The Latest on the 2020 primary elections (all times local):
9:40 p.m. Alaska time
Independent Al Gross has won the Democratic primary in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race.
Gross, 58, will face first-term Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan in the November general election. Sullivan was unopposed in his primary.
Politically unaffiliated candidates - those registered as nonpartisan or undeclared and who in Alaska are often described as independents - can run in Alaska’s Democratic primary. Gross, who is a nonpartisan, previously won the party’s endorsement.
Gross faced two challengers, Edgar Blatchford and Chris Cumings, neither of whom mounted significant campaigns.
Gross, an orthopedic surgeon, said he left his full-time practice in 2013 and increasingly got involved in health care advocacy after seeing what he called injustices in the system. He said he supports a public option for individuals and small businesses on the health insurance exchange as a “starting point towards developing a more comprehensive public system.”
He also said he’s interested in working on issues related to climate change and renewable energy.
Gross has won support from The Lincoln Project, which includes current and former Republicans working to defeat President Donald Trump and those in Congress seen as allied with him. The group has taken aim at Sullivan.
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9:35 p.m. Alaska time
Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan advanced to the November election, emerging unopposed from his primary Tuesday.
Sullivan, 55, will face the winner of the Democratic primary, which featured nonpartisan candidate Al Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who has gotten national attention and was the only candidate on that side to mount a significant campaign.
Sullivan, a former state natural resources commissioner and attorney general, was elected to the Senate in 2014. He ousted Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich in an expensive and closely watched race.
Leading to this year’s primary, Sullivan ran an ad focused on efforts to provide pandemic relief and one that was more biographical, featuring his wife.
One of Sullivan’s campaign events was marred by protesters, one of whom attempted to hand him a caribou heart.
Sullivan campaign manager Matt Shuckerow described the incident as unnerving, as the woman approached the Sullivans and reached into a bag for an object, later identified as the heart. Two of those involved said they had not intended any harm and wanted to send a message about Sullivan’s support for drilling in a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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8:54 p.m. Mountain Time
University of Wyoming ecology professor and climate activist Merav Ben-David has won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Wyoming.
Ben-David, 61, of Laramie, beat two Democrats who actively campaigned: social justice and environmental activist Yana Ludwig, of Laramie; and climate-change think tank vice president Nathan Wendt, of Jackson.
Ben-David seeks to replace Republican Sen. Mike Enzi, who is retiring after four terms. Ben-David will face Republican former U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis in the November election.
Lummis is a 65-year-old former Cheyenne Frontier Days Miss Frontier who has been active in Wyoming politics for over 40 years.
Lummis is a former state treasurer and state legislator in addition to serving in Congress. Lummis beat nine less-known opponents to win the GOP primary.
Ben-David’s research over the years includes studying how polar bears are responding to climate change.
Ben-David wants to refocus Wyoming’s economy to encourage new energy technologies. Ben-David says concern about climate change motivates her to run for office.
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10:50 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
Sheriff Gregory Tony has claimed victory in the Broward County Democratic primary over his predecessor who was fired after the Parkland massacre.
Tony replaced Scott Israel in 2019 after Gov. Ron DeSantis dismissed Israel over his handling of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead.
Tony’s campaign drew criticism of its own over his failure to disclose that in 1993 he fatally shot an 18-year-old when he was 14 in Philadelphia. He was convicted of no crime, but he did not disclose what happened to his subsequent employers.
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8:45 p.m. Mountain Time
Northern Arapaho tribal member and indigenous women’s advocate Lynnette Grey Bull has won the Democratic nomination for Wyoming’s lone seat in the U.S. House.
Grey Bull, 43, of Fort Washakie, beat Carl Beach, an educator who has spent years teaching at American schools overseas. Grey Bull in November will face Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who’s seeking a third term.
Cheney, 54, easily beat a little-known challenger, Blake Stanley, of Banner, who did little campaigning for the GOP House nomination.
Grey Bull is vice president of the Global Indigenous Council, a human rights advocacy organization made up of over 200 tribes. Grey Bull also advocates for reducing violent crime against indigenous women.
