Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran
Elena Hilton, RTV
Colorado
Former U.S. Representative Bob Beauprez won the Republican candidacy to be Colorado’s next governor. Beauprez, who was publicly backed by Eric Cantor and Mitt Romney, previously ran for governor in 2006 but lost by double digits. He will now go up against Governor Hickenlooper in November. Five other races for U.S. House positions were held, as well as 13 others for Colorado State House and Senate.
Maryland
Voter turnout for the Maryland primary election was among the lowest in recent history. Many local politicians speculated that summer vacations to the beach were more of a priority for Maryland residents than primaries. Baltimore City Councilman Robert Curran remarked, “This is really heartbreaking,” after commenting that it was the lowest voter turnout he had seen in the 75 elections he’s worked since 1958. Anthony Brown won the Democratic candidacy for governor, while Larry Hogan won the Republican candidacy. There were also 16 races for the U.S. House and a large amount of local positions up for grabs.
New York
The most high-profile election from New York’s primary was that of veteran U.S. Representative Charlie Rangel versus Adriano Espaillat. Rangel, 84, has served in Congress for 44 years but has recently been losing supporters due to his age, an influx in Hispanics in his district and being convicted of ethics violations in the House back in 2010. Rangel held on to his claim as the Democratic candidate, but not before going to great lengths to save his campaign – this rap released by Rangel is nothing short of inspired. Other NY primary news includes a win for former George W. Bush aide, Elise Stefanick, and a victory for Republican candidate for the U.S. House, Lee Zeldin, backed by Rudy Guiliani.
Oklahoma
After U.S. Senator Ted Coburn announced in January he would be stepping down later this year with two years left in his term due to cancer, there was afrenzy among Oklahoma Republicans to gain his seat. U.S. Representative James Lankford emerged victorious. Lankford was a Baptist minister before becoming a Congressman and spent over a decade directing one of the largest Christian youth camps in the country. He beat out former Oklahoma Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon who was endorsed by several Tea Party groups.
Florida
Florida lived up to its reputation for being very unpredictable when it comes to politics. A special election was held to replace District 19 Representative Trey Radel after Radel pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of cocaine possession. Voters chose to replace Radel with Tea Party candidate Curt Clawson. Clawson will go on to serve the remainder of Radel’s term, but will have to fight again for re-election in November.
Mississippi
The Washington Post called the Mississippi primary race for Senator “one of the most expensive and nasty primary campaigns of the year.” Senator Thad Cochran narrowly defeated Tea Party candidate and state Senator Chris McDaniel. Cochran’s campaign took on the creative strategy of encouraging black Democrats to vote for him rather than allowing a Tea Party candidate to win. The “lesser of two evils” argument worked and Cochran won the highly-publicized primary with 50.8 percent of the vote.
Utah
There were only a few races held during Utah’s primary, and those races were for state legislative and county positions. The quiet primary, which saw a low voter turnout, had no national seats being decided because each party’s candidate for the four congressional seats had already been chosen at party conventions back in April. According to Utah’s laws, candidates do not have to participate in a primary if they receive 60 percent of delegate votes at a convention.