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:
If Biggs wins South Carolina's 3rd it would be a big(g) win for GOP women
As Kaleigh just mentioned, South Carolina’s 3rd could go to a runoff between Burns and Biggs. It's notable that Biggs is in this because as I mentioned earlier tonight on the blog, no non-incumbent Republican women have won a nomination for a safe Republican seat in November in primaries before today's races. Biggs received a primary endorsement from VIEW PAC, one of the women's groups we are tracking that is endorsing women in primaries, this cycle. The other women's groups we are tracking — E-PAC, Maggie’s List, and Winning for Women — didn’t endorse in that primary.
We'll have to see what happens, if Biggs does make a runoff. In North Carolina's 13th District, another safely red seat, a woman, Kelly Daughtry received the most votes in the primary and qualified for the runoff, but she subsequently dropped out after Trump endorsed her runoff rival, Brad Knott.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor
Mace calls for rape and incest exceptions on abortion
With Mace's win, she stands out among many Republican candidates in that she calls for rape an incest exceptions to abortion bans. Majorities of Americans support rape and incest exceptions to abortion bans, including most Republicans, but only about half the states that ban the procedure currently have them.
—Monica Potts, 538
VIEW PAC endorsee Mace, defeats Winning for Women endorsee Templeton
Mace’s win is also a win for VIEW PAC, one of the GOP women’s groups we're tracking endorsements from in primaries this cycle. One of her several challengers included former state cabinet official Catherine Templeton, who was endorsed by Winning for Women.
We're keeping a close eye on GOP women's group endorsements tonight since, according to our analysis, primary endorsements from groups like Winning for Women, Maggie’s List and VIEW PAC that work to elect more Republican women to office is down this cycle, compared to last. This slow start may be why earlier this month Rep. Elise Stefanik, founder of E-PAC (the Republican counterpart to Democrat’s EMILYs List) told the National Journal’s Hotline that the group plans to work in alignment with the NRCC and party leadership to endorse more women moving forward.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor
Theriault crosses the finish line
It didn't take long for Maine's Austin Theriault to dispatch with his primary tonight. With just 21 percent of the expected vote counted, Theriault leads opponent Michael Soboleski, 67 percent to 33 percent, and the AP projects that Theriault will be the winner in Maine's 2nd District.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
Nevada's state legislature has more women than any other state
Fun fact: Nevada's state legislature is 60 percent women, making it the state with the greatest share of female representation at that level in the country. (Next is Arizona, with 51 percent.) Nevada's congressional delegation is also majority women. Both of their senators are women, and two of their four representatives are women. All are Democrats. As Nathaniel just mentioned, Rosen, one of the female senators in Nevada, will face Brown in November, in what is expected to be a close race.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor