Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Trump a factor as 5 states hold primaries

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A well- financed state senator won the Democratic primary for a Northern Virginia congressio­nal race Tuesday, setting up an all- female November election in one of the nation’s most closely watched House districts.

Elsewhere, President Donald Trump has elevated Republican primaries in South Carolina, where a devout ally and a regular critic are running in separate races.

Polls have closed in both states as well as in Maine and North Dakota, while voting continued in Nevada late Tuesday. Together, they raise to 21 the number of states having held their 2018 primary elections so far.

Mr. Trump was weighing in for South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, an early supporter of the president’s 2016 campaign, and against Republican Rep. Mark Sanford, an outspoken critic of the president who is facing a Trump devotee in South Carolina’s 1st District.

Mr. Trump went after Mr. Sanford via tweet on Tuesday, calling the former governor “very unhelpful to me in my campaign.” Mr. Sanford was a vocal Trump critic in 2016, when the New York businessma­n scored a critical victory in the South Carolina Republican presidenti­al primary.

Mr. Trump went further, stoking the controvers­y that disgraced Mr. Sanford and cost him his marriage.

“He is MIA and nothing but trouble,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “He is better off in Argentina.”

The swipe was a reference to Mr. Sanford’s disappeara­nce from the state in 2009 that he later explained was part of an extramarit­al affair he was carrying on with a woman in Argentina.

Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Sanford’s challenger, state Rep. Katie Arrington, who has described the incumbent as insufficie­ntly loyal to the president. Mr. Sanford has described Mr. Trump as untrustwor­thy and culturally intolerant. He has also repeatedly criticized the president for not releasing his tax returns.

In the GOP governor’s primary, Mr. Trump reiterated his “full endorsemen­t” of Mr. McMaster on Twitter over the weekend, praising the longtime Republican figure in the state for being “with me from the beginning.” He retweeted that endorsemen­t Tuesday.

Although Mr. Trump remains popular in South Carolina, Mr. McMaster has been shadowed by a corruption probe involving a longtime political consultant. Mr. McMaster assumed the governorsh­ip last year after Nikki Haley resigned to become U. S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Mr. McMaster, who faces four GOP rivals, has led the GOP field but in recent surveys has struggled to receive support from the 50 percent of voters he’d need to avoid a runoff.

Elsewhere, Democratic State Sen. Jennifer Wexton was the clear winner in a sixway primary in Virginia’s 10th District, and will challenge Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock.

Ms. Wexton was the bestknown in the field, and was viewed as the Democratic Party’s establishm­ent choice. She had the endorsemen­t of Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.

Ms. Comstock, a moderate Republican who beat back a challenge by conservati­ve Shak Hill, is one of the Democrats’ top targets in November.

The second- term House member’s district leans Republican, though Democrat Hillary Clinton received more votes there than Mr. Trump did in 2016.

Though Ms. Wexton favors a ban on the sale of assault weapons, she defies what has been the tendency in some swing districts to nominate Democrats with liberal profiles on other key issues.

She has not called for a single- payer, government­run health insurance system, as some Democratic House primary winners in California, Nebraska and Pennsylvan­ia have.

Democrats need to gain 23 seats to win the majority in the House.

In another Virginia race, Republican Corey Stewart — once state chairman to Mr. Trump’s presidenti­al campaign who was fired for protesting the Republican National Committee — won the GOP primary to face Democratic U. S. Sen. Tim Kaine.

Mr. Stewart nearly won last year’s Republican nomination for governor.

 ?? Scott Mason / The Winchester Star via AP ?? Tosha Tillman, right, brought her sons, Bodhi Dove, 3, left, and Huxley Dove, 6, with her Tuesday as she voted in the House and Senate primary election in Winchester, Va.
Scott Mason / The Winchester Star via AP Tosha Tillman, right, brought her sons, Bodhi Dove, 3, left, and Huxley Dove, 6, with her Tuesday as she voted in the House and Senate primary election in Winchester, Va.

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