Connecticut
- Jahana Hayes is on track to become the first African-American to represent Connecticut in Congress. The former National Teacher of the Year entered the race for the Democratic nomination for Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District just “102 days ago, with no money and no network,” as she told supporters Tuesday night.
Minnesota
Rep. Keith Ellison easily won his primary for Minnesota attorney general, despite allegations of domestic abuse by ex-girlfriend Karen Monahan. Just hours before, the Democratic National Committee announced it’s investigating Monahan’s allegations, which she originally made over the weekend. But Ellison, who’s also the DNC’s deputy chair, still triumphed over his closest opponent by more than 170,000 votes. “We are going to keep fighting all the way through,” he told supporters at his victory party.
It’s a woman vs. woman fight for Al Franken’s old seat. Democratic Sen. Tina Smith took over for Franken when he stepped down over sexual misconduct allegations in January. After winning her primary Tuesday, she’ll square off against Republican nominee and state Sen. Karin Housley in the general election. Smith is expected to win the race, but it could be close — Hillary Clinton took the state by less than 2 percentage points in 2016.
State Rep. Ilhan Omar became another shoe-in for first Muslim congresswoman. Omar, who became the first Somali-American legislator in the country in 2016 when she joined the Minnesota state legislature, won her Democratic primary for Minnesota’s 5th District. Since the region is deep blue, she’s likely headed to Congress — where she’ll become the first woman of color to represent Minnesota in Congress and join Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib as the first Muslim women to serve.
Vermont
- Democrat Christine Hallquist is now the first transgender gubernatorial nominee for a major political party. The former Vermont Electric Cooperative CEO cruised to victory with 48 percent of the vote. But she might have a tough time winning over voters for November: Vermont hasn’t ousted an incumbent governor since 1962. “I tell people this isn’t the hardest thing I ever did,” Halquist said before the primary. “In fact, I think after transitioning, everything else looks pretty easy.”
- Vermont won’t send its first woman to Congress anytime soon. The state remains the only one in the Union to have never sent a woman to Congress. And the Republican nominees mounting winnable campaigns against Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Rep. Peter Welch are men. (Please enjoy the diversity in Vermont’s current congressional delegation, captured in all their glory below.)
Wisconsin
- Local school board representative Cathy Myers lost her chance to fight for Paul Ryan’s old seat. Myers was squaring off against Randy “Iron Stache” Bryce for the 1st District. But by challenging Ryan to come “work the iron” in a massively successful ad campaign, Bryce generated nationwide liberal drooling — and about $6 million in donations. (That’s the largest fundraising haul of any House challenger this cycle, excluding self-funded candidates.)
- This year’s most expensive Senate primary (so far) is over. After running uncontested in the primary, incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin will face Republican state Sen. Leah Vukmir in November’s general election. Wisconsin’s GOP elite have long supported Vukmir, who’s aligned herself strongly with Republican Gov. Scott Walker, but a billionaire donor backed her opponent. In total, Republicans spent more than $12 million in outside money on the race.
“Women make up 48 percent (114 out of 238) of the Democratic nominees in primaries that have been decided so far even though only 32 percent (263 of 811) of the candidates we analyzed were women. So, women are clearly having greater success than men.”
“In fact, all else being equal, being a woman has been worth an additional 10 percentage points over being a man in the open Democratic primaries we looked at.”