, in the 1st District, electrician Paul Miller defeated Rep. Blake Moore at the party convention and could tap into some level of discontent with Moore's moderate voting record, but he's raised all of $4,706 for the cycle, so he's unlikely to actually defeat the incumbent.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 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