It’s not easy to keep up with 8 primaries happening all at once. Now that most of the votes have been counted, here’s a quick review at what happened in the (Democratic) primaries, what questions got answered, and what you may have missed.
Let’s start things off with some great news. Along with the 8 primaries, there were 4 special elections yesterday. The Democrats held onto the three seats in California, and they FLIPPED a legislative seat in Missouri!!
The big question going into the night was whether California’s top-two primary system could possibly end up shutting out Democrats from a variety of races, due to having too many candidates running and splitting the vote. Although we are still waiting for some votes to be counted (as of Wednesday evening), the answer appears to be … no. The Democrats didn’t get shut out of any of the 53 U.S. House contests.
On the other hand, the Republicans got shut out of 10 of them…
One concern the GOP had in California was getting shut out of the top statewide races, namely for Governor and the Senate. Getting shut out of the two biggest races could have easily depressed Republican turnout. As it happens, Republicans did get shut out of the Senate race (it will be Diane Feinstein vs. Kevin de Leon) but they have a candidate in the Governor’s race. 27 candidates ran for Governor–in November Democrat Gavin Newsom will face off against Republican John Cox.
Women have continued to do well, and as of this writing, at least 59 women have moved on to the general election. A huge majority of those women are Democrats. There is a great recap of these women here: Women clean up in biggest primary night of 2018
New Jersey: Senator Bob Menendez, the Democratic incumbent, faced a criminal corruption charge earlier in the year before the trial ended in a hung jury and the charges were dropped. That said, he was facing a virtually unknown candidate in the Democratic primary. Result: He won, but performed terribly. His opponent got nearly 4 of every 10 votes without spending much money.
New Mexico: The 1st Congressional District was a toss-up race between the three Democratic candidates. Result: Debra Haaland won the nomination. If she wins in November, she’d be the first Native American congresswoman.
Iowa: The 1st Congressional District is considered flippable for the Democrats. The Democrats got a strong nominee in Abby Finkenauer. Did I mention she’s 28?
Montana: Senator Jon Tester is a top target for the GOP. You may remember Trump went after him on Twitter (even calling on him to resign) after Tester essentially sunk Trump’s White House doctor’s nomination to head the VA. The GOP is happy with their nominee but Tester still appears to have the edge to win this race.
News you may have missed:
Early on election day, it became increasingly clear that something was wrong in Los Angeles, and soon reports came out that many voters were not on the voter rolls as expected. Voters were offered provisional ballots, but it created a lot of chaos. Officials demand answers after more than 118,000 people were left off LA County voter rosters
You may recall the story of the Stanford swimmer convicted of rape a few years ago and the outrage that ensued when the judge gave an extremely lenient sentence. Well, that judge, Judge Aaron Persky, was recalled on Tuesday night. This is the first successful judicial recall in California since 1932.
There was also the story a few months ago of an Alabama sheriff who stole $750,000 meant to feed inmates in the county jail and used it for personal expenses. You’ll be happy to hear he lost his reelection bid on Tuesday.
And finally…
Find full primary results for each state below. They include federal and statewide races, as well as legislative races.
ALABAMA
Full primary results
CALIFORNIA
Full primary results
IOWA
Full primary results
MISSISSIPPI
Full primary results
MONTANA
Full primary results
NEW JERSEY
Full primary results
NEW MEXICO
Full primary results
SOUTH DAKOTA
Full primary results
Next up: The primaries next week on June 12. Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Virginia — you’re up!
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