The Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team.
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Leading Off
● North Carolina: North Carolina's primary elections on Tuesday highlighted the fundamental asymmetry between the two parties: Far-right extremists dominated in key Republican primaries, while mainstream Democrats advanced to face many of those same GOP hardliners. Some of the few remaining conservative Democratic lawmakers, who have often helped the GOP pass its reactionary agenda, also lost primaries to more progressive challengers.
The Tar Heel State's election for governor, which is the nation's most important gubernatorial contest in 2024, offers a stark example of that divide. Far-right Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who won the GOP nomination in a 65-19 landslide, has embraced countless conspiracy theories—including the denial of Joe Biden's victory—and he also has a long record of shockingly offensive statements targeting Jews, Muslims, women, LGBTQ people, and the Civil Rights Movement. By contrast, state Attorney General Josh Stein, a conventional Democrat with a moderate record, won his party's nomination 70-14.
Robinson would be North Carolina's first Black governor, while Stein would be its first Jewish chief executive, setting up a blunt contrast: Robinson has denied the Holocaust, approvingly quoted Adolf Hitler, and espoused other antisemitic tropes. Some Republicans have worried that Robinson's extremism could cost them the election—one well-funded GOP rival even ran ads excoriating him over his antisemitism—as could Robinson's past advocacy for banning abortion without exception.
But Robinson was by no means the only Republican extremist to prevail on Tuesday night. Read Stephen Wolf's deep dive into the fanatics and zealots the North Carolina GOP just nominated, from the top of the ticket to the bottom.
The Downballot
● We're recapping all of Tuesday's primary night action on this week's episode of "The Downballot"! Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard go coast-to-coast, setting the table in Texas' Senate race and picking apart the bloodbath in the state House. Then it's on to North Carolina, where GOP extremists dominated at all levels of the ballot—and where one notorious election fraudster is now on his way to Congress. We wrap with California, whose troublesome top-two primary system made its quirks felt in a whole bunch of races, from Senate on down.
Subscribe to "The Downballot" on Apple Podcasts to make sure you never miss a show. You'll find a transcript of this week's episode right here by noon Eastern time. New episodes every Thursday morning!
Senate
● NJ-Sen: Federal prosecutors brought new charges against Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez on Tuesday, adding obstruction of justice to previous counts of bribery and corruption. Menendez is set to go on trial on May 6, a date that prosecutors say should not be moved as a result of their new indictment. Menendez has yet to say whether he'll seek reelection, but he has only until the March 25 candidate filing deadline to decide.
House
● CA-40: Democrat Joe Kerr, a retired Orange County fire captain, will advance to the November general election against Republican Rep. Young Kim, according to ABC. With an estimated 64% of the vote tallied as of Thursday morning, Kerr held a 26-16 lead for the second slot over fellow Democrat Allyson Muñiz Damikolas, a local school district official; Kim was in first with 58% of the vote.
Joe Biden carried the 40th District, based in eastern Orange County, by a slim 50-48 margin, while Kim triumphed here two years later 57-43. Kerr's backers, though, hope his background as a former head of the county firefighter's union and image as a self-described "centrist" will help him wage a strong effort.
● CA-47: Attorney Joanna Weiss on Wednesday evening conceded to state Sen. Dave Min one day after the top-two primary to succeed their fellow Democrat, unsuccessful Senate candidate Katie Porter, in this competitive Orange County seat. With the AP estimating that 65% of the vote is in, former Orange County GOP chair Scott Baugh is in first with 33%, while Min leads Weiss 26-19 for the crucial second-place spot.
Min, who had the support of Porter, the state Democratic Party, and SEIU California, overcame $5.9 million in outside spending meant to promote Weiss or attack him. Much of this came from the hawkish pro-Israel group AIPAC, which ran commercials focusing on Min's May arrest for drunk driving.
Joe Biden took this seat, which contains coastal Orange County and Irvine, 54-43 in 2020. Republicans, though, hope that Baugh's tight 52-48 loss to Porter two years later means that the former conservative bastion is still friendly to Republicans down the ballot.
● MD-02: A mid-February internal poll for Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski obtained by the Baltimore Banner shows him dominating the May 14 Democratic primary in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger. The survey, conducted by Global Strategy Group, has Olszewski leading Del. Harry Bhandari by a giant 50-5 margin, with 38% undecided. Maryland's solidly blue 2nd District, located in Baltimore's northern suburbs, backed Joe Biden 59-39.
