The Latest: Maine primary election tests Platner’s support following mounting scandals

Voters across Maine, Nevada, South Carolina and North Dakota will cast their ballots Tuesday in another day of primary elections in America, but much of the political world will be focused on Maine’s high-stakes U.S. Senate contest.

The results aren’t in question. Neither Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins nor Democratic challenger Graham Platner faces serious opposition for their party’s nomination. And yet Tuesday marks 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 will be 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.

Here’s the latest:

Voters will use ranked choice voting in Maine

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!”

▶ Read more

Will Democrats finally have a shot in a red Nevada congressional district?

No Democrat has held the congressional seat that represents Reno and rural northern Nevada, but Democrats aren’t ruling it out this year after longtime GOP Rep. Mark Amodei announced his retirement.

“A lot of things have to go our way in November, and I think we should be honest about that,” said Erik Jimenez, chair of the Democratic Party of Washoe County, the most populous county in the district. “But I’ll say from our volunteer base in Washoe and just rank-and-file voters across the district, we have never seen more people excited about Congressional District 2 than we do now.”

Former state lawmaker Teresa Benitez-Thompson and businessman and investor Greg Kidd are among those on the Democratic primary ballot. They’ve focused on the economy, healthcare and artificial intelligence regulations.

Democrats are banking on Trump’s growing unpopularity and the district’s large number of nonpartisan voters. In the Republican primary, they’re hoping that Trump-backed candidate David Flippo will defeat James Settelmeyer, a former lawmaker with the backing of Gov. Joe Lombardo, believing it would be easier to draw a contrast.

What to expect in North Dakota’s state primary

North Dakota’s lone U.S. House member faces a partial rematch of her 2024 nomination race in a state primary Tuesday. Also on the ballot is a proposed amendment to the state constitution, while residents of Fargo will elect a new mayor.

Republican U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak seeks a second term. She faces another primary challenge from former foreign service officer Alex Balazs, who placed fourth in the 2024 contest with 4% of the vote behind her and others. Fedorchak went on to win the general election with 69% of the vote against Democrat Trygve Hammer, who also is running again and will face the winner of this year’s Republican primary.

Voters will also choose nominees for several top statewide offices, although candidates for most of those offices, such as secretary of state, state attorney general and state agriculture commissioner, are running unopposed.

Many of the state’s top elected offices, such governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and both U.S. Senate seats, won’t be up for election until 2028 or later.

▶ Read more

Lindsey Graham’s reelection campaign started with a show of force

More than a year before filing even opened for this year’s contests, Graham’s campaign said Sen. Tim Scott and Gov. Henry McMaster would chair his 2026 run.

Scott, South Carolina’s junior senator, chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

McMaster is the state’s longest-serving governor, having been elected twice after serving the remaining two years of Nikki Haley’s term after she became Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations.

Busy primaries for Maine governor as Janet Mills prepares to leave office

Democrats and Republicans will pick nominees for governor to replace Mills as the Democrat’s time in office is winding to a close.

It’s a crowded field. Democrats are 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.

Republicans will choose between former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Bobby Charles; healthcare executive Jonathan Bush; former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason; University of Maine System trustee Owen McCarthy; former Paris, Maine, selectman Robert Wessels; and businessmen David Jones and Ben Midgley.

Mills is termed out and will appear on the Democratic ballot for U.S. Senate, although she suspended her campaign weeks ago.

Nevada Democrats seek to tie Gov. Lombardo to Trump

As Nevada voters participate in primary elections Tuesday, the state Democratic Party has launched a website — www.thelombardotrumpway.com/ — to highlight GOP Gov. Joe Lombardo’s connections to the White House.

The site is an effort to connect the governor to the economic fallout from Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war. Lombardo is considered one of the most vulnerable governors in the country.

The Democrats vying to challenge Lombardo include state Attorney General Aaron Ford, who has the backing of the Democratic congressional delegation and former Vice President Kamala Harris. He would be the first Black man elected governor of Nevada. He’s facing Democrat Alexis Hill, a county commissioner in northern Nevada who campaigned as a candidate willing to shake things up.

In GOP-heavy South Carolina, Democrats facing off in top races, too

Republicans have held all statewide-elected positions in South Carolina for more than a decade, but several Democrats are competing in primaries Tuesday for some of the state’s top posts.

Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in 2022, is vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham. Also in that contest is Brandon Brown, a former HBCU vice president and owner of funeral homes in Greenville.

In the governor’s race, state Rep. Jermaine Johnson and Greenville businessman Billy Webster are running in the Democratic primary. They’re joined by Mullins McLeod, an attorney who withstood calls from party leaders that he quit the race following an arrest last year for disorderly conduct.

Lindsey Graham’s reelection campaign coincides with the Iran war he’s pushed

The South Carolina senator’s bid for a fifth term coincides with the war he’s pushed for years. Graham has a close relationship with Trump and they speak regularly about the conflict.

But as voters mull whether to send Graham back to Washington, they’re also reckoning with the ongoing war, which has caused fissures among some of Trump’s most vocal supporters.

Graham frequently pushes Trump to take even more aggressive action, at one point suggesting that the U.S. military seize Kharg Island, which is critical for Iran’s oil industry.

Mace calls Evette a ‘disgrace’ after an altercation between their supporters

Rep. Nancy Mace says one of her supporters was assaulted at a Monday event with Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, one of her rivals in South Carolina’s governor’s race.

The man was escorted from Evette’s rally, then walked the sidewalk speaking into a megaphone. Then another man wearing an Evette campaign hat is seen on video grabbing the device from his hands.

Court records show the Evette supporter, Blake Garrison Kirsch, was charged with third-degree assault and battery Tuesday. No attorney was listed. Evette’s campaign said Kirsch was not a staffer and had been removed from the campaign’s finance committee since the altercation.

