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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Burns looks favored over Biggs for the GOP nomination in South Carolina's 3rd District

Palmetto State primary voters went to the polls on June 11, but one notable race went to a runoff: the GOP nomination contest in the open and solidly red 3rd District. In the first round of voting, pastor Mark Burns ran slightly ahead of Air National Guard Lt. Col. Sheri Biggs, 33 percent to 29 percent. And Burns is probably favored on Tuesday thanks to his endorsement from former President Donald Trump, which Burns has highlighted in ads ahead of the runoff. He also received an endorsement from state Rep. Stewart Jones, who finished third in the primary with 19 percent. Moreover, Burns had $111,000 in the bank versus Biggs's $43,000 as of June 5, and Burns further improved his financial standing with a $250,000 loan on June 7. That brought his total campaign loans this cycle to $750,000, for which The Post and Courier found Burns had received extremely favorable terms that could run counter to campaign finance laws.

Still, Biggs can't be counted out due to outside spending. Conservatives for American Excellence and America Leads Actions, two super PACs that have opposed more anti-establishment candidates this cycle, have spent $510,000 to oppose Burns or boost Biggs during the runoff campaign, while Burns has received just $59,000 in outside support. This opposition to Burns may connect to his controversial past: A high-profile Trump surrogate in 2016, he retweeted a fake photo of Hillary Clinton in blackface, and in 2022 he called for the execution and arrest of those who support transgender and other LGBTQ children. In a June 18 debate, Burns also faced questions about 2016-era revelations that his church website biography falsely claimed that he'd obtained a bachelor's degree and had served in the Army Reserve.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538


Welcome!

Good evening, and welcome to another election night with 538! Today, voters cast their ballots in downballot primaries in Colorado, New York, South Carolina and Utah. And with so many of those states and districts being uncompetitive in November, that means today's results will decide the next members of Congress from many of those places. In fact, as my colleagues will tell you shortly, we're expecting at least one sitting member of Congress to lose reelection tonight.

We should start seeing results shortly: Polls just closed (at 7 p.m. Eastern) in South Carolina, while it will be pencils down in Colorado and New York at 9 p.m. Eastern. Finally, we will start getting results in Utah shortly after 10 p.m. Eastern. We hope you'll stick with us throughout the evening; this is the last regularly scheduled primary until late July, so enjoy the election-night rush while you can!

—Nathaniel Rakich, 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