Voters cast their ballots Tuesday in primary elections in four states, setting up some of the most closely-watched and expensive general election matchups in the fall.
Polls are now closed in all four states: South Carolina, Nevada, North Dakota and Maine.
In South Carolina, Republican incumbent U.S. Reps. Tom Rice and Nancy Mace are both facing Trump-backed challengers. Rice is one of the six House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump and is up for reelection.
Rice has vehemently defended his impeachment vote, telling Politico recently that “I think that was one of the worst things, if not the worst, that a president has ever done in terms of attacking the Constitution and separation of powers.”
Trump has backed Russell Fry in the race, and they face five other Republicans in the primary. The large number of candidates could keep both Rice and Fry under 50% of the vote, which would lead to a runoff on June 28.
Mace, a freshman Republican who flipped South Carolina’s 1st District from blue to red, is facing off against former State Rep. Katie Arrington, who was the 2018 GOP nominee for this district who lost to Democrat Joe Cunningham.
Mace voted to certify the 2020 election results and to hold Trump ally Steven Bannon in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee. She was also outspoken against Trump’s conduct in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack.
In a statement on Saturday, Trump continued his attacks on her. “Nancy fights Republicans all the time and is not at all nice about it. Frankly, she is despised by almost everyone, and who needs that in Congress, or in the Republican Party?” he said.
Republican incumbent Sen. Tim Scott isn’t facing any serious primary challengers on Tuesday and he’s expected to easily win deep-red South Carolina in November. But he’s raised nearly $40 million so far, more than any other Republican.
Democrats Catherine Fleming Bruce, Angela Geter and state Rep. Krystle Matthews are competing to take on Scott.
In the governor’s race, Trump-backed incumbent Republican Gov. Henry McMaster defeated his primary challenger, Harrison Musselwhite.
On the Democratic side, Cunningham, who lost his House seat to Mace in 2018, won the primary, defeating state Sen. Mia McLeod and several others.
Also in the spotlight will be Nevada, the state that officially gave President Joe Biden enough electoral votes to win the presidency in 2020. Mr. Biden won the state by less than three points in 2020, and the state’s economy has been hit hard by inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans are hoping to flip the Senate seat and the governor’s mansion in the fall — and a number of Republicans are running to succeed the term-limited Secretary of State, who refused to throw out the election results in favor of Trump.
Trump-backed Republican Adam Laxalt, who succeeded current Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto as the state’s attorney general, long held a comfortable lead in the Senate race, but retired Army captain Sam Brown has narrowed the once 40-point gap.
Laxalt, who lost the governor’s race in 2018, also has endorsements from a number of high-profile Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Donald Trump Jr., who came to Nevada to campaign with Laxalt.
Cortez Masto doesn’t have a serious challenger on Tuesday, but she has already raised big sums ahead of November — nearly $20 million in the last year — and goes into primary day with more than $9 million cash on hand.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, elected in 2018, was the first Democrat to win the governor’s mansion in more than 20 years. He faces a primary challenger on Tuesday, Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins.
Fifteen Republicans are on the Republican primary ballot for governor. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, former boxer Joey Gilbert, former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee and entrepreneur Guy Nohra are so far leading the field.
Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske has faced blowback from Trump’s supporters since the 2020 election, including being censured by the state party. There is a crowded Republican primary field to be the party’s nominee in November, including some candidates who have spread false claims or raised questions about the 2020 election. There has been no credible evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed Nevada’s results.
In Nevada’s 1st Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Rep. Dina Titus is facing a challenger on the left, progressive Amy Vilela, who is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
In the 2nd District, national Republican groups have gotten involved to support Congressman Mark Amodei in his primary. Amodei is being challenged by Danny Tarkanian, a Douglas County commissioner who has had unsuccessful runs for Congress in the past decade.
And in one bonus race, South Texas will be holding a special election to fill the House seat vacated by Democrat Filemon Vela, in the 34th District, for the remainder of the term. A win could give House Republicans a symbolic win ahead of this November. Two Republicans and two Democrats are running in the nonpartisan primary, which would go into a runoff if no candidate clears 50%.
