The Latest: Mamdani successfully backs three primary candidates as he reshapes New York politics

The latest round of primary elections took place Tuesday in four states: Maryland, New York, South Carolina and Utah.

The midterm elections in November will determine control of both chambers of Congress and will also see the election of dozens of governors and other state and local offices. Before then, voters must choose nominees for each of these offices, making their picks in primary elections throughout the spring and summer in all 50 states.

New York: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is reshaping the city’s congressional delegation through a series of successful endorsements in Democratic primaries in districts 10, 13 and 7.

Maryland: All eight of the state’s congressional districts held contested primaries. In a state that typically leans left (only one district is led by a Republican), the primaries often determine the general election winners. Gov. Wes Moore secured the Democratic nomination for a second term.

South Carolina: State Attorney General Alan Wilson won the Republican nomination for governor after President Donald Trump, who initially endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette for the job, said on Friday that either contender would be a good pick.

Utah: Voters cast ballots to nominate congressional candidates using a new map that created a Democratic-friendly district in Salt Lake City.

Here's the latest:

McAdams thanks supporters

Former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams credited his supporters at his election party following what appeared to be a decisive victory in a crowded Democratic primary for Utah’s 1st Congressional District.

“Thank you, Utah Democrats, thank you from the bottom of my heart,” McAdams said. “Tonight this victory belongs to every volunteer who showed up on a hot June afternoon and knocked door after door.”

He also asked for their continued support for the November general election: “You ran hard. You ran with conviction, and this party and this state are better for it. The energy and the passion your campaigns brought to this race is exactly what we need headed into November.”

McAdams voters cheer his victory

Supporters of former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams broke out in cheers as word of his victory spread at the Democrat’s election watch party in Salt Lake City.

People moved toward a podium surrounded by orange, blue and white balloons, where McAdams was getting ready to speak.

He prevailed in a highly competitive Democratic primary for Utah’s 1st Congressional District and enters the general election as the favorite in the newly drawn district.

Espaillat concedes New York’s 13th District Democratic primary

“Tonight wasn’t our night but I love you anyway,” he told supporters.

The New York congressman was up against Avila Chevalier, backed by Mamdani.

“When i came to this nation as a young immigrant boy, I could have never imagined that I would be a member of Congress,” Espaillat said. “That is the privilege of my life, to serve you the community, and I will continue to love and serve this community in the best way that I can.”

Mamdani-backed community organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier defeats Rep. Adriano Espaillat

Avila Chevalier scored an upset in the Democratic primary for New York’s 13th Congressional District.

The race pitted the community organizer backed by the city’s democratic socialist mayor against a five-term congressman.

Espaillat was the first person who had been an undocumented immigrant elected to Congress.

Avila Chevalier is currently a doctoral student at the City University of New York. Her victory underscores the influence of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s political movement as he builds allies in Washington.

Trump-backed US Rep. Celeste Maloy wins GOP primary for redrawn House seat in Utah

Maloy defeated former state lawmaker Phil Lyman, who embraced false claims of fraud following the 2020 presidential election.

The district, spanning most of southern and eastern Utah, emerged last fall from a legal battle over the state’s previous congressional map, dramatically altering its makeup. The shakeup left Maloy vulnerable to a primary challenge.

Under the new map, Democrats are expected to pick up one of Utah’s four Republican-held House seats in the Salt Lake City area this fall.

Maloy will face off against Democratic nominee Kent Udell, an engineer, in the November general election. The GOP candidate is heavily favored to win in the deep-red district.

Alex Bores concedes in Democratic primary for Manhattan-based House seat after candidacy dominated by AI

The New York Assembly member lost the Democratic primary in the state’s 12th Congressional District to Micah Lasher, who previously worked as an aide for the seat’s current holder, Rep. Jerry Nadler.

“I didn’t get in this race to make a point about AI,” he said, but said “some of the most powerful people on the planet” lined up against him.

