Midterm Primary Elections updates: News from North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon – The Washington Post
Welcome to special coverage of Tuesday’s North Carolina, Kentucky, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Idaho primaries from Post Politics Now.
Today, voters in five states will pick nominees in some of the most consequential primaries of the year, signaling the direction of both major political parties and revealing more about the strength of the hold that former president Donald Trump retains over Republicans. Trump has endorsed 27 candidates in Tuesday’s primaries.
Among the marquee races is the GOP Senate primary in Pennsylvania, where Trump is all-in for celebrity turned politician Mehmet Oz, who faces insurgent conservative candidate Kathy Barnette and businessman David McCormick. On the Democratic side, the leading contender, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, said he will not attend a primary-night rally Tuesday after suffering a stroke last week.
North Carolina will provide another test of Trump’s influence, as he backs scandal-tarnished Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) in a hotly contested primary.
Here’s what to know
On our radar in Idaho: Who is Janice McGeachin?
Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who is running in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary against incumbent Gov. Brad Little, is perhaps best known for seizing on Little’s absences from the state to enact her own policy agenda — only to have her orders reversed by Little upon his return.
The Post’s Aaron Blake captured the maneuvering in a piece last fall. Aaron wrote:
In May, with Little at a Republican Governors Association conference in Nashville, McGeachin used her temporary authority as acting governor to do something Little had refused to do: banning mask mandates in schools and public buildings.(In October), with Little visiting the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, McGeachin again wielded her temporary powers. She issued an executive order banning state officials from requiring “vaccine passports” — or proof of vaccination — from employees and sought to ban employers from requiring vaccinations.
McGeachin, who is backed by former president Donald Trump, has also promoted Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him through voter fraud.
A former state legislator and business owner from Idaho Falls, McGeachin the first woman elected as Idaho lieutenant governor, in 2018. Her clashes over covid policy served to elevate her political profile in the state.
