Voters across Maine, Nevada, South Carolina and North Dakota cast ballots Tuesday in another day of primary elections in America, but much of the political world was focused on Maine’s high-stakes U.S. Senate contest.
The results weren't in question. Neither Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins nor Democratic challenger Graham Platner faced serious opposition for their party’s nomination. And yet Tuesday's primary victory marked an especially significant
moment for Platner, the embattled veteran and oyster farmer, who's fighting to rebuild his credibility in a campaign rocked by controversy.
Elsewhere, President Donald Trump’s clout within his party was being tested anew in states like South Carolina and Nevada, where he’s endorsed his favored candidates. Democrats hope to build momentum in Nevada in their broader push to reclaim key governor’s seats.
And in California, Republican Steve Hilton advanced to the general election for California governor, The Associated Press determined on Tuesday, one week after the state’s primary. Hilton argues that the state needs new leadership after years of Democratic dominance, and he will face Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general and Biden administration health secretary, in November.
Here's the latest:
No candidate won the majority of votes Tuesday, so the race will go to a ranked runoff.
Democrats were choosing between former Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, state Sen. Joe Baldacci, former U.S. Senate candidate Jordan Wood and social worker Paige Loud. The Republicans’ presumptive nominee is former Gov. Paul LePage.
Maine uses ranked choice voting in some races. The ranked votes come into play when no candidate breaks 50% of the total vote, and the counting frequently takes several days.
Incumbent 2nd District Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, is not seeking reelection.
No candidate won the majority of votes Tuesday, so the race will go to a ranked runoff.
Democrats were choosing between Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson; former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives Hannah Pingree; energy executive Angus King III; and former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Nirav Shah.
Maine uses ranked choice voting in some races. The ranked votes come into play when no candidate breaks 50% of the total vote, and the counting frequently takes several days.
“Susan Collins,” said Platner, which prompted immediate boos from the audience, “She has become just as spineless and corrupt as the establishment she now serves.”
Platner launched into a diatribe against the senator he’ll now be facing in the general election, saying she’s “getting rich while we’re getting screwed,” and attacking her for voting alongside Trump and to put conservative judges on the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Susan Collins has never met a war she didn’t like, she’s been supporting endless wars since I was a teenager, and I know, I had to fight in two of them,” he said. “You and your friends profited, and my friends died.”
“If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,” said Platner to a cheering, campaign sign wielding crowd. “And the reason I believe that is because I have lived it.”
“Every day I wake up and I try to be a little bit better and a little bit kinder than I was the day before,” said Platner.
He thanked his supporters and promised to fight for them.
In a rising voice, Platner declared “I will be the champion for your dreams as if they were my own!”
Platner told cheering supporters that they have built a formidable political movement that can defeat the longtime Republican senator.
“And when we finally defeat Susan Collins,” Platner said, “that will be because of you, too.”
Platner’s campaign has been rocked by a series of controversies over the last several months. Tuesday, he said he can “be a senator for the people who cannot afford to buy a senator” and stand up to billionaires and corporations.
“I will fight for you,” Platner said.
The Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine has taken the stage at his election night watch party and thanked his supporters and opponent Mills.
“It is an honor, and I will not let you down,” Platner told the crowd. “Until recently I thought that harbormaster would be the height of my political career.”
“President Trump,” said Graham in a victory speech after winning the Republican nomination in South Carolina. “I’m coming back to the Senate in ’27. I’m going to win in November and I’m going to help you change this world and change this country.”
After thanking a slew of people for his primary victory, he said he’s going to repay them by “helping President Trump put as many conservative judges on the Court as we can.”
It’s a high-stakes Senate campaign that pits the veteran Collins, the only Republican senator from New England, against a progressive with no experience in high office. Platner, a brash political newcomer who has energized crowds, has faced a series of controversies that the GOP will focus on throughout the campaign.
An oyster farmer and former chair of the planning board in the small town of Sullivan, Platner has drawn hundreds of people to rallies around the state.
He was endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who campaigned with him in the run-up to the primary. He has said he plans to focus on economic issues such as housing and healthcare.
The mother of the Maine Senate candidate told those gathered at his election night watch party that she’s proud of her son and hopeful for a big win.
“Graham has always been very passionate about serving others and making life better for the people around him,” Leslie Harlow said at the event in the small town of Blue Hill.
Harlow, who has been a fixture at Platner’s campaign events, told the cheering crowd that her son has been a dedicated worker since his younger days as a blueberry raker and supermarket grocery bagger. She said he’ll bring that dedication to the Senate.
The president called Evette as she advanced to a runoff to congratulate her.
A person with knowledge of Evette’s primary night activities but not authorized to publicly speak about them said Trump also told his chosen pick in the governor’s race he would lend his support over the next two weeks.
Trump endorsed Evette less than two weeks before Tuesday’s votes in South Carolina’s five-way GOP gubernatorial primary. He is also a close supporter of current Gov. Henry McMaster.
— By Meg Kinnard
Wilson moved forward despite not securing Trump’s endorsement in a race in which the top contenders vied for the president’s support.