“They set out to make people afraid of them,” Bores said. “Instead, they learned just how ready the people are to push back.”

Anthony Constantino wins GOP primary for an upstate New York district after Trump endorsement

The brash, Trump-backed MAGA disciple who owns a custom sticker business in upstate New York defeated state Assembly Member Robert Smullen in the Republican primary to replace outgoing Rep. Elise Stefanik.

Constantino, who drew national attention after he put a massive “Vote For Trump” sign on the roof of his company’s building, is expected to cruise to victory this fall in the heavily Republican district, which stretches across most of New York’s northern tip.

Smullen had heavy support from the state’s Republican Party but it was not enough to overcome the president’s still-strong hold over voters.

Stefanik late last year said she would not seek reelection to the House and that she was suspending her campaign for governor to spend more time with her family.

Goldman concedes to Lander in Democratic primary for New York’s 10th District

US Rep. Dan Goldman said it was a privilege to serve in Washington, adding that there was a silver lining to his loss to Mamdani-backed Brad Lander.

“I can’t wait to be a much more present father,” he said. Goldman has five children.

Former US Rep. Ben McAdams wins Democratic primary for redrawn House district in Utah

Ben McAdams, a former Utah congressman who has sought to shed his reputation as a moderate, has won the Democratic primary in a redrawn U.S. House district that Democrats are strongly favored to win this fall.

McAdams defeated several candidates to his political left, including a state senator and a former employee of TikTok and Meta who had insisted McAdams is too conservative to represent a deep blue district.

The seat in the Salt Lake City area is among the few anticipated Democratic pickups following a national redistricting fight started by Trump to try to help Republicans maintain their majority in the U.S. House.

The 1st Congressional District race could be crucial for Democrats, who need to gain only a few House seats in November to take control of the narrowly divided chamber.

McAdams is strongly favored to defeat Republican Riley Owen, an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve who was chosen during the state GOP’s spring convention.

Republican Dan Cox will again face Democrat Wes Moore in Maryland governor’s race

Cox beat a crowded field of competitors to clinch the Republican nomination.

The 51-year-old ultraconservative former member of the state House of Delegates unsuccessfully ran against Moore four years ago.

Cox has promoted Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being stolen and organized buses to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021.

He has pledged to slash taxes and beef up housing affordability programs if elected.

Nate Blouin not getting his hopes up in Utah House race

The Democratic state senator said just before polls closed that he was feeling calm, “because I think I know what’s going to happen.”

Blouin, a progressive Democrat, said he thinks the progressive vote will be divided, and former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams, a moderate, will prevail.

Blouin had urged another progressive candidate, Liban Mohamed, to drop out of the Democratic primary for Utah’s 1st Congressional District.

Polls have closed in Utah

In-person election day voting concluded in Utah at 8 p.m. local time, which is 10 p.m. EDT. Comparable past elections can offer clues about when to expect the first vote results and how long the vote count might take.

In the 2024 state primary, The Associated Press first reported results at 10:03 p.m. EDT, or three minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 2:07 a.m. EDT with about 74% of total votes counted. The tally surpassed 90% of the vote counted by June 27 at 6:32 p.m. EDT, two days after election day.

Micah Lasher wins the Democratic nomination for a Manhattan-based US House seat

Lasher is running to replace his former boss Rep. Jerry Nadler.

Lasher has worked as an aide for a wide range of New York political figures like Nadler, Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

He won a bruising primary battle for one of the richest and most Democratic House seats in the country. The large field included Kennedy heir Jack Schlossberg and former GOP lawyer George Conway.

Schlossberg calls for ‘different people’ in fight against corruption

Jack Schlossberg took the stage in Manhattan after polls closed in New York’s Democratic primary for the 12th Congressional District.

The grandson of President John F. Kennedy was the first of the candidates in the race to speak, but neither conceded nor suggested he had won. Instead, he repeated his message of a need for the Democratic Party to put forward more vigorous candidates.

