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:
Ocasio-Cortez easily wins renomination in New York's 14th District
This wasn't a race that we expected to be close, but the AP projects that Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will easily win renomination in New York's solidly blue 14th District. I note the contest only because she faced a primary challenge from former insurance executive Marty Dolan, who originally ran against Bowman in the 16th District primary, but switched races to take on Ocasio-Cortez. Dolan mostly got attention from conservative media outlets — Ocasio-Cortez is their bête noire — but it turns out that, amazingly, appearances on Fox News aren't a good way to win a Democratic primary.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538
A rough night for the Colorado Republican Party (but a good night for Colorado Republicans)
In Colorado, the state party organization is in a state of constant disarray, but they found the time to endorse a number of candidates in competitive GOP primaries tonight. Those candidates aren’t doing particularly well: in the 3rd District, former state Rep. Ron Hanks is losing handily to attorney Jeff Hurd; in the 5th District, state party chairman Dave Williams lost to radio host Jeff Crank, and in the 8th District, former state Rep. Janak Joshi lost in a landslide to state Rep. Gabe Evans.
While that’s a poor track record for the state party itself, it’s music to the ears of national Republicans who want to win House races. Hanks, Williams, and Joshi were poor fundraisers who had lots of baggage in their backgrounds and would have made holding onto even GOP-leaning seats more of a challenge. With all three losing tonight, national Republican groups can focus on the most competitive seat, the 8th District, and feel a lot better about the 3rd and 5th Districts.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
Mannion projected to win in New York's 22nd Congressional District
With 76 percent of the expected vote reporting, Mannion is projected to win the Democratic primary in the 22nd Congressional District in New York, according to the AP. He has 62 percent of the vote so far, while Hood has 38 percent. As I wrote earlier, the race had seemed closer in its final days, but ended up being an easy victor for the state senator. He has a good chance of winning against incumbent Williams this November, as redistricting has made the district bluer.
—Monica Potts, 538
Checking in on candidates of color
Most of the candidates of color we were tracking tonight were New York incumbents who ran in uncontested primaries (or easily won, in the case of Ocasio-Cortez), with the notable exception of Bowman, who is projected to lose his bid for reelection by a big margin to his challenger, Latimer.
On the GOP side, it looks like Evans will be the only one candidate of color to win a contested race tonight. Trump-endorsed Burns projected to lose his runoff in South Carolina to Biggs, and Yu seems headed to a last-place finish in his race in Colorado's 4th congressional district, which Boebert is projected to win. Joshi is projected to lose in Colorado's 8th district, and Varela is projected to lose against Hurd in the 3rd congressional district, Boebert's current seat.
—Monica Potts, 538
Who will replace Romney as senator from Utah?
Utah may be safely Republican, but the MAGA faction of the party is looking to pick up seats from the traditional Republican faction in Tuesday's primaries. And the biggest prize of all is the state's open U.S. Senate seat, currently held by anti-Trump Sen. Mitt Romney.
The front-runner to replace Romney is Rep. John Curtis, whose temperament — and attitude toward Trump — are closest to Romney's. Although he hasn't taken a high-profile stand against Trump like voting for impeachment, Curtis declined to endorse Trump during this year's presidential primaries and has avoided commenting on Trump's legal issues. Another tell: Though Romney hasn't made an endorsement, much of the incumbent's political operation is behind Curtis, who is known on Capitol Hill for being the rare Republican to talk about climate change and for owning 300 pairs of quirky dress socks.
Curtis faces three opponents who are, to varying degrees, more enthusiastic about Trump. Former state House Speaker Brad Wilson has raised the most money ($2.0 million from donors, $3.0 million from himself), but his efforts to strike a happy medium between moderate and MAGA (he introduced a resolution to pay tribute to Trump shortly after his second impeachment but also blocked an effort to censure Romney for voting to convict; he endorsed Trump for president, but only after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out) may end up pleasing no one. Meanwhile, businessman Jason Walton has vocally defended Trump and is well funded thanks to a $2.5 million loan to his own campaign, but Trump himself opted to support underfunded Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs instead.
That surprising endorsement may have cost MAGA Republicans their best shot at defeating Curtis. Not only has Curtis raised $3.8 million on his own, but outside groups largely funded by moderate Republican donors have spent a whopping $9.6 million to help him or hurt Staggs. As a result, a [June 4-6 poll from HarrisX/the Deseret News/the University of Utah]) put Curtis at 47 percent support, with Wilson (24 percent), Staggs (21 percent) and Walton (8 percent) well behind.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538