Wilson has served as the state’s attorney general since 2011, taking actions to support Trump’s political and personal moves. In 2024, Wilson traveled to New York to support Trump as he stood trial in a hush money case.
He is the son of longtime U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson.
Evette’s achievement came about a week after securing Trump’s backing.
The Ohio native has for eight years served as lieutenant governor to current Gov. Henry McMaster, who is term-limited and was among Trump’s earliest supporters in his first presidential campaign.
In-person Election Day voting concluded in North Dakota at 9 p.m. ET. Some polls located in Central time closed an hour earlier, at 8 p.m. ET.
Comparable primaries from past elections can offer clues about when to expect the first vote results and how long the vote count might take.
In the 2024 state primary, the AP first reported results at 9 p.m. ET, just as the last polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 11:56 p.m. ET, with about 99% of total votes counted.
The key Trump ally defeated challengers including businessman Mark Lynch, who said Graham wasn’t conservative enough for the state.
Trump early on endorsed Graham, his political confidant and regular golfing partner, despite their on-again-off-again relationship.
In announcing he would seek a fifth term in the Senate, Graham also secured the state’s leading Republicans, Sen. Tim Scott and Gov. Henry McMaster, to chair his 2026 run.
No Democrat has won a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina in decades, and Republicans in recent history typically take statewide seats by double-digit margins. When he last ran in 2020, Graham defeated his Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, by a 10 percentage point margin.
A number of Republican challengers are vying against Graham, but one voter said he’s not worried about arguments the incumbent isn’t conservative enough.
“I think he’s perfectly fine,” said Jimmy Hunt, a Spartanburg businessman, as he watched returns come in at Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette’s election night headquarters in Greenville.
“He navigates pretty well with President Trump,” Hunt said. He’s kind of always on the edge of being in trouble, but that’s a tough game — really tough.”
The state lawmaker who has represented a district in the Columbia area for three terms defeated businessman Billy Webster and attorney Mullins McLeod.
Seen as a rising star in the state party, Johnson was tapped to give this year’s Democratic response to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster’s state of the state address.
The winner of the November general election will succeed McMaster, who has been in office since Nikki Haley left her term early to join the first Trump administration.
Democrats have not won a general election for governor in South Carolina since 1998, and Republicans have controlled all statewide elected offices for more than a decade.
The Charleston pediatrician secured the nomination in her campaign to keep Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham from a fifth term.
Andrews, who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in 2022, has challenged what she’s characterized as Graham’s waffling positions over the course of his political career.
No Democrat has won a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina in decades, and Republicans in recent history typically take statewide seats by double-digit margins.
When he last ran in 2020, Graham defeated his Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, by a 10 percentage point margin.
Platner is holding his event at Blue Hill YMCA in the town of Blue Hill, about 30 miles from his hometown of Sullivan. Supporters were gathering to hear a speech from Platner, which is expected after results come in.
Platner is expected to win the primary because his main competition, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign weeks ago. The winner will face longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
The mood at his event is high, with the crowd expecting a victory and beginning to assemble in front of a podium where Platner will speak.
Las Vegas resident Laurie Trowbridge voted for Alexis Hill because of Hill’s stance on data centers. Hill has pledged to stop new tax abatements on data centers and require them to implement renewable energy policies.
“We don’t have enough water for data centers,” Trowbridge said. “And they pollute everything, and we can’t have it. We have enough problems in the state without adding that to it.”
Teresa Ray, also a Las Vegas resident, voted for Attorney General Aaron Ford because of his experience as a leader.
“He has shown me since he’s been attorney general that he’s going to be the one that should be able to lead Nevada into a better place than where we are now,” Ray said.
She hopes that if he is elected, he will be able to encourage other Democrats to “grow some spine” and send a better message to voters.
Juliana Palyak studied the Republican candidates for South Carolina governor for months. She didn’t like any of them.
Finally as primary day came, she said she decided to vote for self-funded businessman Rom Reddy.
“I do not want career politicians any more. I am tried of it,” Paylak said of the other four candidates who are all currently in elected office.
Her disgust extends to Trump, who has lost her support by going to war in Iran and not keeping other promises made during his campaign.
“His social media. It’s ridiculous,” Paylak said.
In-person Election Day voting concluded in Maine at 8 p.m. ET.
Comparable primaries from past elections can offer clues about when to expect the first vote results and how long the vote count might take.
In the 2024 general election, the AP first reported results at 8:44 p.m. ET, or 44 minutes after polls closed. About 50% of the total vote had been counted by 12:54 a.m. ET, and counting stopped for the night at 4:11 a.m. ET. By 3:13 p.m. ET the day after Election Day, about 90% of the vote had been counted.
Some of Maine’s primary elections could advance to ranked choice voting if no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes. This could delay the release of final results for another week or two.
Hilton has made the case that the state desperately needs new leadership following more than 15 years of Democratic dominance.
He’ll face Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general and Biden administration health secretary, whom The Associated Press previously determined had won enough votes. Election day was a week ago.