Grey Bull has called for boosting public transportation, improving access to public lands and establishing a “treatment to works” program for opioid addicts.
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8:35 p.m. Mountain Time
Republican former U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis will be on the ballot for a contested U.S. Senate seat in Wyoming in November.
Lummis seeks to replace Republican Sen. Mike Enzi, who is retiring after four terms.
Lummis beat nine less-known opponents to win Wyoming’s GOP primary. They included Converse County Commissioner Robert Short, of Douglas, and Sheridan businessman and retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryan Miller.
Lummis in November will face the winner of a Democratic primary featuring three active candidates. They include University of Wyoming ecology professor and climate activist Merav Ben-David, 61, of Laramie; social justice and environmental activist Yana Ludwig, 49, of Laramie; and climate-change think tank vice president Nathan Wendt, 39, of Jackson.
Lummis is a 65-year-old former Cheyenne Frontier Days Miss Frontier who has been active in Wyoming politics for over 40 years.
She served two terms as state treasurer and four as Wyoming’s lone congresswoman. Lummis also served in the Wyoming Legislature in the 1980s and 1990s.
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8:30 p.m. Mountain Time
Liz Cheney has won the Republican nomination to seek re-election to a third term as Wyoming’s lone congressperson.
The elder daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney easily beat a little-known challenger, Blake Stanley, who campaigned little and only raised a couple thousand dollars against Cheney’s over $2 million.
Cheney in November will likely face either of two Democrats running for U.S. House: Global Indigenous Council Vice President Lynnette Grey Bull, of Fort Washakie, or overseas educator Carl Beach, of Ryan Park.
Cheney beat her Democratic opponents by wide margins in 2016 and 2018. She’s heavily favored to win again in GOP-dominated Wyoming.
Cheney has quickly risen to the Republican Party’s third-highest leadership job in the U.S. House. Her job as Republican Conference Chair gives her considerable influence over communicating Republican priorities in Congress.
Some Republican colleagues recently criticized Cheney’s support of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, which they said was disloyal to President Donald Trump.
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9:40 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
Florida Lakeland City Commissioner Scott Franklin defeated U.S. Rep. Ross Spano in a Republican primary in Florida on Tuesday.
Franklin is a former Navy pilot and insurance business owner who challenged Spano because of ethics issues that have dogged him since being elected two years ago.
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Spano for alleged campaign finance violations. The House Ethics Committee was looking into allegations that Spano borrowed more than $100,000 from two friends and then loaned the money to his campaign. But it paused the review when the criminal investigation began.
Franklin said during the campaign that he doesn’t disagree with Spano on policy, but his decision to run was based on questions about Spano’s ethics.
“Politically, ideologically we’re pretty close on the issues, but with the ethics and the investigations hanging over him it just really made the seat vulnerable, and that was my concern,” Franklin said. “This has been a conservative, strong conservative seat, for decades and I was fearful of that seat being flipped in November.”
District 15 sits east of Tampa in central Florida. Franklin’s victory may give Republicans a better chance at winning in November. The district has traditionally voted Republican. Democrats were largely targeting Spano and hoped the ethics cloud hanging over him would give them a chance to flip the seat.
Spano is a lawyer who was elected to the state House in 2012 and served until he was elected to Congress in 2018.
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9:20 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
Kat Cammack has won the GOP primary for the Florida congressional seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho.
The 32-year-old Cammack owns a political consulting firm and previously served as Yoho’s deputy chief of staff and his former campaign manager. She prominently featured her connection to Yoho during the campaign.
Cammack beat a Republican field of 10 candidates and is likely to be the next member of Congress for District 3, a firmly Republican north Florida district that runs from Ocala to just south of Jacksonville.
Yoho opted not to seek reelection after four terms in Congress. A supporter of term limits, he stuck to an original campaign pledge to serve only eight years. In each of his four elections, he easily beat his Democratic opponents.
Cammack will face Democrat Adam Christensen, Philip Dodds or Tom Wells in November.
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