Takeaways From the June 9 Primary Elections

On June 9, voters in Maine, South Carolina, Nevada, and North Dakota went to the polls.

In Maine, voters selected oysterman and military veteran Graham Platner—a dark horse candidate who won the race after Gov. Janet Mills suspended her Senate primary campaign—to take on incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a long-serving political juggernaut in the state who ran unopposed for her party’s nomination on Tuesday.

In South Carolina, two state leaders outpaced two sitting members of Congress to advance to a runoff for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

Meanwhile, voters in Nevada made their pick for governor in a race that has drawn national attention as Democrats seek to take the seat back and Republicans seek to hold onto their gains from recent years.

Here’s what to know.

Platner to Face Collins

Democratic voters in Maine on Tuesday nominated Platner as their candidate to take on Collins, locking in the nominees for one of the most critical Senate elections of the 2026 cycle.

At 9:23 p.m, The Associated Press projected that Platner would be the Democratic nominee. When the race was called, Platner led Mills—who withdrew her candidacy after polls showed her trailing Platner—by tens of percent, though only around 8 percent of the votes were in when the race was called.

Platner’s campaign recently came under scrutiny after several media outlets reported on allegations of past mistreatment of women and other controversies, some of which he has disputed.

Platner’s victory formalizes the 2026 Senate lineup, locking in the final picks for a race that has been characterized as the political fight of Collins’s life by many observers.

The five-term Collins was first elected in 1996 and has held on long beyond any other New England Republican at the federal level.

This year, she faced no Republican challenger for the nomination.

Meanwhile, the ranked-choice style gubernatorial primary election remains too close to call.

Democrats in the state seem on track to select epidemiologist, economist, and attorney Nirav Shah as their standard-bearer. He leads Hannah Pingree, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree’s (D-Maine) daughter, as well as Angus King III, son of Sen. Angus King (I-Maine).

Republicans, meanwhile, seem on track to lock in former Navy intelligence officer Bobby Charles as their nominee, with Charles leading his closest competitor by around 18 points.

Democratic Race to Replace Jared Golden Undecided

In Maine’s Republican-leaning second congressional district, the race to replace outgoing Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) remains too close to call on the Democratic side.

Four Democrats, including state Sen. Joe Baldacci, brother of former U.S. Rep. and Gov. John Baldacci, are facing off in the contest. Baldacci leads, followed closely by activist Jordan Wood.

The Associated Press determined that no winner could be determined on Tuesday night, meaning the race will be determined using the state’s ranked-choice voting system.

The eventual nominee will face former Gov. Paul LePage, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump. Republicans hope LePage will be able to flip the seat, which houses a district that voted for Trump in 2024.

SC Republican Governor’s Race Heads to Runoff

Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson will advance to a runoff election for the Republican gubernatorial primary on June 23.

At around 9 p.m. ET, The Associated Press projected the race would go to a runoff. The two defeated a crowded field including Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), and businessman Rom Reddy.

At the time the race was called, Evette led with 28.9 percent of the vote, while Wilson trailed closely behind with 26.4 percent of the vote, with around 58 percent of the vote counted.

The Democratic Party’s pick for the post, meanwhile, is state Rep. Jermaine Johnson in the November general election.

On the campaign trail, Johnson made a progressive economic pitch to Democratic voters, saying he would focus on boosting public education funding and addressing inequalities in the state.

Evette, an Ohio-born businesswoman, entered the race with both an incumbency advantage and an even more powerful boost—the endorsement of Trump.

In recent weeks, the strength of Trump’s otherwise powerful endorsement in gubernatorial politics had already been tested in Iowa, where political newcomer Zach Lahn defeated Trump-backed Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) for the Republican nomination in the state.

While Evette led the field in polling, Wilson trailed closely behind. Polls had shown Reddy, Norman, and Mace competing for the No. 3 spot.

Lombardo to Face Nevada AG in Governor’s Race

Incumbent Joe Lombardo will face off against Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford in Nevada’s gubernatorial election this fall.

Lombardo, a former sheriff endorsed by Trump, defeated more than a handful of long-shot Republican candidates to win the GOP primary in the gubernatorial race in a landslide on June 9. The Associated Press called the race at 11:35 p.m. ET.

Ford won the Democratic nomination for the governor’s seat by a massive lead against Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill. The Associated Press called the race at 11:45 p.m. ET.

The battle between Lombardo and Ford will not be an easy fight, as the Cook Political Report ranks the seat as a “toss up.”

Nevada Democrats hope they can flip the governor’s seat back to blue, after Lombardo unseated the state’s most recent Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak, who served just one term from 2019 to 2023.

Trump won Nevada with 50.59 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election, and the outcome of the governor’s race this fall could give the United States a glimpse of where voters in the purple state stand in a time of high gas prices and grocery bills, and a war in the Middle East.