(WASHINGTON) -- Closely watched primaries in four states on Tuesday showed a resounding victory for a Democrat who was facing some controversies but amassed much popular support, the continued strength of President Donald Trump’s endorsement, and set up a key governor’s race in November.
Here are some takeaways from Tuesday's primaries:
Platner triumphant in Maine even amid controversies
Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran, is slated to take on longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November’s general election for the U.S. Senate in Maine, romping to victory in the primary even amid multiple controversies.
That included a late-breaking controversy from a New York Times report last Thursday that some of the Army veteran's former girlfriends said that his actions could be "intimidating and disturbing."
Platner denied allegations of being physically intimidating towards former partners, and said after the story broke that he had been open to Mainers about his past, and that it had never crossed his mind to drop out of the race.
Tuesday night’s results showed Maine Democrats rallying behind Platner, as he romped to a projected victory in the primary with almost 75% of the vote as of late Tuesday. While Maine Gov. Janet Mills was also on the ballot, she had suspended her campaign weeks ago and appeared on track to get less than a fifth of the vote.
“Over the last nine months I have seen Mainers come together behind a vision to take back our power from corporations and billionaires,” Platner told supporters on Tuesday night.
Platner’s win gives Democrats an everyman candidate who has been able to attract huge crowds and support.
But he and other Democrats now face months of a general election campaign where Republicans say they will bring up Platner's controversies every chance they get, both to strike at Platner and to hound Democrats over supporting someone who the GOP says goes against values Democrats claim to support.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), for instance, shared a digital ad right as polls closed in Maine that called Collins “a senator we can be proud of” and portrayed Platner as out-of-touch and scandal-ridden.
But Platner will have the Democratic establishment backing him, too. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both of New York, wrote on Tuesday night, “Over the past year, we have created a path to win a Democratic Senate majority and put a stop to the chaos and damage of the Trump administration by defeating the Republicans who enable his harmful agenda. … In November, Maine voters will elect Graham Platner, and we will win a Senate majority.”
Trump candidate advances in South Carolina while one who defied him doesn't
Most of the U.S. House and governor candidates Trump endorsed in the 2026 cycle have won their primaries, even when Trump endorsed against established incumbents. In South Carolina’s Republican primary for governor, Trump’s endorsement was again on the ballot, as the president had endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette -- snubbing two U.S. representatives running for the seat, Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman.
And the power of Trump’s endorsement was borne out again, to an extent, as ABC News projected that Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson will advance to a June 23 runoff in the Republican governor's primary.
While Trump’s endorsed candidate did not win outright, that might not be a shock, given the sheer number of prominent candidates running and South Carolina’s runoff rules, in which the top two candidates go to a runoff if no one gets more than half of the vote.
Mace, who overall is a staunch supporter of the president, had voted for the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in defiance of Trump’s wishes. Some observers had seen Trump’s snub of Mace's gubernatorial bid as another example of his political vengeance against lawmakers who opposed him, although Trump did not mention Mace in his endorsement of Evette.
“I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that,” Mace said during remarks on Tuesday night, where she conceded the gubernatorial race without mentioning Trump.
Evette, on the campaign trail, had promoted her own conservative bona fides and strongly pushed for the state to redraw its congressional districts, a move Republican state legislators ended up rejecting.
A toss-up match set for governor in Nevada
While the candidates who won Nevada’s primaries for governor were not surprising in and of themselves, the results on Tuesday set up what’s likely going to be one of the most closely watched gubernatorial elections this fall.
Republican incumbent Gov. Joe Lombardo, who is running for a second term and has Trump’s endorsement, cruised to a projected victory in his primary, while Democrats nominated Aaron Ford, the state’s Attorney General, as their candidate.
Democrats have said they think Lombardo is the most vulnerable governor up for reelection during the 2026 cycle. They’ve argued that voters impacted by rising prices and Latino voters in the state who are souring on the Trump administration will turn against him.
Republicans, meanwhile, have argued that Lombardo is the best choice to continue leading the Silver State. The Nevada Republican Party wrote in September that Lombardo “has shown he’s a true champion for Nevada families and our conservative values. As Sheriff, he kept our communities safe, and now as Governor, he’s battling against the Democrats’ radical agenda.”
The Cook Political Report rates the seat as “Toss Up,” meaning it could be anyone’s game come November.
ABC News' Jared Kofsky, Clarissa Gonzalez, and Juhi Doshi contributed to this report.
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