Nevada, South Carolina, Maine and North Dakota primaries

South Carolina voters delivered the vengeance that Donald Trump had sought as they ousted Rep. Tom Rice, one of the 10 House Republicans who had voted to impeach the former President, in a primary Tuesday.

But in a district south of Rice's, another one-time Trump critic, Rep. Nancy Mace, narrowly survived another challenge from a Trump-endorsed rival. The races at once showed the difficulty of surviving in a GOP still dominated by Trump without embracing his grievances.

Meanwhile, in Nevada, Republicans chose a vocal supporter of Trump's lies about election fraud as their nominee to become the state's top elections official.

And in the Rio Grande Valley, Republicans' gains among Latino voters were on display in a special election for a House seat that could offer a glimpse at what's to come in several key states in November's midterm elections.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's races:

Trump topples another intra-party critic in South Carolina House primary: The former President settled another political score in South Carolina, as Trump-endorsed state Rep. Russell Fry handily defeated Rep. Tom Rice in a Republican primary in Pee Dee.

Rice is the latest Republican purged from the party after breaking with former President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Rice was one of 10 Republicans to vote to impeach Trump.

Fry's ouster of Rice underscores the political peril that faces many Republicans who have crossed Trump.

But another one-time Trump critic survives his revenge effort: While Rice was getting walloped, another House Republican, Rep. Nancy Mace, narrowly survived a Trump-fueled primary challenge by former state Rep. Katie Arrington in her Lowcountry district.

One key difference between the South Carolina Republican who lost a House primary Tuesday and the one who survived: Rice voted to impeach Trump; Mace did not.

Election denier wins GOP primary for Nevada's top elections office: Jim Marchant, a former state lawmaker and leading proponent of Trump's lies about widespread election fraud, won the Republican primary for the Nevada secretary of state's office Tuesday — adding the Silver State to the growing list of those where election deniers are positioning themselves to take over the election machinery ahead of the 2024 presidential race.

Marchant is seeking to replace Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican who has repeatedly said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, but who is barred by term limits from seeking reelection.

Democrat concedes in race for House seat in heavily Latino Texas district: Democrat Dan Sanchez's concession to Republican Mayra Flores in a special election for what had long been a Democratic-held House seat in Texas' Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday offered another glimpse at the GOP's gains among Latino voters and the enthusiasm gap confronting Democrats as the midterm elections approach.

Flores already is set to face off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, who currently represents a neighboring district, in the redrawn 34th District in November. The newly drawn district is more favorable to Democrats than the one Flores ran in for Tuesday's special election, but she would have the advantage of incumbency.

Maine tees up two key races: Maine's bombastic former Republican governor, Paul LePage, is now set to take on Democratic Gov. Janet Mills after the two advanced past Tuesday primaries that were mere formalities, since neither faced an opponent.

Republican former Rep. Bruce Poliquin, meanwhile, survived a contest with a conservative activist and is now set to try to reclaim his former congressional district in a rematch of a hard-fought 2018 race against Democratic Rep. Jared Golden.

Maine uses a ranked-choice voting system. In 2018, Poliquin actually received more first-place votes than Golden. But after the ranked-choice system eliminated third-party candidates, Golden prevailed. But Trump won the district in 2020, giving Republicans hope that they can win the New England seat again in November.

In North Dakota, meanwhile, Republicans nominated Sen. John Hoeven for a third term, which he is widely expected to win in November.

Read more about Tuesday night here.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo will win the Republican primary for Nevada's governor.

Lombardo won Trump’s endorsement in April and fended off a crowded field including former Sen. Dean Heller and attorney and former boxer, Joey Gilbert.

Lombardo took a different approach from many Trump-endorsed candidates and hasn’t been campaigning on election lies. Rather, in an interview with the Nevada Independent, Lombardo said that “evidence was not brought forward” that would show fraud.

Jim Marchant will win the Republican nomination for secretary of state in Nevada, CNN projects.

Marchant, a former state assemblyman and 2020 congressional candidate, has been a vocal proponent of election lies, even saying on his website that his number one priority will be to “overhaul the fraudulent election system in Nevada.”  