● MD-06: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has endorsed former Commerce Department official April McClain Delaney in the crowded Democratic primary in Maryland's open 6th Congressional District. Delaney's husband, former Rep. John Delaney, represented the district for three terms in the 2010s when Pelosi was minority leader.
Delaney also earned the backing of former Chevy Chase Vice Mayor Joel Rubin, who announced on Wednesday he was ending his campaign and would support Delaney instead. In addition, Delaney became the first candidate to start running TV ads this week, launching a new spot in which she largely eschews partisan themes (apart from a reference to "regaining the right to choose") and instead focuses on her desire to "find common ground."
● NC-08: Pastor Mark Harris, whose apparent victory at the polls in 2018 was thrown out due to a vast conspiracy to steal the election orchestrated by one of his consultants, looks like he'll make it to Congress after all.
On Wednesday, the Associated Press called the GOP primary in North Carolina's open 8th District for Harris, who just barely avoided a runoff by taking 30.4% of the vote. (Candidates need only clear 30%, the lowest such threshold in the nation.) Harris' nearest rival, former Union County Commissioner Allan Baucom, finished close behind with 27%.
In addition to overcoming his scandal-tarred resume, Harris faced down seven figures in attack ads from conservative billionaires determined to stop him. And now, thanks to Republican gerrymandering, he'll face little opposition in the general election to succeed Rep. Dan Bishop, who is running for attorney general: Donald Trump carried the 8th District east of Charlotte 58-41, and Harris' Democratic opponent, technology consultant Justin Dues, has not reported raising any money.
● NC-13: The AP has called the second spot in the GOP primary for North Carolina's open 13th district for former federal prosecutor Brad Knott, who has confirmed he'll request a runoff. Knott will now go head-to-head on May 14 with wealthy attorney Kelly Daughtry, who led him 27-19 on Tuesday night.
Last year, Republicans gerrymandered this district to mutate it from a swing seat into safely red turf. Under the previous lines, Democrat Wiley Nickel won a 52-48 victory in 2022 over Republican Bo Hines (who badly lost the primary for the 6th District on Tuesday), a performance similar to Joe Biden's 50-48 margin in the district.
Now, though, the 13th, which is based in the Raleigh exurbs and nearby rural areas, would have backed Donald Trump 58-41, a transformation that prompted Nickel to announce that he'd run for the U.S. Senate in 2026 rather than seek reelection this year.
● OH-09: Republican J.R. Majewski, who said over the weekend that he was abandoning his campaign for Congress, has formally notified election officials of his withdrawal from the race. Majewski's name will still appear on the March 19 primary ballot, but votes cast for him will not count, and administrators will place notices at polling places informing voters of that fact.
The race to take on Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur is now essentially a two-way contest between state Rep. Derek Merrin, who has the support of Speaker Mike Johnson and the Congressional Leadership Fund, and former state Rep. Craig Riedel. Another contender, former Napoleon Mayor Steve Lankenau, is still in the race, but he's attracted little attention.
● TX-32: With nearly all votes counted, trauma surgeon Brian Williams has conceded the Democratic primary in Texas' open 32nd District to state Rep. Julie Johnson. While the AP had yet to call the race as of Thursday morning, Johnson had amassed 50.1% of the vote—just over the threshold needed to avoid a May 28 runoff. Williams was far behind with 19%.
Johnson received a late boost from a super PAC funded by the cryptocurrency industry called Protect Progress, which spent about $1 million on her behalf. The Daily Beast's Sam Brodey reported last week that the infusion came after Johnson added a section to her campaign website expressing support for "crypto innovation."
Johnson will be the easy favorite in November in this Dallas-area district, which Republicans made much bluer in the most recent round of redistricting in order to make surrounding seats safer for GOP incumbents. Johnson would also be the first openly LGBTQ+ person to represent Texas or any other Southern state in Congress. (It was only after she died in 1996 that news accounts identified legendary Texas Rep. Barbara Jordan as a lesbian; she never discussed her sexuality during her lifetime.)
Judges
● TX Supreme Court: Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine on Tuesday fended off a challenge in the Republican primary from state Court of Appeals Judge Brian Walker by a slender 50.5-49.5 margin. Walker had made Devine's ethics the center of his campaign, previously telling the Texas Tribune that the incumbent "just continues to violate ethical rules and the code of judicial conduct that's written by the Texas Supreme Court itself."
