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:
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
First results in Ohio’s 6th are notably good for Democrats
With 16 percent of the expected vote counted in Ohio’s 6th District, Democrat Michael Kripchak is actually leading Republican Michael Rulli 62 percent to 38 percent, despite the district’s dark-red hue. Now, don’t get too excited, Democrats: Ohio counts early and absentee ballots first, and those, of course, skew toward Democrats. Still, some of these numbers are very impressive for Kripchak. For example, he won the early/absentee vote in Jefferson County, which voted for Trump by 39 points, 61 percent to 39 percent. Rulli is still favored here because this district is SO red, but this bears watching …
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
We’re pretty firmly in runoff territory in South Carolina's 3rd
Upstate, the race to replace retiring Rep. Jeff Duncan has essentially fallen into a close three-person race. With 63 percent of the expected votes counted, Trump-endorsed Burns is at 31 percent, Biggs has 30 percent and Jones has 20 percent. Toss in double-digit support for Kevin Bishop, the recently retired communications director for Sen. Lindsey Graham, and it's enough to split the vote in a way that makes it very hard for any candidate to break the majority threshold. Whoever finishes tonight in the top two slots will very likely face off again in a runoff election in two weeks' time. It's been interesting to see the vote regional breakdown as ballots are counted. Jones is leading in Laurens County with 52 percent of the vote there — no surprise, as this is the part of the district that Jones represents in the state House. Burns is leading in Pickens, Abbeville (trivia: this is the first county in the U.S., alphabetically), and McCormick Counties — the first two are slightly more conservative, and the first is his home county.
—Kaleigh Rogers, 538