Live Primary Results: Squad Goals in MO, and Much More! UPDATE: Bush Loses

AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades

Update: DecisionDeskHQ has called the race in MO-01 for Wesley Bell, which means that Squad member Cori Bush will leave Congress at the end of the year. Bell is a progressive himself, but one more focused on policy and not quite as insane as Bush. Bell should sail to victory in this district in November.

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In Michigan, Mike Rogers easily defeated Justin Amash for the Senate nomination and will face Elissa Slotkin in November. That should be very competitive but still a reach for Republicans.

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Call this the mini-storms before the big storm in Chicago. The biggest storm tonight will take place in Missouri, where yet another Squad member may get bounced out of Congress. We have other "whether fronts" forming in Michigan, Kansas, and Washington state tonight too. Settle in for a long evening, and potentially a sea change in St. Louis, just to mix a metaphor or two!

As always, we'll have live results as they come in. And once again, we are partnering with our friends at Decision Desk HQ to provide real-time vote results after polls close, which will happen at various times tonight. The widgets below will list those times, and will automatically update. Please note: The House primaries are all available in a single widget for each party; you will need to use the drop-down box to choose the race you want.

We're able to do this, of course, in large part because of the support of our VIP and VIP Gold members. Become a HotAir VIP member today and use promo code 2024 to receive a 50% discount on your membership.

Let's take these in order of poll closing times ...

Missouri

This is the Big Kahuna tonight. In Missouri's first CD, Democrat incumbent and Squad member Cori Bush faces a well-funded Democrat challenger in Wesley Bell. Bush has more endorsements from current party leader, but Bell has been ahead in the polls; the most current survey puts him up six points over Bush. Needless to say, whoever wins tonight will essentially win the D+27 district in November. A red wave that puts a Republican in this seat would be a 50-state tsunami.

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Both parties have open primaries for the gubernatorial race, thanks to term limits on current incumbent Mike Parson. All three GOP candidates have Trump's endorsement, and it appears that this will be mainly between Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe. Bill Eigel has plenty of experience in the legislature, though, and could be a threat. Democrats probably won't be able to compete in November in this increasingly red state; five are on the ballot, but it will come down to either Crystal Quade or Mike Hamra. 

Finally, expect to see Lucas Kunce to win the Democrat nomination to take on Josh Hawley for the US Senate seat. He has raised almost $8 million in this cycle, and he might be tough in the general election. 

Polls close at 8 pm ET across the state. Missouri requires all mail and early ballots to be in when the polls close, so we should get firm results by the end of the night. You may be waiting a long time to see what happens in the Bush/Bell race, though, because St. Louis is slooooow with their vote counting. 


Kansas

The big stories in Kansas come from two congressional seats. First up is KS-02, where incumbent Republican Jake LaTurner is retiring in this R+11 district that went for Trump in 2020 by 15 points. Derek Schmidt has a wide lead in the only poll taken in this eastern-state district and he has the Trump endorsement. He has three challengers, but expect him to win handily. He'll likely go up against former Rep. Nancy Boyda, the last Dem to hold this seat -- for one session after the 2006 blue wave. 

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KS-03 is more interesting. This R+1 district is the only one in Kansas represented by a Democrat, Sharice Davids. Karen Crnkovich and Prasanth Reddy will square off to win the nomination; Reddy has a lot more funding and is slightly less moderate. 

Polls close at 8 pm ET in most of the state, although the few counties in Mountain Time will close at 9 ET. Kansas does have some mail-in balloting that could take up to three days to complete, but we expect almost all of the votes to be counted by the end of the night. 


Michigan

Democrat incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow will retire at the end of this session, so both parties have an opportunity to make some changes. The favorite in the Democrat primary is Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who should get an early call. Former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers is a heavy favorite to defeat Justin Amash, also a former House member, and has raised a lot of money and gotten the Trump endorsement to boot. If Rogers wins as expected, he might be the most formidable GOP nominee for a Senate race in a while, in terms of political standing. (Updated: I had Gary Peters rather than Debbie Stabenow retiring in the original post. -- Ed)

In the House races, the most promising comes in Michigan's 8th, an R+1 district with a retiring Dan Kildee, the current incumbent. Slotkin had this district before she got redistricted to MI-07, but before that the GOP had it for nine straight terms -- seven by Rogers, a bit of irony tonight considering their likely contest for the Senate seat. State Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet is favored for the Democrat nomination but still faces a fight from former Flint mayor Matthew Collier and Pamela Pugh, a black woman with experience on the state board of education. 

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For the GOP, Paul Junge returns after coming close in the last two cycles against both Kildee and Slotkin. He's expected to ride a fundraising and polling advantage to a clear victory over two lesser-known Republicans.

Polls close at 8 pm ET in most of the state, but four counties in the Upper Peninsula will remain open until 9. All ballots including mail and absentee have to be in by poll closing, so the results will be known at some point overnight ... or maybe closer to daybreak.


Washington (State)

Is there any interest for Republicans in this primary? Maybe only in WA-05, where both parties are holding competitive primaries for an R+8 district. WA-06 is a D+6 district and could be primed for a Republican takeaway in November, depending on how the national trends look. WA-04 has a Republican incumbent (Dan Newhouse) in a R+11 district facing a Trump-endorsed challenger in Jerrod Sessler. Washington is a jungle-primary state, however, so both Newhouse and Sessler may face each other in November as the Democrats didn't organize well enough to have a serious contender. 

Don't get too invested in any of them tonight. Polls close at 11 ET, but Washington is a mail-only state, and only about 60% of the vote will get counted tonight. They'll be at it for days on end.

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Stephen Moore 8:30 AM | December 15, 2024
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