Asked about the incident Tuesday, Evette told reporters after voting in Taylors she was “saddened” by the situation and doesn’t “tolerate violence on any level.”

Democratic dark horse candidate faces uphill battle for Nevada governor

Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill faces state Attorney General Aaron Ford, whose fundraising has dwarfed hers —$2.3 million compared to Hill’s $100,000. He also has the support of the entire Democratic congressional delegation and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Hill, a local official in the county that includes Reno, has run a grassroots campaign, promising to shake up the status quo in the Democratic Party. Ford has largely ignored her, fixing his sights on the November election.

The winner will most likely face Republican Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, who’s running for reelection.

Voter voices from Graham Platner’s hometown of Sullivan, Maine

Brenda Wood said she voted for Republicans in the primary because she doesn’t believe Platner’s campaign promises and expressed dissatisfaction with his party generally.

“I think the Democrats have been a disgrace to Maine for years,” she said.

Annette Babcock, also from Sullivan, said she supported Platner, whom she said she’s met a few times and likes because he’s not an established politician.

She did not sound concerned over recent controversies surrounding his campaign.

“The Republicans don’t have much moral high ground to stand on when they’re criticizing him for what he’s done when Trump is a convicted felon,” she said.

What’s at stake in Maine’s US Senate race

The road for the Democrats to take back the U.S. Senate goes through Maine. That road starts today.

The Democratic Party needs to net four seats to retake the Senate majority, and thinks some of its best chances are in states like Maine, North Carolina, Alaska and Ohio. The party is set to officially pick its nominee in Maine on Tuesday.

Oyster farmer and combat veteran Graham Platner is the party’s presumptive nominee because his main rival, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign weeks ago. Mills remains on the ballot. David Costello, who hasn’t campaigned aggressively, is also on the ballot.

Evette calls Trump endorsement ‘golden ticket’ in her South Carolina gubernatorial campaign

After voting at her precinct in Taylors on Tuesday, South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette said she was confident about how her campaign for governor had gone.

But if she doesn’t win the primary outright and has to campaign for two more weeks in a runoff, the Republican said she’d work hard to win over voters who didn’t initially support her.

President Donald Trump is backing Evette’s bid and the candidate said that, while she thinks that will help her in this “proud Trump state,” she’ll focus primarily on her own stances, like cutting taxes and regulations.

Graham Platner’s tattoo and social media controversies, explained

Platner’s campaign has spent months navigating controversies about a tattoo of a Nazi symbol that he had covered up and his history of inflammatory online postings.

Platner has said he was drunk on leave with some fellow Marines many years ago when he got a skull and crossbones tattoo on his chest. He had it covered up last year after saying he learned that it was a Nazi image.

There has also been much attention on his former social media and Reddit posts, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults, insulting of police and rural residents and used homophobic slurs, for which he’s apologized.

Trump’s hold on Nevada GOP to be tested

Nevada’s primary will give an indication of the influence the president maintains in the battleground state.

In 2024, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate in 20 years to win Nevada. For Tuesday’s primary, he’s backed candidates in three of the state’s four congressional races:

1. State Sen. Carrie Buck in the 1st District, a seat long held by Democratic Rep. Dina Titus.

2. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. David Flippo in the 2nd District, which opened after Rep. Mark Amodei announced his retirement.

3. And “Halo” composer Marty O’Donnell in the 3rd District, the state’s most competitive seat. Trump narrowly won the district in 2024.

Trump has a string of victories for his endorsed candidates so far this primary season. That includes those he endorsed in an effort to take down Republicans he deemed insufficiently loyal.

The GOP primary for the 2nd District appears to be the most contentious. Trump’s endorsed candidate faces James Settelmeyer, a rancher with a long political resume who has the backing of Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and the retiring incumbent.

South Carolina’s Republican governor primary was all about Trump’s support

Trump’s endorsement is a powerful factor in a state where Republicans dominate politics.

U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, state Attorney General Alan Wilson and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette all showcased their proximity to the president. Mace worked for his 2016 campaign, Norman votes with him in the House, Wilson traveled to New York City when Trump was on trial, and Evette hired one of his advisers for her campaign.

In the end, Trump endorsed Evette in the primary’s closing days, also saying on social media that “A BIG added plus” was that Henry McMaster Jr. — the sitting governor’s son — could be Evette’s running mate.

McMaster is close to Trump, backing him in 2016 when much of the Republican establishment was hesitant to embrace the New York businessman and reality television star. So when McMaster endorsed Evette in February, it was a sign that Trump’s support could be on the way.

4 Democrats running for crucial Maine congressional seat

Many Maine Democrats are voting to pick a candidate for the 2nd District, which Republicans see as a key chance to pick up a seat in the narrowly divided chamber.

Incumbent Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, is not seeking reelection. The 2nd District includes much of rural Maine and Trump has had great success there at the top of the ticket in the last three presidential elections.

The Republicans’ presumptive nominee is former Gov. Paul LePage. Democrats will choose between former Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap; state Sen. Joe Baldacci; former U.S. Senate candidate Jordan Wood; and social worker Paige Loud.

Nevada website shows the status of mail ballots

The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office has launched a website designed to provide transparency around mail ballots.

The website shows how many were mailed, returned and accepted. It also notes the number requiring fixes by voters. Nevada mails a ballot to every registered voter unless a voter opts out.

It’s one of several swing states where Trump disputed his loss in 2020 with false claims of fraud. The secretary of state at the time, a Republican, investigated various claims and found no evidence of any widespread fraud. Trump also has repeatedly attacked the use of mail ballots generally.

Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat, said he created the website to increase transparency around Nevada’s elections and provide a way for voters to see in real-time how many ballots are outstanding.