Primary Takeaways: 😴💤💤 oh wait there were primaries this week?
Four states held sleepy primaries this week: Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina. See what you missed (HINT: not much!)
#1: Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment are finally tested.
There were a total of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump (the second time, lol). Most of these Republicans serve in states with upcoming primaries, only two have been put to the test so far. In California last week, Rep. David Valadao was the first of this group to qualify for the general election in the state’s new 22nd congressional district. This week, Rep. Tom Rice was put to the test in South Carolina’s 7th district and he stands as the first Republican who voted for Trump’s impeachment to lose a primary. Rice lost by over 25 points to challenger Russell Fry, a state senator who received Donald Trump’s endorsement.
We will see more races like these in the coming weeks. On June 28th Reps. John Katko and Adam Kizinger will be put to the test in primaries in New York and Illinois. Then later in the summer on August 2nd we’ll see another four Republicans who voted to impeach Trump face-off against challengers in primaries.
South Carolina’s US House Primary Winners
#2: Incumbents continue their steamroll.
This primary day was sleepier than past weeks, mainly because incumbent candidates across all four states saw little formidable competition. In swing state Nevada, every House incumbent notched 80% or more of their district’s vote. Voters in Maine and North Dakota also supported their House incumbents by wide margins.
The only interesting result on the Democratic side was in South Carolina’s Senate primary: Catherine Bruce and Krystle Matthews will face off against each other in a runoff as only a 1-point margin separated the two candidates and neither received 50% of the vote. The winner will face the lone Black Republican serving in the Senate: Tim Scott.
Nevada’s US House Primary Winners
#3: South Texas finally starts turning red.
In addition to sleepy primaries in South Carolina, Maine, Nevada, and North Dakota, Texas saw a heated special election to select a representative for the remainder of the year in TX-34. The result was historic: Mayra Flores became the first Republican to represent the district since it was created in 2013. Alarm bells are going off for Democrats as the party has been laser focused on holding on to a handful of South Texas districts throughout 2022. While Mayra will still need to be re-elected in November to keep her seat into the next term, many are expecting her to prevail as she’ll be boosted by her new status as the district incumbent.
Maine’s US House Primary Winners
North Dakota’s US House Primary Winners
