Meet the biggest winners and losers so far!
Tuesday night had the most important primaries of the 2022 midterms thus far, with voters from both parties choosing their preferred candidates in battleground states and districts across the country.
Several intraparty battles for both parties came to a climax last night. More than a few tested Donald Trump's status as the GOP's kingmaker.
Here's where things stand as of this morning.
Pennsylvania Senate
Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate primary elections were the evening's marquee contest for Republicans and Democrats.
For the GOP, the race has gone into overtime. As of this article's publication, Trump-endorsed television personality and celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz leads former hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick by two-tenths of a percentage point — little more than 2,000 votes out of more than 1.2 million. Republicans are desperate to keep this seat red in November. The late rise of Kathy Barnette scared many in the party, including the former president, who publicly expressed concern over her electability.
In the end, Barnette came in a distant third.
More than 95% of votes have been counted. However, a significant number of mail-in ballots remain outstanding.
On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman won the Democratic nomination by a nearly two-to-one margin from his hospital bed. Fetterman suffered a stroke the weekend before the primary. On Election Day, he had a pacemaker implanted.
The unorthodox Fetterman defeated Pittsburgh-area U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, a moderate who won a Trump district in 2018. Many considered Lamb a rising star in the Democratic Party. His future is now in doubt.
Pennsylvania Governor
Democrats are breathing a sigh of relief in the Keystone State's governor's race. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) will face off against controversial state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R). Mastriano has aggressively pushed Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, at one point attempting to appoint an illegitimate slate of electors. By all accounts, his arguments haven't resonated with Pennsylvania voters outside of the GOP base.
As a result, political prognosticators have called into question his electability in a general election — even in an environment favorable for Republicans.
Time will tell if they are right.
Shapiro was so confident that Mastriano would be toxic to swing voters that his campaign aired an ad designed to help him win the Republican primary.
North Carolina Senate
Ted Budd is the Republican nominee for North Carolina's U.S. Senate seat this year. Budd, the U.S. representative for the Tar Heel State's 13th District, won by a comfortable margin after initially struggling in his race against former Gov. Pat McCrory (R). McCrory is reportedly refusing to endorse Budd this morning.
Budd had crucial moral and logistical support from a number of prominent conservative individuals and groups including former President Trump and the Club for Growth.
Republicans badly need to keep this Senate seat in their column if they hope to reclaim the Senate majority. The seat is being vacated by incumbent Sen. Richard Burr, who is not seeking reelection.
The North Carolina Republican Party censured Burr in February 2021 after he became one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial.
North Carolina's 11th Congressional District
Congressman Madison Cawthorn has lost his campaign for reelection. The freshman Republican had been plagued by controversies — including video evidence and salacious allegations of inappropriate behavior and other self-inflicted wounds. Those include trying to board a plane with a handgun (twice) and accusations of insider trading for being an aggressive promoter of the “Let's Go Brandon” cryptocurrency on social media.
Combined, they pulled votes away from Cawthorn — despite former President Trump's endorsement.
However, what's gone underreported and was arguably a more significant factor in Cawthorn's defeat was his lackluster commitment to constituent services in the district and his failure to be an effective legislator in the U.S. House.
The primary results have produced an interesting general election, with optimistic Democrats hoping for an upset in the heavily Republican district that most voters believe was poorly represented.
Cawthorn conceded late Tuesday.
Kentucky
Liberty-minded Republicans Rand Paul and Thomas Massie easily brushed aside primary challengers and now look to defend their seats this November. Meanwhile, progressive Democrat Charles Booker won his party's nomination to run for Senate against Sen. Paul. Booker has received the endorsement of members of the Squad, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
It's unclear how her endorsement benefits Booker in a general election in ruby red Kentucky.
Idaho
In Idaho, the governor and lieutenant governor don't run on the same ticket. Last night, Gov. Brad Little, easily fended off a challenge from his far-right subordinate, Trump-endorsed Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin.
McGeachin courted controversy when she inexplicably spoke at Nick Fuentes' white nationalist conference earlier this year. During the multi-day event, Fuentes defended Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and favorably compared the Russian leader to Adolf Hitler.
Oregon
In another possible victory for the far-left, Democratic voters in Oregon's 5th District appear on the verge of kicking out incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader. A relative moderate, Schrader had won the endorsement of President Biden.
However, the winner may not be known for some days. A printing error blurred ballot barcodes and threatens to delay the results.
“Mastriano has aggressively pushed Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, including an attempt to appoint an illegitimate slate of electors. By all accounts, his arguments haven’t resonated with Pennsylvania voters outside of the GOP base.”
“baseless claims of election fraud”?!
Wake Up Victoria, and smell the truth!
Surprised to see this site parroting the Democrat Party Line about claims of election fraud being “baseless.” There may or may not have been fraud in other places, but CLEARLY Philadelphia was the epicenter of electoral fraud in 2020, as documented in “Two Thousand Mules.” You had to suspect that something was amiss when Pres. Trump’s (roughly) 800,000 vote lead at 2 am, suddenly disappeared in a few minutes as an avalanche of votes descended from parts of Philadelphia not previously known for their success in voting.
As a lifelong Republican, I know I’m in the minority, but I’m disappointed by the party’s willingness to embrace conspiracy theories about the 2020 election to soothe one man’s ego.
Trump lies when he loses elections. Period. Trump cried fraud after losing the Iowa caucus to Ted Cruz. He said again and again and again that if he came up short against Hillary in 2016, it’d be because of fraud. He still said there was widespread fraud in that race even though he won. Now, he’s sayin’ that Oz (an actual RINO) should declare himself the winner in Pennsylvania so McCormick can’t cheat. That’s who the man is at his core.
Trump’s claims that he won in 2020 have been disproven. For starters, the Cyber Ninjas audit in AZ showed Biden won. The Michigan GOP Senate found no widespread fraud there either. What incentive did Raffensperger have for not certifying the election in Georgia? Zero. What about Barr and the Trump-led DOJ (at the time)? Nadda. They had no evidence to find Trump the votes he wanted. Trump’s claims cost the GOP two Senate seats in Georgia. Not that he cared.
Republicans have taken steps to fight voter fraud, OK. That’s all good. That has been favorable for GOPers, and I’m all for having a big tent with serious conversations. But there was no evidence of systematic voter fraud involving hundreds of thousands of voters in multiple states. No one is going to take bits and pieces of D’Souza’s film to court. We’ve turned our party into a safe space for a man who loses more often than he wants to admit.
@ cicero, if you want to believe in unfounded and honestly, idiotic conspiracy theories, that’s your prerogative, I suppose. But don’t expect anyone to take you seriously. Anyone besides other conspiracy theorists. Your variety of Republican is who is turning our party into a joke.