“No matter what, if we win tonight, or if we don’t, we’re still in the midst of a corruption crisis,” he said. “We need to do things differently. We don’t just need younger candidates. We need different people, people who are willing to speak plainly about the cost of living, about corruption and fearlessly about the Constitution.”

Army veteran Cait Conley wins Democratic House primary in key New York swing district

Conley will face Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in the general election for New York’s 17th District.

Lawler, a two-term congressman, is considered one of the nation’s most vulnerable Republicans. Democrat Kamala Harris carried the Hudson Valley swing district in the last presidential race.

Conley earned the backing of national groups, including the American Federation of Teachers, VoteVets and the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.

The 40-year-old Democrat topped a field that featured Beth Davidson, a county legislator who raised questions about Conley’s ties to companies involved with Trump’s immigration crackdown. Conley denied any connection to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Conley emphasized her military background, having deployed six times as an Army officer to combat zones including Iraq and Afghanistan. She later served in the Biden administration as the director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council.

Maryland state Del. Adrian Boafo wins Democratic primary in race to succeed Rep. Steny Hoyer

In choosing Boafo over nearly two dozen competitors, voters in the 5th District opted for a continuation of Hoyer’s pragmatic style of politics rather than a more progressive, antiestablishment approach promised by some other candidates.

Boafo, 32, is endorsed by Hoyer — his former boss — along with Gov. Wes Moore and other prominent Democrats. He also secured donations from tech firms and the cryptocurrency industry. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s super PAC also spent more than $1 million backing him.

Boafo worked as a field director and campaign manager for Hoyer before becoming a lobbyist and state delegate.

Mamdani-backed candidate Claire Valdez wins Democratic primary in New York’s 7th District

New York state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, a democratic socialist, defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso with the backing of Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Both endorsed Valdez in hopes of giving the progressive left a greater foothold over the Democratic establishment in New York’s congressional delegation.

The primary victory also leaves Valdez in strong position for November in the heavily Democratic district that covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens. It also marked a stinging setback for Reynoso, who had the endorsement of the district’s retiring U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez.

Lots of voters in Salt Lake City despite wildfire smoke

Voters in the state’s most populous city were turning out in large numbers even as smoke from wildfires burning across Utah turned the skies hazy and produced some of the worst air quality on the planet.

Some voters at the Salt Lake County Government Center said they had been waiting for close to an hour as polls got busier later in the day. Some walked briskly to their vehicles after casting ballots, while others pulled up to drop boxes to avoid the lines and hazy air.

Seven large fires were burning across Utah, including a blaze that started over the weekend in the dry, grassy foothills just outside Salt Lake City. It had the 12th-worst air quality of any city globally on Tuesday, according to IQAir’s live ranking.

An independent voter for Mohamed in Utah’s 1st District

Eunice Jean Irwin, from Holladay, Utah, said she backed Democrat Liban Mohamed in the 1st Congressional District.

Irwin, 78, an immigrant from Japan and independent, said Democratic friends that she trusted “couldn’t shut up” about Mohamed.

She was told “that he was extraordinarily articulate, that he was very, very bright, that he was a visionary and all the things I’m looking for.”

Mohamed is the son of Somali immigrants, and Irwin liked that he also comes from an immigrant family.

“And I’m really tired of Ben,” she added, referring to former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination.

Hasan Piker canvasses with Avila Chevalier

The streamer has been making the rounds with progressive candidates this year. In New York, he’s backing Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist ally of Mamdani who is up against U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat in a hard-fought Democratic primary.

“For the longest time, people were like, ‘Democratic socialists are white, younger, maybe even affluent, college educated or college students in general and there is no broad base, there is no appetite for this kind of politics on the country,’ and it turns out it couldn’t be further from the truth,” he told The Associated Press.

“I’ve heard from so many people, older voters in this district that want Espaillat out. They feel like he hasn’t done anything for this district, that he’s just been around, and he’s just a figure and he shows up every four years. And they want that change, and they’re willing to bet that Darializa could be that change,” he said.

