Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire | CQ-Roll Call (TNS)
WASHINGTON — A veteran lawmaker who chairs the House Appropriations Committee and a former national security official who played a role in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment both won primaries easily Tuesday as voters cast ballots in Oklahoma, Virginia and Georgia.
Here’s a rundown of key results:
In Oklahoma’s 4th District, Republican Rep. Tom Cole, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, easily defeated four fellow Republicans, including a political unknown who loaned his campaign more than $5 million.
Cole had 68% of the vote at 8:33 p.m., when The Associated Press called the race. Cole withstood a flood of negative ads funded by businessman Paul Bondar, who had about 21% of the vote and faced questions about his residency. He owns a home outside Dallas, holds a Texas driver’s license and voted in the Texas primary on March 5, according to a report on KFOR.
The race also drew the attention of outside groups backing Cole. Americans 4 Security PAC spent $3.1 million and Defending Main Street SuperPAC Inc. spent $346,000 against Bondar. On top of that, those two groups and five others, including the National Association of Realtors and the National Rifle Association, spent another $299,000 supporting Cole.
The race in the 4th District, which includes parts of Oklahoma City and much of south-central Oklahoma, is rated Solid Republican by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. Trump, who endorsed Cole, won the district by more than 31 percentage points in 2020.
Rep. Bob Good and state Sen. John McGuire were locked in a tight race Tuesday for the Republican nomination in Virginia’s 5th District that saw some of Good’s House GOP colleagues campaigning on both sides.
No call had been made in the race at 10 p.m., when less than 200 votes separated the two candidates and an estimated 88% of the vote had been counted, according to the AP.
McGuire announced his run not long after Good was one of eight Republicans who voted to oust California Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair last year. Good’s endorsement of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the presidential primaries was also a factor in Trump endorsing McGuire, even though Good backed Trump after DeSantis dropped out.
Good had support from his colleagues on the House Freedom Caucus, which he chairs, and several traveled to the district to campaign with him. But one Freedom Caucus member, Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson, bucked the group’s leader and endorsed McGuire.
Brian Jack, who served as White House political director under Trump and had his endorsement, secured the Republican nomination to an open seat in Georgia’s 3rd District.
Jack finished first in the five-candidate field in the May 21 primary but did not clear the 50% threshold to avoid a runoff with second-place finisher, state Sen. Mike Dugan.
On Tuesday, Jack had 66% of the vote at 7:50 p.m., when the AP called the race. The largely rural district in western Georgia is represented by Republican Drew Ferguson, who announced in December that he would not seek reelection.
Eugene Vindman, a former National Security Council official whose twin brother testified during Trump’s first impeachment hearings, won the Democratic nomination in Virginia’s 7th District and will seek to succeed Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor in 2025.
Vindman had 51% of the vote in the seven-candidate field when the AP called the race at 8:06 p.m., just over an hour after polls closed. Former state Del. Elizabeth Guzman, was running second, followed by state Del. Briana Sewell and Prince William County Supervisor Andrea Bailey. The other candidates got less than 10% of the vote.
Vindman’s national profile brought a national focus to the race and helped him dominate fundraising by raising more than $5 million. Local Democrats, meanwhile, failed to coalesce around one candidate to make it a true two-person race.
The district is likely to be competitive in November, with a race rated Tilt Democratic by Inside Elections.
Vindman will face Republican Derrick Anderson, a retired Green Beret who was the preferred pick of national Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson.
Anderson had 46% in the six-candidate field when the AP called the race at 8:58 p.m. Cameron Hamilton, a retired Navy SEAL backed by some in the party’s more conservative wing, had 37%.
Missy Cotter Smasal won the Democratic primary to challenge GOP Rep. Jen Kiggans, a freshman who flipped a Virginia Beach-area seat two years ago.
Smasal was leading civil rights attorney Jeremiah Denton 68% to 32% when the AP called the race at 8:04 p.m. Smasal served in the Navy, as Kiggans did, and she currently is the executive director of a nonprofit focused on service women.
Kiggans has a strong fundraising advantage heading into the general election, though. She had $1.8 million on hand as of May 29, while Smasal had $368,000.
The race is rated Tilt Republican by Inside Elections.
State Sen. Suhas Subramanyam and attorney Mike Clancy won their parties’ nominations in Virginia’s 10th District to succeed Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton , who is retiring because of health issues.
Subramanyam won a 12-way Democratic primary, besting state Del. Dan Helmer, who was the top fundraiser in the race. When the AP called the race at 9:15 p.m., Subramanyam had 30%, followed by Helmer’s 27%.
Clancy won a four-way Republican primary, and had 61% of the vote when the AP called the race at 7:41 p.m. Marine veteran Aliscia Andrews was running second with 23%.
The race is rated Likely Democratic by Inside Elections.
Republican Hung Cao, a Navy veteran, will challenge Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine in November for a Virginia Senate seat.
Cao was leading the Republican primary with 68% of the vote in a five-candidate field that included Scott Parkinson, a Club for Growth vice president, when the AP called the race at 7:23 p.m.
Cao had Trump’s support and led the Republican field in fundraising, although he’ll begin the general election significantly trailing Kaine’s cash on hand. Kaine had $8.6 million on hand as of May 29, dwarfing Cao’s $203,000. Cao lost a House race to Rep. Jennifer Wexton in 2022.
The race is rated Solid Democratic by Inside Elections.
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