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've got early results in the GOP race to replace Duncan in South Carolina's 3rd District
With 18 percent of expected vote counted, Air National Guard Lt. Col. Sheri Biggs has a narrow lead with 30 percent of the vote, ahead of pastor Mark Burns and state Rep. Stewart Jones, who are currently at 28 percent and almost 20 percent, respectively. This is not altogether unsurprising, given there was not a ton of daylight between these candidates as far as their political leanings. Burns does have Trump’s endorsement, but Jones has been representing part of the region in the state legislature since 2019, and Biggs has a fundraising advantage. It could very well go to a runoff, but we’ll see if Biggs can grow her lead, or if one of the others takes the lead.
—Kaleigh Rogers, 538
South Carolina GOP state senators who voted against abortion bans are in tough renomination fights
Three Republican state senators in South Carolina are facing tough primary challenges after they voted against abortion bans in the state. Katrina Shealy from the 23rd district, Penry Gustafson from the 27th, and Sandy Senn from the 41st all filibustered to block a total abortion ban in April, and all three drew primary challenges. While there's no votes in yet for Shealy's district, the votes reported so far in the other two districts suggest tough races. With 11 percent of the expected vote reported, Gustafson is currently losing to Lancaster County Councilman Allen Blackmon by a whopping 71 percentage points. In the 41st, with 17 percent of the expected vote reported, Senn is ahead of state Rep. Matt Leber by just 2 percentage points.
Statewide, however, the focus on abortion may not help Republicans in November. According to May polling from Winthrop University, South Carolina voters oppose a 6 week abortion ban by 17 percentage points, 31-48.
—Mary Radcliffe, 538
Polls are now closed in Maine and most of North Dakota
It's 8 p.m. Eastern, and polls are now closed in Maine and most counties in North Dakota. (Voting hours in the Peace Garden State vary by municipality, with polls largely closing at either 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. Eastern.) We'll be bringing you results from races in both these states shortly.
—Tia Yang, 538
Rulli on the ropes?
And remember, Nathaniel, Rulli was the more moderate of the two GOP candidates vying to replace former Rep. Bill Johnson in Congress. His opponent, state Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus, attacked him for his position on gay rights and made a big deal over his past as a "self proclaimed raging liberal" in the 1990s.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
The winner of Maine's 2nd District GOP primary will face an endangered Democratic incumbent in fall
Maine's 2nd District is host to a GOP primary in which two first-term state representatives, Austin Theriault and Mike Soboleski, are contending for the right to take on three-term Democratic Rep. Jared Golden. The incumbent has managed to hold onto this seat, which takes in most of Maine north of its southern coastal area, despite its slight Republican lean: Trump would have carried it 51 percent to 45 percent in 2020, according to Daily Kos Elections, making it the second-most Republican-leaning seat (by presidential vote) that a Democratic incumbent is defending in 2024, trailing only Rep. Mary Peltola's at-large seat in Alaska.
Theriault, a former NASCAR driver, looks to be favored. He has Trump's endorsement, which he's naturally emphasized in his ads, and he's congressional Republicans' top choice, having earned the backing of Speaker Mike Johnson and the Congressional Leadership Fund. Moreover, Theriault has raised $1.2 million to Soboleski's $117,000. The only somewhat recent poll was an early April survey from Public Opinion Strategies on behalf of Theriault's campaign that found him leading Soboleski 30 percent to 7 percent. But while Theriault has Trump's backing, Soboleski aligns with the former president — and around two-thirds of Republicans nationally — on the question of the 2020 election's legitimacy. Unlike Theriault, Soboleski has echoed Trump's unsupported claim that Biden didn't legitimately win.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538