Devine, meanwhile, was recorded telling voters in September that the state's top criminal court was run by "trans-Republicans" and accused his own colleagues on the all-Republican Supreme Court of being "brainwashed" because they "bow down to the altar of process rather than to fidelity to the Constitution."
The justice, however, may be in for another competitive race this fall. Harris County District Judge Christine Weems, who had no opposition in the Democratic primary, is hoping that Devine and his colleagues will pay a price for their unanimous ruling rejecting a petition for an emergency abortion from Kate Cox, a woman who said that her health would be at risk without the procedure.
Two other members of the nine-person court also face opposition this fall. Going up against Justice Jimmy Blacklock is Harris County District Judge DaSean Jones, who secured the Democratic nomination 60-40 against attorney Randy Sarosdy. Justice Jane Bland, meanwhile, is being challenged by Court of Appeals Judge Bonnie Lee Goldstein, who won her primary 73-27 against Hays County District Court Judge Joe Pool.
Legislatures
● TX State House: Texas State House Speaker Dade Phelan was forced into a May 28 runoff after his main opponent in the Republican primary, former Orange County Republican Party chair David Covey, outpaced him 46-43 in the first round of voting on Tuesday.
But while Covey, who has the backing of both Donald Trump and Attorney General Ken Paxton, will need to keep fighting for almost three more months, other hardline conservatives scored outright wins against sitting state representatives as different factions of the Texas GOP battle for dominance.
The Texas Tribune says that at least nine GOP members of the lower chamber lost renomination on Tuesday night, while Phelan was one of at least eight who were forced into a second round. Gov. Greg Abbott and his allies are a major reason for the massive turnover, as they've deployed millions to oust representatives who blocked the governor's plan to use taxpayer money to pay for private schools. The pro-Abbott faction is also working to install its favored candidates in open seats.
According to the Tribune, seven of the 14 non-incumbents backed by the governor prevailed on Tuesday, while another five will move on to runoffs. (This latter tally includes Trey Wharton, whose fate was uncertain when the Tribune ran its story but appears to have secured a spot in the second round.) Abbott, however, did not take sides in Phelan's race, and his team so far has declined to weigh in on the runoff.
Paxton, for his part, is trying to beat incumbents like the speaker who voted to impeach him for corruption last year. (The state Senate ultimately acquitted the attorney general, who is finally set to go on trial next month for securities fraud.) The majority of Paxton's 37-member slate lost, but no fewer than seven prevailed outright while Covey and at least six more are going to round two.
However, Abbott and Paxton came down on opposite sides in eight different contests. The Tribune says that Abbott's people won half of these primaries outright and Paxton's candidate prevailed in one, while the rest will go to runoffs or were unresolved on election night. Trump and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's interests, by contrast, often aligned with Paxton's, especially when it came to undermining Phelan.
Paxton also backed a trio of successful primary challengers to members of the state's top criminal court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The Tribune says those three unlucky incumbents―Barbara Hervey, Sharon Keller, and Michelle Slaughter―were part of the 8-1 majority that ruled the attorney general couldn't prosecute voter fraud cases without the assent of a local prosecutor.
Mayors & County Leaders
● Anchorage, AK Mayor: EMILYs List has endorsed former Anchorage Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance, who is one of several candidates competing against far-right Mayor Dave Bronson in the April 2 nonpartisan primary. LaFrance is not registered with any party, but EMILY isn't the only Democratic organization that's backing her. Notably, the local Democratic Party previously co-endorsed both LaFrance and Chris Tuck, a Democrat who previously served as state house majority leader.
● Sacramento, CA Mayor: All four major candidates are locked in a tight race for the two spots in the November general election to succeed retiring incumbent Darrell Steinberg as mayor of California's capital city.
With 33,000 votes tabulated in Sacramento's officially nonpartisan primary as of Thursday morning, former state Sen. Richard Pan and former City Councilman Steve Hansen each were at 24%. Assemblyman Kevin McCarty was just behind with 23%, while physician Flojaune Cofer was taking 21%. (Like Steinberg, all are Democrats.)
The Sacramento Bee writes that Cofer, who is the endorsed candidate of the local Democratic Socialists of America, is running to the left of her three main rivals. By contrast, the paper identifies Hansen, who has the backing of both the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the Sacramento Police Officers Association, as the contender perceived as "the most moderate."
