Last night saw primaries in nine states and DC for the congressional, (in some cases) gubernatorial, and presidential elections. Some of the biggest takeaways from each state, keeping in mind that, due to the prevalence of mail-in ballots, many races cannot be called yet:
Iowa
In Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District, nine-term representative Steve King lost his primary to state senator Randy Feenstra. King had become controversial in recent years, even among his own party, after questioning why white supremacy was considered offensive and being stripped of his committee assignments. Many Republicans also believed that he was endangering their chances in a district Trump carried by 27 points in 2016, and that a less polarizing candidate would allow them to hold onto the seat.
The Democratic House primaries were all uncontested, so the story of the night was the Senate primary to run against Republican Senator Joni Ernst. Theresa Greenfield was the choice of the DSCC and Emily’s List (an organization that aims to elect Democratic female legislators), though faced strong opposition in retired Admiral Michael Franken. She ended up taking 47.7% of the vote, more than enough to avoid a runoff, to Franken’s 25%.
Montana
With current governor Steve Bullock term-limited (and now running for Senate), the governor’s race in Montana is open this year. The Democratic primary was a contest between current Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney, who Bullock endorsed, and businesswoman Whitney Williams, who had the support of Emily’s List and various conservation organizations. Cooney won the primary by about ten points, and will now face off against Montana’s lone House member, Greg Gianforte. Gianforte defeated Tim Fox, the Attorney General of Montana, after having previously run for governor in 2016 and lost narrowly to Bullock.
The primary for Senate saw Bullock handily win the Democratic nomination, and the incumbent Republican Steve Daines saw little challenge in his own primary, setting up the race for November. Kathleen Williams, a former state lawmaker endorsed by the DCCC, won the Democratic nomination for the at-large House seat; she will be running against Auditor Matt Rosendale, who ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2018 against Jon Tester.
Indiana
Two House seats in Indiana are open in 2020: the Fifth Congressional District, a competitive suburban seat held by a retiring Republican, saw a large field of candidates on both sides of the aisle. Christian Hale, a former state representative, won the Democratic nomination for the seat, while state senator Victoria Spartz took the Republican nomination for what’s likely to be a close race. In the First Congressional District, a safely Democratic seat, Frank Mrvan won the Democratic primary with the endorsement of retiring Rep. Peter Visclosky. All other districts saw current incumbents win their primaries.
Maryland
All of Maryland’s House incumbents easily won their seats — Kweisi Mfume, who won a special election in April after the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings, held onto his seat by a 3-1 margin, and other incumbents won theirs by even larger margins. Steny Hoyer, the current House Majority Leader, was challenged by a progressive candidate endorsed by the same group which supported Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018, but Hoyer easily won with around 75% of the vote counted thus far.
New Mexico
In the Second District, Republicans are hoping to take back a district that Trump carried by 10 points but nevertheless voted for Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small in 2018. Yvette Herrell, the former representative who lost the seat in 2018, won the primary to challenge Torres Small again, after backing by the House Freedom Caucus and even an outside Democratic group, in the belief that Herrell would be the easier candidate to face in November. And in the Third District, Teresa Legar Fernandez defeated the former CIA operative Valerie Plame for the safely Democratic seat, despite Plame’s splashy announcement video and high fundraising.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island featured only the Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday. Joe Biden carried the state with 62% of the vote, with Bernie Sanders receiving 30% despite having dropped out at the beginning of April (though this represents less than half of all ballots cast, as most mail ballots are still being counted over the course of the week)
Idaho
Idaho featured a primary that was only vote-by-mail, delayed from May 19th after an order from Governor Little. Paulette Jordan won the Democratic Senate primary to run against Jim Risch, who was uncontested, in the safely Republican Senate seat. The two Republican House members from Idaho, Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson, both faced primaries, and both incumbents won with over 70% of the vote. Fulcher will run against Rudy Soto in the First District and Simpson against Aaron Swisher in the Second District.
South Dakota
With the presidential primary all but decided, only congressional Republicans faced primary challenges in South Dakota. Current Senator Mike Rounds was challenged by state representative Scyller Borglum, but easily won re-nomination, as did the state’s lone House member Dusty Johnson, whose November election will be unopposed. (Rounds will face Dan Ahlers in the Senate race—Ahlers was uncontested in the Democratic primary for the seat).
Pennsylvania
Many of Pennsylvania’s races cannot be called yet — Governor Wolf released an order saying that mail-in ballots can be received and counted until the 9th of June, and though the order is facing legal challenges, it means that close races can still swing one way or the other.
Among the House races facing the most competition is Pennsylvania’s First District, currently represented by moderate Republican Brian Fitzpatrick. He is on track to win his primary despite a challenge from Andy Meehan, and appears likely to be challenged by Democrat Christina Finello. The district is named as a target by the DCCC, but Fitzpatrick has strong crossover appeal: in 2018, he won his House race even as the Democratic Governor and Senator carried the district by double digits. A similar district, though one with a very different candidate, is Pennsylvania’s Tenth: its current Republican representative, Scott Perry, has the most conservative voting record of Pennsylvania’s delegation and looks to be facing Eugene DePasquale, the Democratic auditor general who carried the district in 2016. But Republicans have their own pickup opportunities as well. In the Seventh, Lisa Scheller is leading a close race to take on Representative Susan Wild, and in the Eighth, less than a percentage point separates the Republican candidates to run against Matt Cartwright, a Democratic candidate in a district Trump carried by 9 points in 2016.
Statewide, the closest primary is the Democratic one for auditor general: with DePasquale not running again, six candidates are vying for the seat. Michael Lamb, the Pittsburgh city controller, currently leads his closest opponent, former Philadelphia deputy mayor Nina Ahmed, by about eight points.
Washington D.C.
Like other states, any ballots postmarked by June 2 can be counted through June 12th, so the close elections for the city’s Council can’t be called yet (most notably the Democratic race in Ward 2, in which the candidates are separated by single digits). The races for DC Senate, the US Delegate, and the US representative were all uncontested.
Another complication facing voters in DC and Philadelphia were the curfews enacted after days of protests. Though the city leaders made statements to reassure voters that they were exempt from the curfew, many voting-rights advocates worried that the lack of specific information and clear-cut guidelines would serve to discourage potential voters. As ballots are still being counted and tallied, it cannot be said yet whether the curfews affected turnout or not.
