Four states held primary elections on Tuesday, and in one of the most watched races in South Carolina, CBS News projects Russell Fry to win the 7th District Republican primary, defeating incumbent Tom Rice, who voted to oust him. former President Donald Trump.
Tuesday’s primaries are setting some of the most expensive general election clashes in the fall.
Rice vehemently defended his impeachment vote, telling Politico recently that “I think it was one of the worst, if not the worst, thing a president has ever done when it comes to attacking the Constitution and the separation of powers “.
Trump supported Fry in the race. The former president issued a celebratory statement on Tuesday night, calling Fry’s victory “the biggest news of the night so far is that Russell Fry defeated impeach master Tom Rice by a vote of more 51%, therefore, WINNING DEFECTIVELY without running – off. ”
Tom Rice (left) and Russell Fry AP Photo / Alex Brandon, AP Photo / Meg Kinnard
Fry described Tuesday night as a “big night for Republicans” and thanked Trump for his support.
CBS News reports that Nancy Mace has won Republican primaries in South Carolina’s first district. Mace, a freshman who changed South Carolina’s 1st district from blue to red, defeated former Trump-backed state MP Katie Arrington, the 2018 Republican candidate for that district who lost to Democrat Joe Cunningham.
Mace voted in favor of certifying the results of the 2020 election and keeping Trump ally Steven Bannon in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a January 6 select committee quote. He also openly spoke out against Trump’s conduct immediately after the Jan. 6 attack.
Trump had issued a statement Saturday saying Mace is “despised by almost everyone” and said he “fights Republicans all the time and is not at all pleasant about it.” But on Tuesday night, Trump issued a statement to Social Truth saying, “Katie Arrington was a long shot, but she made a great run and had a lot of performance. Congratulations to Nancy Mace, who should be able to easily defeat to his Democratic opponent! “
Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images, Sean Rayford / Getty Images
Republican Sen. Tim Scott did not face any serious rivals in the primary on Tuesday and is expected to easily win the bright red South Carolina in November. But so far he has raised about $ 40 million, more than any other Republican.
Democrats Catherine Fleming Bruce, Angela Geter and State Rep. Krystle Matthews are vying to face Scott.
In the governor’s career, the incumbent Republican governor, backed by Trump, Henry McMaster defeated his main rival, Harrison Musselwhite.
On the Democratic side, Cunningham, who lost his seat in the House to Mace in 2018, won the primary, defeating state Sen. Mia McLeod and several others.
Nevada, the state that officially gave President Joe Biden enough electoral votes to win the presidency in 2020, is also in the spotlight. Mr. Biden won the state by less than three points in 2020, and the economy of the state has been severely affected by inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans hope to change the seat of the Senate and the governor’s mansion in the fall, and a number of Republicans are running to succeed the secretary of state for a limited term, who refused to launch election results in favor of Trump.
Adam Laxalt, backed by Trump, won the Republican nomination to the United States Senate in Nevada. Laxalt succeeded the current Democratic senator Catherine Cortez Masto as state attorney general.
Ben Smith (left) and Adam Laxalt run for the Republican Senate nomination in Nevada. David Calvert / Getty Images, David Becker / Getty Images
Laxalt, who lost the governorship in 2018, was backed by a number of high-profile Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Jr., who they came to Nevada to campaign with Laxalt.
Cortez Masto won the Democratic primary. He has already raised large sums before November, nearly $ 20 million last year, and entered primary school day with more than $ 9 million in cash in hand.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak won the Democratic primary for governor. Sisolak, elected in 2018, was the first Democrat to win the governor’s mansion in more than 20 years.
Fifteen Republicans are voting in the primaries for governor. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, former boxer Joey Gilbert, former U.S. Senator Dean Heller, North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, and businessman Guy Nohra lead the field so far.
Jim Marchant won the Republican primary for Nevada Secretary of State. Marchant, a former state lawmaker, told The Wall Street Journal last year that he did not know if Mr Biden won the state in 2020 and “would not have certified” the election.
Marchant also told The Guardian that he would be willing to send an alternate list of voters to Congress in 2024. He also falsely claimed that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him and Trump. Marchant lost to Rep. Steven Horsford and challenged the results unsuccessfully.
Marchant and another candidate for the race, former Clark County District Court judge Richard Scotti, have said they will press for the decertification of Dominion voting machines, which are used by almost every Nevada county. The machines were at the center of some election conspiracies and the company has filed complaints against some high-profile figures who spread these claims.
Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, who has a limited term, has faced rejection from Trump supporters since the 2020 election, including state party censorship. There has been no credible evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed Nevada’s results.
In the first congressional district of Nevada, Democratic Rep. Dina Titus won the primary. He defeated progressive Amy Vilela, who had the support of Senator Bernie Sanders.
In the 2nd District, national Republican groups have been involved in supporting Congressman Mark Amodei in his primaries. Amodei is being challenged by Danny Tarkanian, a Douglas County commissioner who has had unsuccessful congressional nominations for the past decade.
In a special election to cover the remainder of Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela’s term in the 34th District of Texas, Republicans won a short-term victory with Republican Mayra Flores winning enough votes, 50% of the total turnout, to win the race to keep it going. the seat until January. Vela resigned in March to work for a lobby company.
Republicans hope Tuesday’s victory will give them an advantage to change the district in November, where Flores will face Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez. While district lines will lean more Democratic in November than the version used in the special election, victory comes when Republicans continue to invest in their action with Hispanic voters in this region and across the country on issues such as the economy and immigration.
Flowers and Republican groups spent about $ 1 million on special election ads, while national Democratic groups spent only a fraction of their resources on the race.