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:
Jeff Crank projected to trounce the state party chair in the GOP race in Colorado's 5th
The AP projects Jeff Crank, a conservative talk radio host, to win in Colorado's 5th District, surrounding Colorado Springs, winning over the state party's chair, Dave Williams. Despite being the party chair and getting Trump's endorsement, there was a lot of money and energy being spent to keep Williams — a controversial figure who has taken the state party on a hard right tack — from being the nominee. The Koch brothers' PAC has spent over $100,000 supporting Crank, while a super PAC of Republican megadonors has spent $1.2 million opposing Williams. Along with his talk radio gig, Crank has a background in politics, having previously worked as a regional vice president for Americans for Prosperity and as a staffer for former Rep. Joel Hefley. Though this district has shown signs of shifting to be less red in recent years, it's also the only district in the state to have never sent a Democrat to Congress, so Crank has some good odds heading into November.
—Kaleigh Rogers, 538
Will New York’s 1st District be competitive this fall?
While Democrats see New York as central to their path back to the House majority, the 1st District is often the red-headed step-child of the half-dozen competitive Empire State seats. National Democratic strategists are far more excited about the prospect of beating Republican incumbents in the 4th District (Anthony D’Esposito), 17th District (Mike Lawler), 19th District (Marc Molinaro) and 22nd District (Brandon Williams) than they are about taking on LaLota.
Long Island has been very difficult for Democrats not named Tom Suozzi over the past three years, and the 1st was even redrawn to be one Biden would have carried narrowly in 2020 to one Trump would have carried narrowly. Avlon will need to leverage his national network to get his contest more attention and funding, especially given how expensive it is to air TV ads in the New York media market.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
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
No Democratic overperformance in tonight's special election
As you mentioned earlier, Jacob, Trump won Colorado's 4th District by 19 points in 2020, so Lopez's 21-point win is pretty much exactly in line with the partisanship of the district. That's notable in a year when Democrats have made a lot of hay out of their overperformances in recent special elections, like in Ohio's 6th District a couple weeks ago. It's a good reminder that individual special election results can be noisy. That said, Democrats are still punching above their weight in special elections this year on average by about 6 points, and historically, overperformance in special elections has augured general-election success.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538