Virginia, Oklahoma, Georgia Runoff Primary Results
June 18, 2024 · 11:30 PM EDT
One House Republican survived a spirited primary challenge this week, while another is locked in an expensive battle that is still too close to call. Elsewhere, Democrats and Republicans in Virginia selected their nominees for a handful of competitive general election races.
Voters in two states – Oklahoma and Virginia – cast primary ballots on Tuesday, along with one runoff in Georgia That means 28 states have completed their primaries up to this point with 21 remaining between now and Sept. 10. (Yes, that adds up to 49. Louisiana has its all-party primary on Nov. 5.)
With less than five months still before Election Day, 28 candidates effectively have their tickets punched for Capitol Hill. They are likely to be new members of Congress next year because they’ve already won primaries in districts or states that are either solidly Republican or solidly Democratic and the general election is more of a formality. Georgia’s Brian Jack was the latest addition to the list.
Here’s what happened in some key contests on Tuesday.
Oklahoma.
4th District (Southern Oklahoma) Tom Cole, R, re-elected 67% Trump 69%. Cole faced a well-funded challenge from Texas businessman Paul Bondar, who spent $5.1 million of his own money. Cole outpaced him, 65-26 percent. Bondar had few, if any connections to Oklahoma and even conducted media interviews from Texas. Cole’s allies at super PAC Americans 4 Security, Defending Main Street and American Action Network poured nearly $4 million into the race to bombard Bondar with negative ads. Solid Republican.
Georgia.
3rd District (Southwestern Atlanta exurbs) Open; Drew Ferguson, R, not seeking re-election. Trump 62%. Brian Jack, a former aide to Donald Trump, easily won the GOP primary runoff, 63-37 percent, over state Sen. Mike Dugan. Solid Republican.
Virginia.
2nd District (Suburban Hampton Roads) Jen Kiggans, R, elected 52%. Biden 50%. Democrat Missy Cotter Smasal, a Navy veteran and former state Senate candidate, officially won the Democratic nomination, 70-30 percent, over attorney Jake Denton, though national Democratic strategists have viewed her as the presumptive nominee for months. She’ll have to ramp up her fundraising, which has lagged compared to Kiggans and to other Democratic challengers in top tier races. Tilt Republican.
5th District (Charlottesville and western Southside Virginia) Bob Good, R, re-elected 58%. Trump 53%. The race between Good and Trump-endorsed challenger state Sen. John McGuire is coming down to the wire; McGuire leads by a few hundred votes. The winner will be the heavy favorite in the general election. Solid Republican.
7th District (Southern D.C. exurbs) Open, Abigail Spanberger, D, running for governor. Biden 52%. Eugene Vindman, who became a national figure when he and his brother Alex blew the whistle on Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2019, won the Democratic primary over a split field with 49 percent. The other half of the vote fractured among four Prince William County officeholders — Del. Brianna Sewell, state Del. Elizabeth Guzman, and Prince William’s County Supervisor Margaret Franklin — all women of color who struggled to raise money or consolidate support from local Democrats. Attorney Derek Anderson won the GOP primary over former Green Beret Cameron Hamilton, 46-37 percent; he was the preferred choice of national strategists. Tilt Democratic.
10th District (Southwestern D.C. suburbs and exurbs) Open, Jennifer Wexton, D, not seeking re-election. Biden 58%. State Sen. Suhas Subramanyam won a crowded Democratic primary with 30 percent, off of strength in Loudoun County. State Del. Dan Helmer came in second with 27 percent. Former state Secretary of Education Atif Qarni was the only other candidate in double digits, at 11 percent. On the GOP side, 2022 candidate/tech entrepreneur Mike Clancy easily won the GOP nomination over 2020 nominee/Marine veteran Aliscia Andrews, 64-22 percent. Likely Democratic.