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:
Curtis projected to win for Utah Senate
The AP has projected that Curtis will win the Republican nomination for Senate in Utah. With 64 percent of the expected vote counted, he currently leads Staggs 52 percent to 28 percent. Because of how red Utah is, Curtis will almost certainly win this seat in the fall, succeeding Romney in the Senate. With his quirky sock collection and pragmatic voting record, the mild-mannered Curtis will keep this seat in moderate hands.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
How the Salt Lake tables have turned in UT-02
Nathaniel, I’m old enough to remember when Maloy won the special election GOP primary for the 2nd District over Becky Edwards off of her strength in Washington County (where Maloy is from). Edwards nearly won that race because of how well she did in Salt Lake County. Now Maloy may need Salt Lake to bail her out while her opponent runs up the score in Washington!
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
Incumbent Republican Governor Cox projected to win his primary in Utah
With an estimated 50 percent of the expected vote counted in the Utah Republican primary for governor, the AP projects that Cox, the incumbent, will win. He currently leads Lyman 60 percent to 40 percent. Cox was booed at this year's nominating convention, but the convention in Utah hasn't really had its finger on the pulse in recent cycles.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor
Close race in Utah’s 2nd
With 62 percent of the vote estimated to have been counted in the GOP primary for Utah’s 2nd District, per the AP, Maloy has just a 52 percent to 48 percent lead over Jenkins. Maloy’s lead is built on strong performances in Salt Lake and Davis counties, in the Salt Lake City metro area, while Jenkins is doing well in Washington County, home to St. George in the state’s southwest corner. This race could come down to how some of the more rural counties in between vote.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Democratic divisions on full view in New York's 16th District
In Tuesday's marquee race, Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman could lose renomination against Westchester County Executive George Latimer in New York's dark blue 16th District. This race is defined by internal Democratic divisions over the Israel-Gaza conflict, the influence of pro-Israel groups and controversies about Bowman's past behavior. Bowman has joined with fellow members of the progressive "Squad" and some other Democrats to criticize and oppose U.S. support for Israel, a position that made him a major target for pro-Israel groups.
Bowman lacks a strong electoral record, having won only 54 percent of the primary vote in his first reelection campaign in 2022. He also attracted scrutiny last September when he pulled a fire alarm in a Capitol Hill office building just before a high-profile vote to avoid a government shutdown, for which he was censured by the House and had to pay a fine. On top of this, old blog posts by Bowman came to light in January that included conspiracy theories about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. All of this has helped boost the primary challenge from Latimer, who's also built up a strong local political reputation in Westchester County — where 9 in 10 of the district's voters live, according to Daily Kos Elections.
Still, the big story is Latimer's support from pro-Israel donors and organizations. Latimer has raised $5.8 million, $2.4 million of which came via individual donors who used the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as a conduit to contribute to his campaign. This has helped give him a financial leg up on Bowman, who has raised $4.3 million. And the monetary disparity grows far starker when we look at outside spending. Groups have spent a whopping $17.7 million either opposing Bowman or supporting Latimer, according to OpenSecrets, while they've spent only $3.0 million attacking Latimer or boosting Bowman. As a result, this has turned into the most expensive House primary on record, according to AdImpact.
The principal group behind the massive spending is United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with AIPAC, which has forked out $14.6 million on the race to take down Bowman. Despite the pro-Israel connection, the group's ads rarely mention the ongoing conflict, instead criticizing Bowman on issues such as not supporting President Joe Biden's position on a major infrastructure package in 2021 and a debt ceiling deal in 2023. Bowman and his allies haven't taken this lying down. In the last primary debate, Bowman attacked the "racist MAGA Republicans" — a reference to AIPAC's bipartisan sources of financial backing — supporting Latimer, a criticism leveled in ads put out by Bowman and outside groups backing him.
The most recent survey of the race — an Emerson College/The Hill/WPIX poll from early June — found Latimer ahead of Bowman 48 percent to 31 percent, which signals just how in danger Bowman is of becoming the first Democratic incumbent to lose renomination in 2024.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538