Mamdani ally Brad Lander defeats Rep. Daniel Goldman in Democratic New York primary

Lander is the former New York City comptroller. He was endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Goldman has represented the lower Manhattan and Brooklyn brownstone district since first winning election in 2022.

Lander was acquitted this month on charges related to a protest inside a building housing an immigration court and has pledged to push back against Trump’s administration, promising to “fight, not fold.”

His victory in the primary puts him in strong position in the heavily Democratic 10th District in November, where he’ll face Republican Jennifer Moore, who was unopposed on Tuesday.

Polls have closed in New York

In-person election day voting concluded in New York at 9 p.m. EDT. Comparable past elections can offer clues about when to expect the first vote results and how long the vote count might take.

In the 2022 primary, The Associated Press first reported results at 9:04 p.m. EDT, or four minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 3:11 a.m. EDT with about 95% of total votes counted.

Wilson makes appeal to Evette’s supporters in accepting South Carolina victory

Saying he looked forward to sitting down with Evette at some point in the future, Wilson said “she’s to be commended” for calling him to concede.

Noting the support he’d received from other GOP candidates in the primary, including U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, Wilson said Evette’s backers are also his “kinsmen,” for whom he promised “to fight as hard for you as you fought.”

Joined on stage by his wife, children and other relatives including his father, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, the newly minted nominee pledged to be a “transformational governor” who would reform government and improve infrastructure.

Wilson goes on to face Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson in the general election.

New York candidate stumps for votes as clock runs out

Around an hour before polls closed in New York’s Democratic congressional primary, candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier stood on a Harlem street corner with streamer Hasan Piker, slipping her campaign flyers into the hands of passersby.

“I think folks are really tired of politics that seems more beholden to donors,” she told The Associated Press.

On the next corner, a truck covered with screens displayed a political ad attacking Avila Chevalier over a remark she made on social media disparaging former Vice President Kamala Harris. Avila Chevalier has previously apologized for the post.

“I think most folks just want to hear about the issues that impact them,” she said when asked about the truck.

She is running against U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a fellow Democrat.

Evette says she will stay in public life and support Republicans after South Carolina runoff loss

Republican South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pam Evette was surrounded by her family — but not Republican Gov. Henry McMaster — as she took the stage for four minutes with the sun setting behind a sweeping ocean vista at her election party.

In a horse voice that cracked a little as she thanked her children and husband for their support, Evette said she needed to read this speech because she didn’t want to forget to say something.

“It’s OK to be disappointed. Lord knows that I am, but in just a few months, there’s going to be a general election, and the choice in that general election is going to be between conservative principles and a Democratic Party that wants the exact opposite for South Carolina,” Evette said, throwing her support behind the Republican nominee, state Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Evette said she is grateful for the honor of serving as lieutenant governor for eight years and her political career likely isn’t over.

“This isn’t the end of anything for me,” Evette said. “It is just the beginning of a different chapter.”

Wilson had strong early leads across the state

In South Carolina, Wilson had double-digit leads in 21 of the 23 counties that had released vote results from across the state by the time AP called the GOP runoff for governor.

He significantly expanded the leads he had in the primary in the heavily populated Charleston and Columbia areas and also led in counties that went for Evette and Ralph Norman on June 9. Evette was ahead in only two counties.

Voter worries progressives will split vote in Utah House race

Emily Cort describes herself as a progressive who backs Democrat Nate Blouin, a firebrand in the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature. Cort said Blouin’s beliefs align closely with hers, including opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza and concern for environmental issues.

But she worries that Blouin could end up splitting the vote with other progressive-leaning candidates in the race, to the advantage of Democrat Ben McAdams, who is considered more moderate and who Cort doesn’t like.

“Not only do we have to be voting for people that we believe in, but it’s politics and we have to be voting for people that we think will make it the furthest,” she said.