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:
Final thought: Incumbents still haven’t lost, but there have been many close calls
My takeaway from tonight is that, once again, we saw some close shaves for incumbent members of Congress. Incumbents may be heartened by the fact that, so far, only one of them has lost renomination this cycle, and that was in an incumbent-versus-incumbent race caused by Alabama redistricting, so one of them had to lose. However, they shouldn't get too comfortable. Many incumbents have won renomination with pretty uninspiring vote shares in the 50s or 60s — Timmons is only the latest example. Therefore, I'm pretty confident it's only a matter of time until one of them loses. (In fact, I recommend tuning into our live blog on June 25 to see if Rep. Jamaal Bowman becomes one of them.)
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
What are your takeaways from tonight?
With only three outstanding House races unprojected in Nevada, we're getting ready to wrap up the old live blog soon. Start thinking those final thoughts, folks, and send 'em here!
—Tia Yang, 538
Timmons pulls out a win in South Carolina
We just got the last tranche of votes from Greenville County in South Carolina's 4th District, and they weren't enough to put Morgan over the top. With virtually all of the vote counted, then, per the AP, it's Timmons 52 percent, Morgan 48 percent, and Timmons has been projected as the winner. In the end, his race was much closer than Mace's, despite her getting all the attention!
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Don't forget about Yucca Mountain, Jacob
Brown could also find himself in hot water this fall because he used to support using Yucca Mountain, a site in Nevada, as a nuclear waste site. That's a no-no in Nevada politics, and Brown has since backtracked on that position, but expect it to come up in Democratic ads a lot.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Trump seems likely to pad his primary endorsement record in tonight's races
As usual, tonight we'll be watching to see how candidates endorsed by Trump fare in their respective races. The former president loves to tout his "very unblemished" track record for endorsing candidates who win, though when you take a closer look at his numbers, it's not always that impressive. Still, Trump's seal of approval can often be enough to give an edge in a tight primary race, so we'll be watching the 11 races tonight where he has endorsed a candidate:
Trump has already won in two of today's races, since he endorsed incumbents North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer and South Carolina Rep. Russell Fry, each of whom are running unopposed. He'll also likely have luck with the other two incumbents he endorsed, Reps. Nancy Mace and William Timmons in South Carolina, though they're facing challengers. As for non-incumbents, Trump made a last-minute endorsement of retired U.S. Army Capt. Sam Brown, who's enjoyed strong party backing and is heavily favored to win. His pick in Maine's 2nd District, former NASCAR driver state Rep. Austin Theriault, also seems to be favored to win, as does former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee in Nevada's 4th District.
But Trump has had a few disappointments in recent weeks. Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, whom Trump endorsed for the GOP Senate primary in New Jersey, lost by 7 percentage points last week, and his endorsee for Texas's 21st State House District narrowly lost his primary in a May 28 runoff. I'll be keeping an eye on these races as results come in tonight, and will keep you updated on how blemished or unblemished Trump's record remains.
—Kaleigh Rogers, 538