Incumbents fare well in primaries
Winners include two who received Trump’s support
President Donald Trump backed two successful U.S. Senate nominees in Pennsylvania and Nebraska, which were among four states holding primaries Tuesday.
In Pennsylvania, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, a four-term congressman who is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
Barletta had paid little attention to his Republican rival, state Rep.
Jim Christiana, during the primary campaign. Instead, he focused his attacks on the Democrat he is looking to unseat in the fall, two-term Sen. Bob Casey.
Also in Pennsylvania, state senator and waste-hauling millionaire Scott Wagner won a three-way Republican contest to challenge Democratic
Gov. Tom Wolf, capping a personal spending spree that helped make Wagner the front-runner and the GOP’S endorsed candidate. John Fetterman won a five-way Demo- cratic Party primary race for lieutenant governor, making Lt. Gov. Mike Stack the first holder of the office to lose in a primary election.
In Nebraska, Gov. Pete Ricketts cruised to victory in the Republican primary for governor, while U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer notched an easy GOP win, despite challenges from four candidates.
Ricketts easily fended off medical marijuana activist Krystal Gabel. He now faces state Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha, a former Republican and independent who joined the Democratic Party in February.
Early Tuesday afternoon, Trump tweeted: “Nebraska — make sure you get out to the polls and VOTE for Deb Fischer today!”
She will face Democrat Jane Raybould, a Lincoln City Councilwoman who defeated three primary opponents.
The primary race for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District remained tight Tuesday between two Democrats, former Rep. Brad Ashford and children’s nonprofit group director Kara Eastman. In the 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Adrian Smith won the GOP nomination as he seeks a seventh term.
In Oregon, State Rep. Knute Buehler won the GOP gubernatorial primary, besting a crowded field vying to compete against incumbent Kate Brown, who handily won the Democratic vote.
Buehler, who ran for secretary of state in 2012, was seen as the most centrist of the Republican front-runners.
In Idaho, poll workers reported that some polling locations were running low on Democratic ballots due to high voter turnout.
Ada County election officials said they delivered extra ballots to several polling locations across the state’s most populous county. But a judge denied an Idaho Democratic Party request to extend polling hours for two precincts in the county.