DemDaily: The State of Eight: Primary Results
June 7, 2018
With most counts finally in, to follow are the eight State Primaries held Tuesday -- in Alabama, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota.
Among the mix of red, blue and purple states are six US Senate seats and five of the 36 states with Governor's races up in 2018. All US House seats are up for election, and within these eights states, at least 13 are considered vulnerable.
THE JUNE 5, 2018 PRIMARY RESULTS
pic: Town of Newmarket, NH
Seats Up: US House (6 R/1D), Governor, Lt. Governor, State Executive offices, State Senate & House, Supreme & Appellate Court, Local Judges, Municipal, State Ballot, School Board.
Highlights: Sitting Governor Kay Ivey (R), who succeeded Governor Robert Bentley (R) following his resignation last April from an ethics scandal, will defend her seat against Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox, who won the Democratic primary with 55%.
In the 2nd Congressional District (CD), incumbent Republican Martha Roby will face a runoff July 17th against Bobby Bright, a former Democratic Member of Congress (2009-2011) turned Republican. The winner will square off against Democratic nominee Tabitha Isner in November.
CALIFORNIA
Highlights: Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom (D) and Republican John Cox (R) were the top two vote-getters to advance to the general election for Governor. See Friday's Daily for California primary results!
IOWA
Seats Up: US House (1D/3R), Governor, Lt. Governor, State Executive offices, State Senate & House, Appellate Courts, Local Judges.
Cindy Axne hopes to flip Iowa's 3rd CD
In the Secretary of State contest, Deidre DeJear won the Democratic nomination to become the first African American to win a major political party nomination for statewide office in Iowa's history.
In Iowa's 1st CD, State Rep Abby Finkenauer (D) will challenge incumbent Republican Rod Blum, and in Iowa 3, Cindy Axne, will be the Democratic challenger to incumbent David Young (R). Both seats are high on the Dem's Red to Blue list and would be the first women to represent the Prairie Rose State in the US House.
MISSISSIPPI
Seats Up: US Senate, US House (1D/3R), Congressional Special Elections, Supreme & Appellate Court, Local Judges, School Board.
Highlights: There are two elections for the US Senate in Mississippi this year, the regularly scheduled election for Senator Roger Wicker's (R) seat, and the second, a special election to fill the remaining term of of Senator Thad Cochran, who retired in April for health reasons, and would have been up in 2020.
Senate One: Democrats Howard Sherman, who secured 31.7% of the vote on Tuesday, and David Baria (31.09%) go to a runoff on June 26th to determine who will face Wicker in November. Baria is State House Minority Leader and Sherman is a venture capitalist and husband of actress Sela Ward, of Meridian.
Senate Two: In Mississippi special elections are nonpartisan, so all candidates, regardless of party, run together on a single ballot on November 6th. If no one receives 50%+, they go to a runoff three weeks later.
In the competitive jungle primary, Cochran's temporary replacement, Republican US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith will face conservative former State Senator Chris McDaniel (R) and Democrat Mike Espy, a former US House Member (1987 to 1993) and Secretary of Agriculture under Clinton. Dems are hoping McDaniel will fracture the GOP vote and thrust Epsy into a runoff with Hyde-Smith, who is ahead in the polls.
Senator Jon Tester (D) is a Trump Target
Seats Up: US Senate, US House, State Executive Offices, State Senate & House, Supreme Court, Local Judges, State Ballot.
Highlights: Two-term Incumbent Democrat Jon Tester, one of 10 Senate Democrats defending a seat in a Republican-leaning state, will be challenged by State Auditor and former State Senate Majority Leader Matt Rosendale.
Both parties are pulling out the stops, along with the President, who is bitter over Tester's leading opposition to Trump's failed nominee for US Veterans Affairs Secretary, White House physician Ronny Jackson.
In the at-large Congressional seat, incumbent Greg Gianforte (R), who defeated Rob Quist (D) in the May, 2017 special election to replace Ryan Zinke, will be challenged by former State Rep Kathleen Williams (D).
NEW JERSEY
Seats Up: US Senate, US House (7D/5R), School Board, Municipal.
Highlights: US Senator Bob Menendez (D) fended off primary challenger Lisa McCormick with 62.13% of the vote and will defend his seat against wealthy biopharmaceutical executive Bob Hugan in the general.
Menendez, who was first appointed to the Senate in 2006, and was re-elected in 2012 by 20%, appears to have survived scrutiny by the voters for his 2015 indictment on corruption charges related to a campaign donor, which ended in a mistrial last November.
Four of the Garden State's US Houses seats are ripe for takeover by Democrats. In the open 2nd District, State Senator Jeff Van Drew (D) will go up against with former Atlantic City Councilman Jeff Grossman (R), and in the 3rd CD Republican incumbent Tom MacArthur will be challenged by former Obama national security advisor Andrew Kim (D). In the 7th, incumbent Leonard Lance (R) will face former Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Tom Malinowski (D), and in the open 11th District, former federal prosecutor Mikie Sherrill (D) won a five-way contest to compete against State Assemblyman Jay Webber (R).
pic: Politico
Seats Up: US Senate, US House, Governor, State Executive Offices, State House, Supreme & Appellate Court, Local Judges, Municipal, State ballot measures.
Highlights: New Mexico has it all up this year: US Senator Martin Heinrich (D) is running for re-election, the gubernatorial is open, vacated by term-limited Republican Susana Martinez, and two of New Mexico's three Congressional seats are open, vacated by incumbents running for Governor.
Democratic nominee Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) and Congressman Steve Pearce (R), the Republican nominee, will go head-to-head to replace Martinez in one of 2018's most closely watched statewide contests.
Former state Democratic Party Chair Deb Haaland, who would be the first Native American woman elected to Congress, will compete against former State Representative Janice Arnold-Jones for Grisham's open 1st CD, and in the 2nd District vacated by Pearce, Democrats hope to flip the seat with Xochiti Torres Small over State Representative Yvette Herrell (R).
SOUTH DAKOTA
Seats Up: US House, Governor, State Executive Offices, State Senate & House, Supreme Court, State Ballot.
Highlights: Congresswoman Kristi Noem (R) won the GOP primary to run against State Senator Billie Sutton (D) for the Governor's seat to succeed Dennis Daugaard (R), who is term-limited.
In Noem's open 1st Congressional District, businessman Dusty Johnson (R) will face former State Court Judge Timothy Bjorkman (D) for the state's sole US House seat.
Tomorrow: California's Primary Election Results
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Sources: Ballotpedia, Politico, CBSnews, MSNBC, Clarion Ledger, Atlas Project, Vox, NewYorkTimes