After Marchant lost a 2020 congressional bid to Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, he brought a lawsuit claiming voter fraud, but it was later dismissed.

Adam Laxalt will win the Nevada Republican nomination for Senate, CNN projects.

The former state attorney general is backed by a long list of conservative leaders, including former President Donald Trump (Laxalt joined a lawsuit to challenge the 2020 election results in Nevada).

Laxalt won the nomination over Army veteran Sam Brown, who suffered severe burns while serving in Afghanistan and won the state party’s endorsement.

In a debate last month the two candidates clashed over election integrity, with Laxalt dismissing Brown’s attacks that he hadn’t done enough to combat voter fraud as attorney general or in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Laxalt will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in the general election.

Democrat Rep. Susie Lee and Republican April Becker will win their respective primaries in Nevada's 3rd Congressional District, CNN projects.

The two will face each other in the general election in November.

Incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak will win the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Nevada, CNN projects.

He's served as governor since 2019. Sisolak is seen as one of the most endangered incumbents in the country, governing a state where President Biden won by less than 3 points in 2020.

Incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto will win the Nevada Democratic nomination, CNN projects.

Cortez Masto ran unopposed in Tuesday's primary, but she faces a tough race in November. She is one of the most endangered Senate Democrats running this year, looking to carry a state President Biden won by less than 3 points in 2020.

In the South Carolina Democratic Senate primary, Catherine Fleming Bruce will advance to a June 28 runoff against an opponent to be determined, CNN projects.

Democrat Dan Sanchez has conceded the special election for Texas' 34th Congressional District to Republican Mayra Flores.

A Flores win would give Republicans an additional seat in the House and allow her to finish the term of former Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela.

“I want to thank my family, especially my wife Alex and children Daniel and Alessia, friends and community who poured their hearts into this effort. Based on the results, we came up short tonight,” Sanchez said in a statement.

Flores would be the first Mexican-born woman elected to Congress. She benefited from significant investment by national Republicans and relative indifference from Democrats, who were outspent by an estimated 20-to-1 margin. 

Republicans zeroed in on the race as part of an effort to project growing strength with moderate and conservative Hispanic voters in South Texas. But Flores’ stay on Capitol Hill might be a short one — she will be up for election for a full term in November against incumbent Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, who is shifting from his 15th Congressional District to the newly drawn 34th, which is considerably friendlier to Democrats.

"A Democrat will represent TX-34 in January. If Republicans spend money on a seat that is out of their reach in November, great," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Monica Robinson told CNN before the special election. The DCCC dipped into the race late, spending $100,000 on digital ads earlier this month.

The lack of support for Sanchez frustrated Gonzalez, who told Politico weeks ago that it would "be a tragedy" if the seat turned red for any amount of time. In a statement earlier Tuesday, he welcomed the late interest in the contest, but demanded more.

“I’m pleased to see Democrats mobilizing around this race,” he told CNN, “but South Texas needs sustained investment from the party.” 

Sanchez, in a statement conceding the race hours later, was less diplomatic. He expressed confidence that Gonzalez would win in November and denounced “out of state interests” for financially backing Flores, but also called out his own party.

“Too many factors were against us,” former Cameron County commissioner said, “including too little to no support from the National Democratic Party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.”

Republicans and allied outside groups made more significant commitments to Flores, using the campaign to give her a headstart in the fall and, beyond the district’s shifting borders, help bolster their broader attacks on national Democrats. 

"This election will show that voters in Texas' 34th District are tired of Democrats' incompetence at the border and record-high inflation," National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair said before Election Day. "Texans and voters across the country know Democrat policies are making their lives worse, and will vote Republican."

Whether Flores’ victory portends much for the coming general election is difficult to predict. Democrats and other observers, including Sanchez’s team, were confident the race would, at worst, go to a runoff. What’s clear, though, is that Vela’s decision to resign in order to take a job as a lobbyist has created another headache for House Democrats’ already slim majority.  

Correction: A previous version of this post mischaracterized the historical significance of Flores’ win. She will be the first Mexican-born woman elected to Congress.