Graham Platner easily secured Maine’s Democratic nomination for a key U.S. Senate seat. In South Carolina, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace’s career derailed.
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Graham Platner won the Maine Democratic primary for Senate after weathering allegations about his past, formally setting up the November bout for a seat that could be pivotal in determining which party controls the Senate.
The liberal upstart will face longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a closely watched race that will show whether the Democratic and independent voters whom Platner has courted will overlook his baggage in the general election.
In Maine, as well as South Carolina, Republicans competed in crowded congressional and gubernatorial races. Backing from President Donald Trump elevated some GOP candidates over prominent politicians, including Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina), who did not make it out of her primary race.
Here are the top takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries:
Platner advanced to the November election despite revelations about his past resurfacing throughout his campaign — including about a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol that he later had covered with another design and allegations of troubling conduct in former relationships with women.
Political insiders were watching the margin closely to see whether there would be a protest vote for Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who appeared on the ballot despite suspending her campaign in April. She had about 20 percent of the vote when the Associated Press called the race Tuesday night.
Collins, the incumbent who is seeking a sixth Senate term, ran unopposed in the Republican primary. She will try to keep her winning streak alive in a state where Trump lost to Vice President Kamala Harris by nearly seven points.
Some Democrats are questioning Platner’s general-election odds. They once saw the oyster farmer as the party’s best shot at unseating Collins because he had cultivated a strong base with his populist, antiestablishment pitch. But his recent spate of bad publicity has added a dose of anxiety.
He briefly addressed “mistakes that I regret, that I live with, that I continue to learn from,” in his victory speech Tuesday night, saying: “It is my job to earn your trust, faith and support. And I will spend every day of this campaign, and if I have the privilege, every day in the United States Senate, doing exactly that.”
Republicans are hoping a former Maine governor returning to the political scene this year as a House candidate with Trump’s endorsement will help them flip a pro-Trump district held by a Democrat. Paul LePage, who is known for his brash rhetoric and served two terms as governor, ran unopposed in the Republican primary for Maine’s 2nd District, which favored Trump three times.
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The district is represented by Rep. Jared Golden (D), who is not seeking reelection.
The races to succeed Mills remained uncalled Tuesday night. The state uses ranked-choice voting for its governor’s race, meaning Mainers can order candidates rather than voting for just one. The AP will call the race when the secretary of state announces results, which can take days or longer.
Mace fought for the South Carolina governorship — and her political future — on Tuesday, all without the president’s endorsement. Instead, Trump backed the state’s lieutenant governor, Pamela Evette, in the Republican primary.
Mace did not come close — sitting in fifth place with 80 percent of the vote counted. A onetime Trump critic, she had sought to pitch herself as a Trump die-hard.
Evette and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson will face each other in a runoff because neither secured at least 50 percent of the vote among such a crowded field. They are vying to replace term-limited Gov. Henry McMaster (R), who also endorsed Evette.
After years of trying on and off to align herself with Trump, Mace aggressively pushed for the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — a move that lost her favor with the president. For Mace and others, such splits have come at a cost in this year’s midterms. In May, another Republican who helped lead the bipartisan effort to release the Epstein files and broke with Trump on other key issues, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) met a similar fate.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican who has depended on Trump to prevent a slide in his political standing, looked to avoid a runoff in the primary for his Senate seat by staying on the president’s good side ahead of Tuesday.
It paid off. Graham easily received more than 50 percent of the vote and won the Republican nomination for his Senate seat, despite unpopularity among many conservatives in the Palmetto State.
The race between Graham and his top Republican competitor, businessman Mark Lynch, attracted heavy spending, namely so Graham could avoid a runoff. Lynch’s campaign ran ads latching on to the disagreements between Graham and Trump, painting the senator as a foe of the president.
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