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:
Checking in on anti-abortion candidates
With the latest results in Colorado and Utah, lets check in on the anti-abortion Republicans we're tracking. Boebert and Crank are projected to win in their primaries in Colorado. And in Utah, Curtis is projected to win the GOP nomination for the Senate, incumbent Rep. Moore is projected to win his primary in the 1st District,and incumbent Gov. Cox is projected to fend off his challenger in the gubernatorial primary. We're still waiting on results in the state's 2nd and 3rd districts.
—Monica Potts, 538
Moore wins easily in Utah's 1st
I said I'd keep an eye on the Republican primary in Utah's 1st District, and I've done so, but there's nothing to see: The AP has already projected that Moore win will renomination, despite his loss among party activists at the GOP convention earlier this year. He's currently leading Miller, his more MAGA challenger, 73 percent to 27 percent, with 58 percent of the expected vote reporting.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
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
Women we're watching tonight
According to our analysis of primaries this cycle through May 21, 41 percent of Democrats' nominees for House, Senate and governor are women, compared with just 16 percent of Republicans' nominees. It wasn't until June 11 that Republicans nominated a nonincumbent woman in a seat they're strongly favored to win in November: Julie Fedorchak in North Dakota's at-large district. But today's races present a couple more opportunities for Republican women to make gains.
One race I'll be watching is the runoff between Biggs and Burns in South Carolina's 3rd. Biggs has been endorsed by VIEW PAC, one of the organizations trying to elect more Republican women, but Trump endorsed Burns. This will be a safe Republican race in November, so a Biggs win would likely add a woman to the Republican conference.
In Utah, incumbent Rep. Celeste Maloy faces a serious challenger, even though she has an endorsement from Trump. Her challenger has been endorsed by Sen. Mike Lee, Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Tommy Tuberville and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramawamy and is painting Maloy as too "D.C."
In Colorado, there are only two Republican women running today, and they are facing off against each other in the 4th Congressional District. Flora has been endorsed by VIEW PAC, but Boebert has the support of Maggie's List, which is another of the GOP groups dedicated to electing more women. This is the second time we've seen two GOP women's groups endorse against each other in primaries thus far. Last week, in South Carolina's 1st, Rep. Nancy Mace was endorsed by VIEW PAC, while Winning for Women supported her challenger, Catherine Templeton. Mace prevailed*.
While Mace and Boebert both had backing from Trump, Boebert is a member of the Freedom Caucus, while Mace is not, which could explain why VIEW PAC backed Mace but not Boebert. In 2022, VIEW PAC endorsed a challenge to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in her primary, another female member of the Freedom Caucus.
In Democratic primaries today, EMILYs List, the prominent political action committee formed to elect pro-choice Democratic women, has endorsed just two nonincumbents, both in New York: Goroff in the 1st and Laura Gillen in the 4th. Gillen, a lawyer and former Hempstead Town Supervisor, is unopposed in the primary, and she stands a decent chance of defeating incumbent Republican Rep. Anthony D'Esposito in November.
I'll keep you updated on these candidates and more throughout the night.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor