New York, Maryland, South Carolina, Utah are having primary elections and outcome in these four politically crucial states will be crucial for both Donald Trump's Republican Party and Democratic Party. The midterm elections in November will determine control of both chambers of Congress and will also see the election of dozens of governors and other state and local offices. Before then, voters must choose nominees for each of these offices, making their picks in primary elections throughout the spring and summer in all 50 states.
New York: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is looking to shape the city’s congressional delegation through a series of endorsements, including in districts 10, 13 and 7. Meanwhile, several Democrats are seeking the party nomination in District 12, including Trump critic George Conway and Kennedy family scion Jack Schlossberg.
Maryland: All eight of the state’s congressional districts will hold contested primaries. In a state that typically leans left (only one district is led by a Republican), the primaries often determine the general election winners. Gov. Wes Moore seeks the Democratic nomination for a second term.
South Carolina: State Attorney General Alan Wilson won the Republican nomination for governor after President Donald Trump, who initially endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette for the job, said on Friday that either contender would be a good pick.
Utah: Voters will nominate congressional candidates using a new map that created a Democratic-friendly district in Salt Lake City.
South Carolina Polls
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson won a runoff election on Tuesday, swiftly routing the candidate initially endorsed by President Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee for governor. Wilson defeated Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, whom Trump backed in the closing days of the primary campaign. The president later said he supported both candidates, hedging his bets in the race after his candidates for governor lost in Iowa and Georgia earlier this month.
Wilson, the son of longtime U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, has served as the state’s top prosecutor since 2011. His victory sets up a November general contest with state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, who won the Democratic nomination outright two weeks ago.
New York Elections
Democratic incumbents are facing spirited challenges Tuesday in at least two of New York's congressional primaries, the latest proving ground in the high-stakes fight between the progressive left and the party establishment over the Democratic Party's future. U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman and U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat are both seeking to stave off candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist who's testing the limits of his growing political muscle in the state's first batch of elections since he took office in January.
Mamdani and his slate are promising to push the Democratic Party further left on key issues, the war in Gaza chief among them, even as establishment Democrats in Washington worry that their policies could alienate swing voters in midterm elections across the country this fall.
Maryland Elections
Maryland Democrats voted for their U.S. House nominees in a handful of consequential and contentious primaries Tuesday, including a battle between a congresswoman and her predecessor and a crowded race to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer. And as rising party star Wes Moore seeks a second term as governor, Republican voters hope to return the state to GOP leadership by picking a candidate they think can unseat him.
With polls closing at 8 p.m., the primaries in the left-leaning East Coast state are set to have an outsize impact. In many cases they will determine who is likely to win in heavily partisan districts this fall. Seven of Maryland's eight congressional districts are represented by Democrats, and one by a Republican.
That dynamic and Hoyer’s departure attracted big spending and some familiar names to the most-watched Democratic primaries. Among them is Harry Dunn, a former police officer who defended the U.S. Capitol from the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. He is running for Hoyer’s seat on a platform that includes protecting democracy.
Utah Elections
Utah Democrat Nate Blouin hopes to rebound from social media controversy. The state senator is vying to represent a new, Democratic-leaning U.S. House district in the Salt Lake City area. Blouin, a progressive firebrand in the GOP-controlled Legislature, faces two other progressives and former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams, who is viewed as a moderate, in the Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District. He apologized in April for several posts he had made on internet forums between 2009 and 2015 that denigrated women and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Utah-based faith known widely as the Mormon church.
Before the posts surfaced, Blouin was viewed as a top contender to challenge McAdams for the seat. Some of the party’s progressive wing has since shifted its support to political newcomer Liban Mohamed, a former Meta and TikTok employee. A fractured vote among progressives could help McAdams emerge as the winner and move on to the November general election.
