CNN projects Trump-endorsed Moreno wins key Ohio GOP Senate primary

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who is seeking a fourth term, is set to face Bernie Moreno in November after CNN projected the Cleveland businessman's victory in the state's Republican primary. Donald Trump had endorsed Moreno, and the primary was this year’s first test of the former president's clout in a contested Senate race. 

It was the key race to watch Tuesday night as President Joe Biden and Trump continued to pick up delegates in their respective presidential primaries in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Trump also won Florida's GOP presidential primary. The candidates had already secured last week the threshold of delegates needed to clinch their party nominations.

Here's a recap of what happened Tuesday in House primary contests, some of which could help decide the balance of power in Congress:

Ohio:

• 9th District: Trump-backed Ohio state Rep. Derek Merrin will win the Republican nomination, CNN projects, setting up what is likely to be a highly competitive general election against Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in congressional history.
• 6th District: Michael Rulli will win the Republican primaries for the regular election and the special election, CNN projects. He will be the heavy favorite against Democrat Michael Kripchak in both the June 11 special election and the November general election. Republicans are eager to fill the seat given their narrow margin in the chamber, which has at times made it difficult to advance legislative priorities.
• Ohio's 13th District: Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes will face off against former Ohio state Sen. Kevin Coughlin. Sykes, a former minority leader in the Ohio House, was unopposed in her primary while Coughlin, who had the backing of Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, easily won a three-way GOP contest. Read about other Ohio down-ballot races here and here.

California:

• 20th District: Trump-backed Republican state Assemblyman Vince Fong will advance to the special general election for the seat vacated by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, CNN projects. A majority of the vote was needed to avoid a second round on May 21. The second spot in the special general election for the San Joaquin Valley seat is too early to call. Under California's election system, all candidates in the special election, regardless of party, ran on the same ballot.

Illinois:

• 7th District: Longtime Democratic Rep. Danny Davis will win his primary, CNN projects, fending off four challengers in his bid for a 15th term in this deep-blue seat in the Chicago area. 
• 17th District: Retired judge Joe McGraw will win the Republican nomination, CNN projects, advancing to take on Democratic incumbent Eric Sorensen in a seat the GOP is targeting this fall.
• 12th District: The competitive Republican primary between incumbent Mike Bost and former state Sen. Darren Bailey for a conservative southern Illinois seat remained too early to call just after midnight Wednesday. Read about the state's other down-ballot races here.

In his victory speech Tuesday evening, Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno thanked former President Donald Trump profusely following his projected victory in the state’s primary.

“We have an opportunity now to retire the old commie and send him to the retirement home and then save this country because that's what we're gonna do,” Moreno said at his campaign’s watch party in Cleveland shortly after CNN projected him as the winner. “And I want to thank President Trump for all he did for me, for this campaign, for his unwavering support, for his love of this country. Because I don't think I've ever seen somebody who loves this country the way he does, so thank you to President Trump.”

Moreno said he spoke with his primary opponent, state Sen. Matt Dolan, who he said “congratulated me very graciously,” and thanked another opponent, Secretary of State Frank LaRose, for “running a good race.”

The Cleveland businessman also attacked Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown as a left-wing career politician, saying he betrayed middle class workers and supported “unfettered immigration.”

The special election for the California seat that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy vacated in December will head to a second round, CNN projects.

Republican state Assemblyman Vince Fong will advance to May 21 contest in California’s 20th District, CNN projects, failing to win the majority necessary to win the San Joaquin Valley seat outright. The second spot is too early to call.

Fong, a former McCarthy aide, has already qualified for the November general election against fellow Republican Mike Boudreaux, the Tulare County sheriff, after they emerged as the top two vote-getters in the regular primary election on March 5.

Under California's election system, all candidates run on the same ballot, regardless of party.

Besides the support of his former boss, Fong had the support of former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson.  

McCarthy resigned from the House in December following his ouster as speaker. Republicans are eager to fill the seat given their narrow margin in the chamber, which has at times made it difficult to advance legislative priorities.  

The winner of the special election will serve through January 3, 2025, when the victor in the November general election will be sworn in.   

This post has been updated with additional details on the special general election.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will win their respective presidential primaries in Ohio, Illinois, Kansas and Arizona, CNN projects, as the candidates gear up for a November rematch.  

Trump will also win the Florida GOP presidential primary, CNN projects.

Biden and Trump won enough delegates last week to clinch their parties’ presidential nominations. Neither will officially become the nominee until the national conventions vote this summer. 

This post has been updated with additional CNN presidential primary projections.

 

 

It's 11 p.m. ET and polls are closing in California's 20th district, where voters are filling the vacant seat of former GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resigned from the House in December.

Former President Donald Trump-endorsed California assemblyman Vince Fong, a former McCarthy aide, and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, both Republicans, are top contenders in the contest.

They finished first and second in the March 5 regular primary for the seat and regardless of the results in the special, they’ll face off for a full-term in November.

Among the other candidates on the ballot are:

• Democrat Marisa Wood, who lost to McCarthy in 2022 and finished third in the regular primary
• Republican business owner Kyle Kirkland, who is second to Fong in fundraising but came up fourth in the regular primary with just 4.2% of the vote.

