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.


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Biggs projected to win Republican nod in South Carolina's 3rd District

The AP projects that Biggs has defeated Burns in the GOP runoff in South Carolina's 3rd District. With more than 95 percent of the expected vote reporting, she leads 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent — what looks to be a narrow win. This is a somewhat surprising result: Trump had endorsed Burns, who led in the initial primary vote on June 11 and even had an endorsement from the third-place finisher.

But Biggs may have triumphed thanks to more than $500,000 in outside help from two conservative super PACs that have been spending against more anti-establishment candidates in GOP primaries like Burns. Per FEC data, Conservatives for American Excellence and America Leads Action spent mostly against Burns but also made some outlays to support Biggs.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538


Early results in New York's 22nd Congressional District

With 24 percent of the expected vote in, Mannion is leading Hood in the Democratic primary in the 22nd Congressional District, 60 percent to 40 percent, according to the AP. Hood had hoped to position herself to Mannion's left on issues like abortion and has a fundraising advantage, as Geoffrey wrote earlier. But Mannion, a state Senator, is a well-known entity in much of the district.

—Monica Potts, 538


South Carolina Senate loss is a blow for female representation in the state

As Geoffrey just mentioned, the Republican women who voted with Democrats to defeat the near-total abortion ban measure were the only Republican women in the South Carolina Senate. Healy stated earlier this month, "You can’t tell me that’s not a slap in the face of women.” According to the Center for American Women in Politics, South Carolina ranks 47th in terms of female representation in state legislatures.

—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor


Last Republican woman in South Carolina state Senate loses renomination

In other Palmetto State news, state Sen. Katrina Healy has conceded defeat in the runoff for South Carolina's 23rd Senate District. Healy belonged to a group of three women state senators from the GOP who broke with their party to oppose a near-total abortion ban in the state last year. But this made them targets in their party primaries: Two lost renomination in the June 11 primary, while Healy is now headed for defeat in a runoff after no candidate won a majority two weeks ago.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538


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