Hilton faces a challenging electorate in the November election, as California has nearly twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. If elected he would be the first GOP candidate to win statewide office since 2006.
Gov. Joe Lombardo thanked campaign volunteers Tuesday afternoon in front of a Las Vegas polling location, taking pictures and signing supporters’ shirts as people huddled under a tent in the 94 degree heat.
The Republican governor, who is expected to easily win his primary, touted his record on improving education and “expanding upon the economy and the jobs front, healthcare, and public safety.” He said next on the list is working on affordable housing.
“We’re running again because we still got a lot of work to do in that space,” Lombardo said at his campaign’s booth. Along the sidewalk leading to the polling location, campaigns sent up booths in a last effort to sway voters.
Lombardo will likely face either Attorney General Aaron Ford or Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill in November.
Election day in California was one week ago, but candidates in the race for governor are still waiting to find out who will be paired in a November runoff for the state’s highest office.
Democrat Xavier Becerra qualified last week, but it’s still not clear if the second spot will be claimed by Republican Steve Hilton or Democrat Tom Steyer.
Becerra told reporters Tuesday that he was “anxious to find out who … is going to be in there with me.”
California has a notoriously slow vote count, and Becerra said, “I don’t think it’s a great thing that it takes such a long time.” But he also defended the system, saying he would oppose “anything that reduces a Californian’s chance to vote.”
Earlier in the day, Hilton said the vote-counting system that can sometimes take weeks or longer to determine a winner desperately needed a complete overhaul.
“It’s insane,” Hilton said.
Two of the GOP candidates said they felt the use of ranked choice voting in the GOP primary made for an uglier election season.
Maine uses the ranked the style of voting for some races, including governor primaries, though it will not be used in the general election for governor. Ranked voting could factor heavily in Tuesday’s results because there are seven Republican candidates and five Democrats.
Jonathan Bush, one of the Republican candidates, said the role of ranked choice voting is to “make people less trusting of our democracy right now.” Another Republican, Owen McCarthy, said it led to candidates attacking each other.
“The thing with ranked choice voting is it’s supposed to make the race nicer. It didn’t make the race nicer,” he said.
The state’s primaries seemed to be on the verge of being upended over Trump’s push to reshape congressional districts ahead of the November elections.
However, the Republican-controlled state Senate rejected a plan to cancel congressional votes and schedule a new primary under revised districts.
The new lines had been designed to help Republicans oust U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, currently seeking his 18th term and the state’s sole congressional Democrat.
Some senators, including Republicans, said it was simply too late to make a change. Last weekend, South Carolina Democrats celebrated during their annual fundraising dinner and convention.
The Maine Democratic Senate candidate has been scrutinized recently after reports that he sent sexually explicit text messages with several women while married to his wife, Amy Gertner.
Gertner has called news coverage of the issue “gossip.”
Genevieve McDonald, a then-campaign staffer for Platner, told The Associated Press that Platner was “sexting multiple women while married” and “the campaign tried to assess that as an election vulnerability.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, Gertner told the campaign in August about the messages, which she had discovered on Platner’s phone last year. Platner’s campaign team reportedly decided that the texts were private and being handled by the couple, who were married in 2023.
The two are in counseling, Gertner has said, and Platner has his own therapist.
Graham often faces primary challengers, and he’s vying against several on Tuesday. But leading up to this year’s primary, several Republicans bowed out before voting began.
André Bauer, a former South Carolina lieutenant governor nominated as ambassador to Belize in both of Trump’s terms, ended up shuttering his bid after only a month as an announced candidate.
And Paul Dans, a chief architect of Project 2025, bailed on the last day to remove his name from ballots.
Mark Lynch, a Greenville businessman, is still running. On social media, Trump has said Lynch “would be a DISASTER for the Republican Party” if elected.
Maine supporters of Graham Platner said Tuesday that ousting incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins was on their mind.
Merrill Poddle of Ellsworth, Maine, said he voted for Platner. He questioned how much Collins actually stands up to President Donald Trump.
“The only time that she’s ever voted against him, what he wants, is when she knew it was gonna pass anyway,” he said. “She always has concerns, but that’s about all she ever has.”
Anne Dickens, also of Ellsworth, said she’s backing Platner as well. She questioned whether Collins had a vision for Maine.
“I think that Susan Collins has had her chance. She’s been too conservative and too much with the Trump view,” she said.
Among the several quirks about Maine, it’s one of just two states that uses ranked choice voting for its statewide elections.
It’s a system, adopted in 2016, that allows Maine voters to rank their lesser choices.
If no candidate wins a majority of first-place votes, then other rounds of tabulation begin without the last-place finisher. That candidate’s votes are reallocated to other candidates based on the second-place choices of their voters. The process continues until one candidate has a majority.
The Senate Democratic primary election isn’t expected to head to ranked choice voting, but other races might, including the one for governor.
Democratic governor candidate Nirav Shah has campaigned asking to be voters’ second choice if he can’t be their first, joking in a recent ad that “second choices are still pretty good … most of the time!”
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