Major races across the country were called on Tuesday, as the 2026 elections move into full swing.
From South Carolina to Nevada, voters picked candidates for governor and the House, though some races remain undecided and are headed to runoffs.
South Carolina
In South Carolina, the Republican gubernatorial primary is headed to a runoff on June 23, after a crowded field left no candidate with a sufficient margin of victory on Tuesday.
The GOP runoff election will feature the top two finishers, state Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, who President Donald Trump endorsed, and state Attorney General Alan Wilson. Evette secured nearly 29% of the vote, while Wilson took 26.1%.
Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) failed to advance in the primary battle to succeed outgoing Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) in the solidly red state, finishing with 17% and 12% of the vote.
On the Democratic side, voters chose a former professional basketball player to face the Republican nominee for governor in November. Jermaine Johnson represented a district in the Columbia area for three terms and handily defeated Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod and Greenville businessman Billy Webster. Johnson faces a tough path to victory this fall, as Democrats have not won a gubernatorial general election in South Carolina in nearly three decades.
Another race that has gained attention is the state’s 1st Congressional District, which Mace represents. The incumbent lawmaker opted out of running for reelection this cycle, instead running for governor and setting the district up for a heated battle to succeed her. With no incumbent on the ballot, 11 Republican candidates and seven Democratic candidates lined up to capture their party’s primary nominations in the Lowcountry district.
On the Democratic side, two candidates advanced to a runoff on Tuesday. Retired Navy Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore received 36.5% of the votes, and Coast Guard veteran Mac Deford took away 28.9%. Lacore has said she was fired by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth without cause, making the story central to her campaign. She is now seeking to become just the second Democrat to hold the seat in over 40 years, after Republicans won the last election by 58.2% to 41.6%.
“After 35 years in the Navy, Pete Hegseth removed Admiral Nancy Lacore from her post with no explanation,” Lacore wrote in a post to Facebook. “Now, she’s running for Congress to flip SC-01 blue — and her primary is on June 9th.”
The Republican side is also headed to a runoff on June 23. Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt received 22.1% of the votes in the Tuesday primary, and state Rep. Mark Smith secured 18%.
“It’s going to be a sprint to the finish,” Honeycutt told reporters Tuesday evening. “I am Lowcountry first. We are here to serve the Lowcountry. Folks love that message. That’s what resonated and got us to the first spot tonight. And that’s what we’re going to take the next two weeks. “
Nevada
Nevada is home to one of the most closely watched gubernatorial races in the nation. The state is deeply competitive, with Democrats eyeing Democratic state Attorney General Aaron Ford as their best bet to oust Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.
On Tuesday, both men won their party’s respective nominations. Roughly 165,000 votes were cast in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, while over 170,500 were cast in the Republican race, according to the New York Times.
Ford is backed by former Vice President Kamala Harris and handily beat Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill. The attorney general has sought to center the race on affordability, accusing Lombardo of not doing enough to bring down the cost of living for residents while sitting in the governor’s mansion. Lombardo has pushed back, saying that since he became governor, “Inflation has come down, wages are rising, housing prices are stabilizing, and Nevada leads the nation in post-pandemic job creation, as well as both small business and wage growth.”
Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District also held a primary election on Tuesday, handing a Trump-endorsed candidate a boost. As of early Wednesday, retired Air Force Lt. Col. David Flippo holds a lead with 45.7% of the vote. Former Nevada Senate Minority Leader James Settelmeyer sits at 35.3% with an estimated 83% of votes counted, according to the Associated Press.
The president backed Flippo against Settelmeyer, who is endorsed by Lombardo, in the GOP primary. The endorsement likely carried great weight, as Trump carried the district by around 14 percentage points in 2024.
The seat is vacant after Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) announced plans to retire, triggering a heated contest for the state’s only Republican-held congressional district. The district includes Reno and Carson City.
California
In California, the results of the state’s open gubernatorial primary were also revealed on Tuesday, one week after the election was held. Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra have been projected as the top two vote finishers in the state’s jungle primary.
Becerra received nearly 28% of the vote, and Hilton received 25%, according to the Associated Press. Democrat Tom Steyer came in third place with 22.5%. Hilton is aiming to become the first Republican since 2006 to flip the governor’s mansion red.
“In the weeks ahead, we will lay out my plan in detail to make our state Califordable – particularly for workers and small businesses,” the Republican candidate told NBC News. “We will draw a powerful contrast with Xavier Becerra, who represents more of the same cost, incompetence, and corruption.”
The results of a second House primary race were also revealed on Tuesday, a week after voters in California’s 22nd Congressional District in Bakersfield went to the polls.
Progressive Randy Villegas was projected as the winner of the 22nd district’s Democratic primary. But his victory was viewed as a loss for party establishment leaders hoping to pit a more centrist candidate against Rep. David Valadao (R-CA).
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Valadao took 40.7% of the vote; Villegas secured 32.2%. Democrat Jasmeet Bains, the party establishment’s pick, is out of the race after coming in third, taking 27.2% of the ballots.
“What you’re seeing play out in our race and in races all across the country is truly this fight for the soul of the Democratic Party and who we want to be as Democrats,” Villegas told the Washington Post.