South Carolina, Nevada, North Dakota primaries and Ohio special election 2024: Nancy Mace, Sam Brown win
Democrats nearly won a safely Republican congressional seat.
June 11 was another packed primary day, as voters in South Carolina, Maine, North Dakota and Nevada weighed in on who will make the ballot this fall. We had our eyes on a slew of Republican primaries on Tuesday, including several competitive contests for U.S. House seats, as well as contests to pick Nevada's GOP Senate nominee and effectively pick the next governor of North Dakota.
In South Carolina, Rep. Nancy Mace's Trumpian pivot didn't cost her, as she handily fended off an establishment-aligned primary challenger. Fellow incumbent Rep. William Timmons, who was looking vulnerable after an infidelity scandal, also came out ahead in a closer race against his right-wing challenger. In North Dakota's At-Large Congressional District, Julie Fedorchak became the first non-incumbent woman this cycle to win a GOP primary for a safely red seat. In Nevada, Republican voters chose Sam Brown as their candidate to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen this fall.
Finally, a special election is set to give House Republicans one more seat of breathing room, as voters in Ohio's 6th District filled the seat vacated by Rep. Bill Johnson's departure in January — though not without some unexpected suspense.
As usual, 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:
I wonder which way election day votes will go in South Carolina’s 4th
Kaleigh, you raise an interesting question. Election day voters do tend to be more MAGA in primaries, similar to how they’re more Republican in general elections. (This isn’t surprising — Trump is the one who cast unfounded aspersions on the security of mail voting.) So I wonder who those votes will benefit today in South Carolina’s 4th. Timmons has Trump’s endorsement, but temperamentally, he’s not very bomb-throwy. Morgan, a member of the state House’s Freedom Caucus, fits that description much better, so maybe he’ll be the pick of election day voters? We shall see.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Timmons has taken the lead in South Carolina's 4th District
With 31 percent of the expected votes counted, incumbent Timmons has now taken the lead in South Carolina's 4th District. He currently has 54 percent of the vote to Morgan's 46 percent. Election day voters tend to be more conservative, but this is a district that is already the most conservative in the state, having gone for Trump 68 percent in 2020, so that’s slightly less of a factor here, and Timmons may have overcome that early surge from Morgan.
—Kaleigh Rogers, 538
Election day votes are coming to Republicans' rescue in Ohio
Counties are beginning to count their election day votes in Ohio’s 6th District special election, and as expected, they’re really good for Rulli. With 29 percent of the expected vote counted according to the AP, Kripchak’s lead is down to 54 percent to 46 percent.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Mace still ahead in South Carolina's 1st
We’re up to about 20 percent of the expected voted counted and Mace is still ahead of Templeton by a healthy margin, 57 percent to 29 percent. She’s well ahead in Berkeley and Dorchester Counties, which were the two localities to vote against her in her relatively close 2022 GOP primary, so that’s a good sign for her. Still early, but the crush of outside money from the Club for Growth backing Mace seems to have accomplished its mission.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
A potentially competitive Republican primary to become North Dakota's next representative
With Rep. Armstrong running for the Senate, North Dakota's At-Large Congressional District is up for grabs, and the two main contenders in the Republican primary look to be Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak and former state Rep. Rick Becker. Fedorchak has a solid electoral record, having won three statewide races to retain her current office, and she earned Trump's endorsement in late May. Meanwhile, Becker has a complicated relationship with the GOP: During his legislative tenure, Becker founded a far-right caucus, and in 2022, he actually ran for Senate as an independent against Republican Sen. John Hoeven. That campaign left Becker ineligible for the state GOP endorsement vote in April, but his supporters spoiled their ballots to give the endorsement to a minor candidate instead of Fedorchak.
Meanwhile, Becker and his allies have mostly kept up with Fedorchak in the money race. Fedorchak has brought in $979,000, compared with Becker's $911,000, although Becker self-funded $550,000 of his haul. Yet outside groups have spent slightly more promoting Becker or attacking Fedorchak ($1.6 million) than on supporting Fedorchak or opposing Becker ($1.3 million). Two surveys have shown a close race, too: An early May poll from DFM Research/North Dakota United put Becker ahead 29 percent to 26 percent, while a late May survey from WPA Intelligence/North Dakota News Cooperative found Fedorchak leading 32 percent to 25 percent. However, both polls predated Trump's endorsement, and, in a possible signal that Fedorchak has the upper hand, the pro-Becker Club for Growth canceled a planned ad buy for the final week of the campaign.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538