Pan and McCarty (whose social media profile declares, "NOT Kevin McCartHy, Seriously!) are located somewhere in between.
Prosecutors & Sheriffs
● Harris County, TX District Attorney: Former prosecutor Sean Teare turned in a landslide 75-25 victory against his old boss, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, in the Democratic primary to serve as Houston's top prosecutor. Teare ran to the left of Ogg, who has long had a terrible relationship with the party's rank and file and has been the subject of numerous unfavorable headlines about her performance in office.
Teare's victory sets up a November matchup with attorney Dan Simons, who had no opposition in the Republican primary. Joe Biden carried Harris County, which is America's third-most populous county, by a 56-43 margin, but Republicans are hoping they still have enough strength down the ballot to flip this office.
● Los Angeles County, CA District Attorney: Incumbent George Gascon appears on track to face one of his top critics, former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, in the November general election to serve as Los Angeles County's top prosecutor.
As of Thursday morning, Gascon was in first place with 22% of the vote in the 12-person nonpartisan primary to serve as district attorney in the nation's largest county, with the Associated Press estimating that 67% of the ballots have been tabulated. For the second slot, Hochman held an 18-13 lead over county prosecutor Jonathan Hatami. (Candidates could have won outright by taking a majority, but there was essentially no chance that would happen given the packed field.) The AP has called the first general election spot for Gascon, while it has not projected who his opponent will be.
Gascon, who's called himself the "godfather of progressive prosecutors," unseated incumbent Jackie Lacey in 2020, a victory that instantly made him a favorite target of conservatives. The new district attorney took over at a time when crime was on the rise nationally, but opponents of his reforms, including some of his subordinates, haven't hesitated to blame him for increased crime locally. One of those critics is Hochman, who unsuccessfully challenged Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta in 2022 as a Republican and now identifies as an independent.
Gascon and his allies have pushed back by arguing that counties with more punitive prosecutors have seen larger spikes in crime and pointing out that major crimes like homicides have decreased in the city of Los Angeles over the last two years.
● Travis County, TX District Attorney: Democratic incumbent José Garza won renomination by defeating Jeremy Sylestine, an attorney who sought to portray him as weak on crime, in a 67-33 landslide.
Garza won his primary by a similar margin four years ago when he successfully campaigned as a criminal justice reformer against incumbent Margaret Moore, and Republicans like Attorney General Ken Paxton have routinely attacked him during his time in office. Garza, though, should have no trouble winning the general election for this loyally blue county, which includes nearly all of Austin and many of its suburbs.
Other Races
● Los Angeles, CA City Council: Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León is leading in the nonpartisan primary to retain his post less than two years after he was at the center of a national scandal, though he's well short of the majority he would have needed to avoid a November general election.
De León was at 27% with about 20,000 votes tabulated as of Thursday morning in the 14th District, while Assemblyman Miguel Santiago was edging out tenants rights attorney Ysabel Jurado 21-19 for second.
De León, who is a former leader of the state Senate, rose to national prominence in 2018 when he waged an unsuccessful challenge from the left against Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Two years later, he returned to elected office when he won a seat on the 15-member City Council in America's second-largest city.
However, in 2022, De León rebuffed calls from local leaders, as well as President Joe Biden, to resign after audio surfaced in which he and two of his then-colleagues made racist comments about other councilmembers and Los Angeles residents. The incumbent has argued he's made recompense, telling the Los Angeles Times last year, "When you make a mistake, you have to eat shit. And that's what I’ve been doing."
Grab Bag
● Where Are They Now?: News broke Wednesday that law enforcement authorities in Nevada issued an arrest warrant for murder for Dan Rodimer, a Republican who came close to unseating Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in 2020. Rodimer turned himself in later that evening and posted bond. The NBC affiliate KSNV writes that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police are investigating Rodimer in connection to the October death of a man named Christopher Tapp, who they believe was fatally injured in a fight.
Rodimer, a former WWE wrestler, handily won the 2020 Republican primary for the state's 3rd Congressional District with support from then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, but he went on to lose to Lee by a small 49-46 margin. Rodimer moved to Texas a few months later to compete in the all-party primary to replace the late Republican Rep. Ron Wright, but he took a distant 11th place with less than 3% of the vote.
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