The district, which covers parts of California’s Central Valley between Fresno and Bakersfield, voted for Trump by nearly 25 percentage points in 2020.

More about the primary: Like in typical California primaries, all candidates are running on the same ballot, with the top two advancing to the special general election on May 21. However, unlike in regular California elections, if the top candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the primary, they’re automatically elected to the seat and no general election is held. The winner of the race will serve the remainder of McCarthy’s term, which ends in January 2025. 

Michael Rulli will win the Republican primaries for the regular election and the special election in Ohio’s 6th Congressional District, CNN projects, putting the state senator in pole position to succeed former GOP Rep. Bill Johnson.  

Earlier this year, Johnson vacated the deep-red seat, which stretches along Ohio’s eastern border with West Virginia and Pennsylvania, to take a job as president of Youngstown State University. 

Rulli, a state senator from the Youngstown area, had the endorsement of former Ohio GOP Chairwoman Jane Timken, Ohio Rep. David Joyce, who represents a neighboring district, and the US Chamber of Commerce. 

He will be the heavy favorite against Democrat Michael Kripchak in both the June 11 special election and the November general election for the 6th District, which former President Donald Trump would have carried under its current lines by 28 points in 2020. Kripchak won both Democratic primary contests Tuesday.

The winner of the June special election will serve out the remainder of Johnson’s term through January 2025.  

Republicans are eager to fill the seat given their narrow margin in the chamber, which has at times made it difficult to advance legislative priorities. 

Ohio's 2nd District

Rulli isn't the only Ohio Republican seen as likely heading to Congress after winning a primary Tuesday in a deep-red seat.

Businessman David Taylor will win the GOP nomination in the state's 2nd Congressional District, CNN projects, putting him on a glide path to succeed retiring Republican Brad Wenstrup in the southern Ohio seat.  

Wenstrup, who was first elected in 2012, announced his retirement last fall, citing the “frantic pace of Washington” that has kept him away from his family back home. 

Among the 10 Republicans Taylor bested in the primary Tuesday was Derek Myers, a former local journalist whose campaign sent out a prepared concession statement hours before any election results had been released.

Myers said later that his campaign had prepared two statements, one in case he lost and a second if he won, and the former was "sent in error as it was being loaded into the media distribution portal, as a draft."

Myers officially conceded the race about an hour and half after polls closed.

Retired Judge Joe McGraw will win the Republican nomination in Illinois’ 17th Congressional District, CNN projects, advancing to take on Democratic incumbent Eric Sorensen in a seat the GOP is targeting this fall.  

The 17th District, which snakes from Rockford through the Iowa border and down to Peoria and Bloomington, was drawn by Illinois Democrats to favor their party — Joe Biden would have carried it under its current lines by 8 points in 2020. But Sorensen won the seat in 2022 by roughly half that margin.

The general election in the 17th District is expected to be the lone competitive House race in Illinois this fall with the rest of the seats seen as safe for either party.

Sorensen, a former Rockford and Quad Cities meteorologist, was the first out gay person elected to Congress from Illinois. He succeeded Rep. Cheri Bustos, a former chair of the House Democratic campaign arm.

California is holding a special primary election in the 20th Congressional District to fill the vacant seat of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resigned from the chamber in December. Polls are set to close at 11 p.m. ET.

Like in typical California primaries, all candidates will run on the same ballot, with the top two advancing to the special general election on May 21.

However, unlike in regular California elections, if the top candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the primary, they’re automatically elected to the seat and no general election is held. The winner of the race will serve the remainder of McCarthy’s term, which ends in January 2025. 

Two candidates on the ballot in Tuesday's special election — Republicans Vince Fong and Mike Boudreaux — will face off in the general election in November for the district's full term. That primary was held earlier this month.

What to watch for:

• Fong, a Trump-endorsed California assemblyman, and Boudreaux, Tulare County's sheriff, are top contenders in Tuesday’s contest.
• Among the other candidates on the ballot are Democrat Marisa Wood, who lost to McCarthy in 2022 and finished third in the regular primary, and Republican business owner Kyle Kirkland.
• The district covers parts of California’s Central Valley between Fresno and Bakersfield. It voted for Trump by nearly 25 percentage points in 2020. 

It's 10 p.m. ET, which means polls are closing in Arizona's presidential primaries.

The state, which is a key battleground state, helped deliver Joe Biden his 2020 win, and then helped Democrats win control of the Senate in 2020 and maintain it in 2022. Biden won Arizona by a margin of less than 11,000 votes.

What to know about the state demographics:

• In the 2020 general presidential election, 39% of the electorate identified as independents, and Biden won that demographic with 53% of the vote.
• Latinos constituted 19% of the electorate in 2020, compared to 15% in 2016, 18% in 2012 and 16% in 2008.

Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, is home to a majority of Arizona's registered voters. It has a sizable high-tech economy. The largely white-collar county traditionally leaned Republican. However, in 2020, the county accounted for 61% of the presidential electorate and Biden won 50% of those voters.

Democratic votes can be found in the university community of Tempe and in Phoenix’s Latino community. Aside from Maricopa County, Pima County — home to Tucson — often tilts Democratic as well.