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 in Maine's marquee race weren't in question even before voting was complete. 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 tested anew in states like South Carolina and Nevada, where he 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.
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Benitez-Thompson, a former Assembly leader, faces an uphill battle even as Democrats see the seat as one they could possibly flip for the first time in years. Republicans outnumber Democrats by 70,000 in the district that covers Reno and rural northern Nevada.
The seat is open for the first time in 15 years after longtime Republican Rep. Mark Amodei announced his retirement.
Benitez-Thompson serves as chief of staff to Attorney General Aaron Ford, who is running for governor. She previously served in the Nevada Assembly for 12 years, including as the majority leader.
She has focused her campaign on the economy, aiming to restore tax dollars stripped from Nevada, developing artificial intelligence regulations to prevent job layoffs and building workforce housing.
Better Nevada PAC spokesperson John Burke highlighted the governor’s record in expanding school choice and promoting job growth.
“We must re-elect him for another four-year term,” he said in a statement.
Lombardo’s campaign declined to comment and referred inquiries to the political action committee.
The attorney defeated perennial candidate Danny Tarkanian, the son of the legendary University of Nevada Las Vegas basketball coach.
Guzmán Fralick, who has experience serving on several state boards, promised to work with the Legislature to pass a state version of the SAVE Act that Trump has championed in Congress as a way to require voters to provide documents proving their citizenship.
The Nevada version would require all of the state’s ballots to be counted on Election Day, end universal mail ballots and eliminate automatic voter registration. There has been no evidence of widespread fraud in Nevada elections, and the state Legislature is unlikely to pass such a bill if Democrats remain in control.
Guzmán Fralick also promised to prosecute people who abuse children to the fullest extent of the law and to help victims of domestic violence.
Zoë Kleinfeld highlighted Ford’s record as attorney general and his work to lower costs for working families.
“We’re going to win this general election by building a multiracial working-class coalition united around the promise of a better future for Nevada’s working families,” she said in a statement.
Ford will take on Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo in the fall.
She beat out state Treasurer Zach Conine for a spot on the November ballot.
Cannizzaro will go up against Republican Danny Tarkanian or Adriana Guzmán Fralick.
O’Donnell goes on to the general election in the state’s most competitive district, one considered crucial for Democrats’ hope of retaking the U.S. House.
O’Donnell’s win marks another victory for Trump, who has seen his endorsed candidates win primaries across the country.
O’Donnell, a composer, will go up against Democratic Rep. Susie Lee, who has held the seat since 2019.
Nevada’s 3rd District is the state’s most competitive because of its narrow Democratic registration advantage and high number of nonpartisan voters. It has a history of razor-thin margins in elections that frequently draw a lot of out-of-state spending. In 2024, both Lee and Trump narrowly won the district.
O’Donnell ran for the seat in 2024 and lost in the primary. This time, he defeated Jeff Gunter, a former U.S. ambassador.
O’Donnell campaigned on regulating and investing in artificial intelligence, building upon Trump’s border security policies and reducing the national debt.
He will challenge Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo in what is expected to be one of the nation’s most competitive governor’s races this fall.
Ford defeated Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill after focusing his primary campaign squarely on Lombardo, even refusing to participate in a primary debate.
Ford has served as the state’s attorney general since 2019, often teaming up with other Democratic attorneys general in filing lawsuits against the Trump administration. He has challenged Trump’s tariffs and funding cuts to higher education. He’s also gone after social media companies, accusing them of intentionally making their platforms addictive for children.
Ford would be the state’s first Black governor if elected in November.
Lombardo, a former sheriff, has spent his first term focused on jobs, education and public safety while walking a policy tightrope with the Democratic-majority Legislature.
“Trump’s gotten away with so much,” Austin Wand of Las Vegas said. “Democrats are really motivated to get out and vote.”
Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Nevada Treasurer Zach Conine are competing for the party’s nomination for the post. Wand said he wished they weren’t both running because he likes them both.
No candidate won the majority of votes Tuesday, so the race will go to a ranked runoff.
Republicans were choosing 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.
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.
“Pretty clearly the latter,” said Elizabeth Massie, who stood in the emptying room where the candidate just spoke.
“As a woman who believes women who say they’ve been violated, I was concerned about those attacks, and I am concerned about his past,” said Massie, sporting a big campaign pin stamped with Platner’s name. “I think what’s so refreshing about Graham is that accountability, is the fact that he apologizes.”
“Have we ever heard our president be accountable for anything?” she said.
Mills suspended her own Senate campaign weeks ago, clearing a path to the nomination for Platner.
She released a statement Tuesday night about “the outcome of the Maine Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.”
In it, Mills said she is “grateful to Maine people and incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together.”
The veteran Republican senator’s campaign said she is a proven bipartisan leader. The statement used Collins’ work on the paycheck protection program as an example.
“Her ability to work across the aisle is what allowed her to pass this important program, as is the case with many of her other legislative accomplishments,” Collins spokesperson Shawn Roderick said in a statement.
The statement came after a speech in which Platner characterized Collins as loyal to Trump.
Collins “will run on her own record of delivering results for Maine,” Roderick said.
That was on Truth Social, where Trump celebrated Graham’s “BIG WIN tonight” in a field “of very capable candidates.”
Trump had endorsed Graham early in the race, and the South Carolina senator paid the compliments back in his victory speech.
Directly addressing Trump to the cameras, Graham said “I’m going to be your strongest ally in the United States Senate” and then added that Trump is on track to be one of the “most consequential presidents in American history.”
Senate Democratic leaders said they’re confident in Platner’s ability to defeat Collins in November.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement that Collins “has never been more vulnerable” and “Maine voters will elect Graham Platner.”
On the Republican side, Senate Leadership Fund executive director Alex Latcham released a statement calling Platner “a dangerous deviant” and saying Collins “has demonstrated strong character, steady leadership, and unmatched effectiveness.”
In-person Election Day voting is scheduled to conclude at 7 p.m. PT, which is 10 p.m. ET, but state law requires polls to stay open until all voters in line by poll closing time have cast their ballots.
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 primaries, the AP first reported results at 11:04 p.m. ET. This was more than an hour after the scheduled poll closing time, but the state doesn’t release any votes until it confirms that voting has concluded in every county. The last vote update of the night was at 11:55 p.m. ET in the Republican primary, with about 94% of total votes counted, and at 2:28 a.m. ET in the Democratic primary, with about 85% of total votes counted.
He said he would work to pass Medicare for all and codify Roe v. Wade into law.
Platner has run a progressive campaign focusing heavily on affordability issues. Tuesday he also outlined other priorities that included stopping prescription drug price gouging and stopping foreign wars.
“Together, we will win back this Senate seat,” he said. “And together, we’re going to take back our power.”
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.
Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks after winning the Republican primary on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks during a primary election night watch party after winning the Democratic nomination Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Blue Hill, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A person walks past a sign for a drive-through ballot drop-off outside the city hall in Las Vegas, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Lindsay Robinson, with daughter Scottie, walks to cast her ballots in the Maine Primary, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Augusta, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Mary Saunders looks over her choices one last time before casting her ballots in the Maine Primary, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Augusta, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
