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:
We're waiting, Nevada …
It's been almost an hour since polls closed in Nevada, and still no results have been released. Maybe they got stuck in line at the Sphere?
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
What secrets may Eastern Colorado hold?
I for one am now very curious how the special election in Colorado’s 4th District plays out in two weeks. We’ve been treating it like a solid Republican seat. After all, Trump won it by 19 points in 2020. But in tonight’s Ohio 6 special, the Democrat outperformed Trump’s margin by — wait for it — 19 points. At least very superficially, that’s a reminder that special elections can produce quirky outcomes. In fairness, Colorado’s concurrent regular primary should help boost turnout in the Centennial State, especially with the crowded and high-profile GOP primary in the 4th District that features Rep. Lauren Boebert. But I’m still interested in how Republican Greg Lopez does in the special election and whether Democrats can keep up the strong over-performances they’ve notched so far this cycle.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
North Dakota’s Measure 1 seems doomed in court
Mary, you mentioned potential legal challenges for North Dakota’s ballot measure setting congressional age limits. It's pretty clearly unconstitutional under current Supreme Court precedent; the court found in 1995's U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton that states can't impose qualifications to run for office beyond those set forth in the Constitution. (And while the Constitution sets a minimum age to be elected to Congress, it's silent about a maximum.) However, congressional expert Matt Glassman writes on X that this ballot measure could be a way to get the Supreme Court to reconsider that precedent — which could open the door to congressional term limits as well.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Fedorchak's projected win is a milestone for GOP women this cycle
With Fedorchak's projected win in North Dakota’s at-large district, she becomes the first non-incumbent Republican woman to win an open primary in a safe red district this cycle. Why have Republican women had such a slow start in primaries this year? We wrote about some possible explanations last week.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor
That’s a wrap!
Well, it’s unclear when we’re going to know the winners in the last few Nevada races, so we’re going to call it a night. Here’s a roundup of what happened in June 11’s key races:
- In the special election in Ohio’s 6th District, Republican state Sen. Michael Rulli defeated Democratic Air Force veteran Michael Kripchak, but by a shockingly narrow margin (9 points). Trump won this district by 29 points, so Democratic enthusiasm was really high here.
- In South Carolina’s 1st District, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace survived her second straight contested GOP primary as an incumbent, and by a much more comfortable margin than two years ago. Mace will face businessman Michael Moore (no, not that one) in the general election, where she’ll be the heavy favorite.
- In South Carolina’s 3rd District, the Republican primary is going to a runoff, with the top two candidates — Trump-endorsed pastor Mark Burns and Air National Guard Lt. Col. Sheri Biggs, who finished neck-and-neck — facing off again in two weeks.
- In South Carolina’s 4th District, Rep. William Timmons barely beat back a strong primary challenge from tea party Republican state Rep. Adam Morgan.
- Up north in Maine’s 2nd District, former NASCAR driver and current state Rep. Austin Theriault easily clinched the GOP nomination over his colleague Michael Soboleski. Now Theriault will race against Democrat Jared Golden, the Blue Dog who’s held this seat since 2018.
- In North Dakota, the Republican primary for governor was projected early, with Rep. Kelly Armstrong pulling quickly ahead of Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller. And the contested GOP primary for the state’s open at-large congressional district was projected for Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak.
- For U.S. Senate in Nevada, Army veteran Sam Brown scored an easy win in the Republican primary. He’ll face Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen this fall in what will be one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races.
Finally, here’s the status of the three unprojected races in Nevada.
- Nevada’s 1st District looks like it will be a rematch, with 2022 nominee Mark Robertson leading the Republican primary for the right to once again face incumbent Democratic Rep. Dina Titus. However, Flemming Larsen could still win the GOP nomination too.
- In the crowded Republican primary in Nevada’s 3rd, conservative columnist Drew Johnson has a narrow lead over former state Treasurer Dan Schwartz. "Halo" composer Marty O’Donnell, the establishment pick, is in a surprising third place.
- In Nevada’s 4th, former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee appears to have the inside track over Air Force veteran David Flippo.
—Monica Potts, Nathaniel Rakich and Kaleigh Rogers, 538; and Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections