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
The GOP primary in South Carolina's 3rd District could head to a June 25 runoff
The strongly Republican 3rd District in Upstate South Carolina features an open-seat race following the retirement of Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan, who also faced accusations of marital infidelity. In the GOP primary to succeed Duncan, the most notable contenders appear to be pastor Mark Burns, Air National Guard Lt. Col. Sheri Biggs and state Rep. Stewart Jones, but it's difficult to identify a favorite. On the fundraising front, Biggs had raised $528,000 as of May 22, while Burns had brought in $516,000, both largely through self-funding. Jones, meanwhile, had raised $217,000 with less self-funding, having represented a part of this region in the state legislature since 2019.
Outside spending here has come principally via the Sen. Rand Paul-associated Protect Freedom PAC's $670,000 outlay to help Jones and Elect Principled Veterans Fund's $314,000 to support Biggs. But it's Burns who has garnered Trump's critical endorsement. Burns's political profile as a pro-Trump Black televangelist has grown in recent years, including a second-place finish in the 4th District's 2022 primary.
But Burns has attracted controversy, too, including in 2016 when he retweeted a fake photo of Hillary Clinton in blackface, and in 2022 when he called for the execution and arrest of those who support protecting transgender children. For her part, Biggs has the support of Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, while Jones gained notice for his efforts to dismantle COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions. A runoff seems like a real possibility: The only public poll was a mid-May survey by Cygnal on behalf of the pro-Biggs Elect Principled Veterans Fund, which found all three contenders hovering around 10 percent.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538