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:
Checking in on anti-abortion candidates in South Carolina
We're still waiting on results from most states, but I'm tracking early results on anti-abortion candidates in South Carolina. In the 1st Congressional District, Templeton is trailing Mace 29 percent to 57 percent, with 20 percent of the expected vote reporting, according to the AP. In the 3rd District, the AP is reporting that Biggs is now barely trailing in second place with 30 percent of the vote, with her nearest competitor, Burns, at 31 percent, and 45 percent of the expected vote reporting. Morgan is slightly ahead of incumbent Timmons in the 4th District, 52 to 48 percent (with 16 percent of the expected vote reporting), while Buckner is ahead of Scott in the 6th District 56 to 44 percent, with 21 percent of the expected vote reporting. The other two Republican House primaries are uncontested.
—Monica Potts, 538
A singer, a cowboy and now a nominee
In North Dakota, where most polls have closed, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee is Merrill Piepkorn, a state senator and radio host who's also a bit of a singer. You can check him out on YouTube. (And he probably won't win his race this year against either Armstrong or Miller, so he has plenty of time to keep serenading us all.)
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
In SC-04, incumbent Timmons is currently behind
With 16 percent of the estimated vote reporting, Republican Rep. William Timmons is currently behind state Rep. Adam Morgan. Morgan currently has 52 percent of the vote to Timmons's 48 percent. Despite Timmons being pretty darn conservative, Morgan, who chairs the state level Freedom Caucus and got the endorsement of the Congressional Freedom Caucus's campaign arm, ran to his right. Timmons has Trump's endorsement, but it might not be enough to keep him from getting bested tonight.
—Kaleigh Rogers, 538
An update in Ohio’s 6th District
Every county in Ohio’s 6th District has now reported what are likely the bulk of its early/absentee votes, and Kripchak leads 61 percent to 39 percent districtwide, with 19 percent of the expected vote reporting. Now we wait and see just how red the Election Day vote is. Again, I expect Rulli to win once all those votes are counted, but he does have a notable deficit to make up.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Trump's track record on endorsements is holding strong so far tonight
Trump loves to toot his own horn when it comes to his track record on endorsing winning candidates, and he'll be pleased with tonight's showing so far. Of the nine races where he has endorsed a candidate and we currently have results, Trump's picks have won six, are leading in two and are going to a runoff in one district, with his endorsee projected to finish in the top two. However, two of those six winning races were uncontested and five are incumbents (four incumbents are projected to win and one is currently leading), which makes his knack for picking winners look less like a Midas touch and more like just common sense. Still, in some of the more competitive races tonight, like South Carolina's 3rd District, which is going to a runoff, Trump's pick has performed well, so it's not all just obvious choices.
—Kaleigh Rogers, 538