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
Women we're watching tonight: Will Fedorchak be the first non-incumbent woman nominated in a safe red seat?
According to our recent analysis of primaries this cycle through May 21, 41 percent of Democrats' nominees (that is, primary winners) for House, Senate and governor are women, compared to just 16 percent of Republicans'. That's a big difference. To date, no non-incumbent Republican women have won a nomination for a safe Republican seat in November — and there were certainly plenty of opportunities, given a high number of GOP (and overall) retirements this year. In short, Democrats are nominating many more women than Republicans thus far, and doing so in places where their chances are better in November.
Tonight there is at least one Republican woman with a good shot at bucking that trend and effectively claiming a safe red seat in November: North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak, who's running for the state's open at-large House seat. In addition to endorsements from several of the women's groups we're tracking (E-PAC, VIEW PAC and Winning for Women), she has Trump's endorsement, too.
Another Republican primary of note features two women, and GOP women's groups, going head-to-head: In South Carolina's 1st District, incumbent Rep. Nancy Mace faces several challengers, but her most notable opponent is former state cabinet official Catherine Templeton. Templeton is endorsed by Winning for Women, while Mace is endorsed by VIEW PAC (and notably, Trump). It's the first race we've seen so far in this season where two of the women's groups we're tracking are actively endorsing against each other.
On the Democratic side, three incumbent Democratic women in Nevada — Sen. Jacky Rosen, Rep. Susie Lee and Rep. Dina Titus — should cruise to victory with no serious competition in their primaries today, but they'll be watching today's GOP primaries to see which Republicans they'll face in November, when their races could be close, as Geoffrey wrote in 538's primary preview.
—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor