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      Playing to Trump’s G.O.P. Base, Combat Veteran Wins Nevada House Primary

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      A decorated Air Force combat veteran who lined up support from the Trump wing of the Republican Party will face a Democratic incumbent in a tossup congressional race in Nevada.The Republican candidate, Sam Peters, won a three-way primary in Nevada’s Fourth District. The seat has been held by Steven Horsford, a Democrat, for the past two terms as well as a single term a decade ago.Mr. Peters, 47, defeated Annie Black, The Associated Press said Wednesday. Ms. Black is an assemblywoman who attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally for Mr. Trump in Washington and was censured by state lawmakers for refusing to wear a mask. Chance Bonaventura, a Republican campaign operative who is chief of staff for a Las Vegas city councilwoman, finished third in Tuesday’s primary.Extending from the northern part of Las Vegas through central Nevada, the sprawling district is larger in land area than 17 states. While Democrats maintain a more than 10-point voter registration advantage in the district, both national parties are investing heavily in the Las Vegas media market, and the race is rated as a tossup by the Cook Political Report.Endorsed by the Nevada Republican Party in May, Mr. Peters had played up the support of several leading figures in the party’s Trump wing, including Representatives Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs, who are both from Arizona.The two congressmen have been the subject of unsuccessful efforts to disqualify them from running for re-election by Mr. Trump’s critics, who say that they fomented election falsehoods that escalated into the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.Mr. Peters, who earned a Bronze Star for his service during the war in Afghanistan, has also promulgated Mr. Trump’s falsehoods about the 2020 election and last year called on Nevada’s Republican secretary of state to abandon the use of electronic voting machines for the 2022 election.Making his second run for Congress — two years ago he was the runner-up in the Republican primary — Mr. Peters had vowed to support the completion of a southern border wall that became a cause célèbre for Mr. Trump.Since the Fourth District’s creation a decade ago, Republicans have won the seat just once, holding it for a single term. The party is seeking to seize upon the sagging approval numbers of President Biden and lingering attention on the personal issues of Mr. Horsford, who has acknowledged having an extramarital affair.The details came to light after a woman who had been an intern for Harry M. Reid, the former longtime Nevada senator who died last year, revealed in 2020 to The Las Vegas Review-Journal that she was the woman in a podcast titled “Mistress for Congress” that referred to the affair.In March, Mr. Peters said that Mr. Horsford, who did not have a primary opponent, should not run for re-election. More

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      5 Takeaways From Tuesday’s Key Primary Races

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      From Las Vegas to Lewiston, Maine, the contours of critical midterm contests came into focus on Tuesday as Americans voted in major federal and state races across five states.In Nevada, which will be home to marquee House, Senate and governor’s races this fall, Republicans elevated several candidates who have embraced former President Donald J. Trump’s lies about a stolen election — even as candidates he endorsed had a mixed night in South Carolina, where he had sought to exact vengeance on two House incumbents.In Maine, a familiar set of characters moved into highly competitive general election races for governor and for a House seat that may be one of the most hard-fought in the nation. But in Texas, Republicans flipped a Rio Grande Valley seat — albeit only through the end of the year — as the party works to make inroads with Hispanic voters.Here are a few takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries:Election deniers prevail in Nevada.Republican candidates who have embraced Mr. Trump’s lies about election fraud were nominated for several positions of significant power in one of the most competitive political battlegrounds in the nation.They include Jim Marchant, an organizer of a network of 2020 election deniers. Mr. Marchant, who prevailed in Nevada’s Republican primary for secretary of state, is also a failed congressional candidate who declared himself a “victim of election fraud” after being defeated in 2020, and has said his “No. 1 priority will be to overhaul the fraudulent election system in Nevada.”Mr. Marchant was among an alternate slate of pro-Trump electors who sought to overturn President Biden’s victory in Nevada in 2020, and he has said he would have refused to certify the election had he been secretary of state at the time.Adam Laxalt, Nevada’s former attorney general who won his party’s Senate nomination on Tuesday with Mr. Trump’s backing, was one of the leaders of the Trump campaign’s effort to overturn the results in Nevada.Adam Laxalt during a campaign stop in Moapa Valley, Nev., on Saturday.Joe Buglewicz for The New York TimesAnd in the Republican primary to challenge Representative Steven Horsford, a Democrat, the two top finishers with 40 percent of the vote counted, according to The Associated Press, were Annie Black, a state lawmaker who said she was outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and Sam Peters, who has suggested he would not have voted to certify the 2020 election results and questioned the legitimacy of Mr. Biden’s victory.Their victories come as a bipartisan House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol has showcased testimony from Mr. Trump’s onetime top advisers discussing Mr. Trump’s claims.Understand the June 14 Primary ElectionsTakeaways: Republicans who embraced former President Donald J. Trump’s election lies did well in Nevada, while his allies had a mixed night in South Carolina. Here’s what else we learned.Winners and Losers: Here is a rundown of some of the most notable wins and losses.Election Deniers Prevail: Republicans who deny the 2020 election’s result are edging closer to wielding power over the next one.Nevada Races: Trump-inspired candidates captured key wins in the swing state, setting the stage for a number of tossup contests against embattled Democrats.Texas Special Election: Mayra Flores, a Republican, flipped a House seat in the Democratic stronghold of South Texas. Her win may only be temporary, however.“He’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff,” William P. Barr, the former attorney general, told the panel.Critical Nevada races come into focus.Nevada cemented its status as a focal point of the political universe on Tuesday, as several marquee general election contests took shape that will have significant implications for the balance of power in Washington.Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, will face off against Mr. Laxalt, who comes from a prominent political family. His positions on issues like election integrity may run afoul of some voters in a state that hasn’t supported a Republican for president since 2004.Supporters of Joe Lombardo at his election watch party in Las Vegas Tuesday night.Bridget Bennett for The New York TimesBut Ms. Cortez Masto may be the Senate’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbent. And there are signs that Nevada, which currently has among the highest gas prices in the nation, may be notably difficult terrain for Democrats this year, as they grapple with a brutally challenging political environment shaped by issues including soaring inflation and President Biden’s weak approval rating.Those dynamics will also influence the governor’s race, as Gov. Steve Sisolak prepares for a challenge from Joe Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff. And all three of the state’s incumbent Democratic House members are running in highly competitive seats.South Carolina shows the power, and some limits, of a Trump endorsement.After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, two House members from South Carolina broke with most of their fellow Republicans to lash Mr. Trump as complicit in the assault. On Tuesday, only one of them prevailed over a Trump-backed primary challenger.Representative Nancy Mace, who’d said she held Mr. Trump “accountable for the events that transpired, for the attack on our Capitol,” defeated her challenger, Katie Arrington, a former state lawmaker. But Representative Tom Rice, who stunned many observers with his vote to impeach Mr. Trump, lost to State Representative Russell Fry as he campaigned in a more conservative district.Russell Fry with supporters in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Tuesday night after winning the Republican primary over Representative Tom Rice.Jason Lee/The Sun News, via Associated PressA Trump endorsement is not always dispositive, as other primary election results this year have demonstrated. But the former president’s continued sway over the Republican base is undeniable. And openly challenging him remains politically dangerous for Republican candidates, as several who voted to impeach him have experienced.Despite her initial sharp criticism of Mr. Trump, Ms. Mace — who did not vote to impeach — went on to make overtures to Trump loyalists, including by issuing an appeal from outside Trump Tower as part of her broader campaign pitch.Mr. Rice, by contrast, appeared to grow sharper in his condemnations of the former president in the final stretch of the race.“It’s not about my voting record. It’s not about my support of Trump. It’s not about my ideology. It’s not because this other guy’s any good,” Mr. Rice said. “There’s only one reason why he’s doing this. And it’s just for revenge.”Making that argument proved fruitless for Mr. Rice. On Tuesday, he became the first Republican who voted for impeachment to be defeated in a primary.Republicans win in the Rio Grande Valley and call it a bellwether.Republicans are seeking to make inroads with Hispanic voters this year after doing far better than expected in parts of South Texas in 2020 — and they immediately moved to cast a special election victory in the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday as a bellwether for the region.Understand the 2022 Midterm ElectionsCard 1 of 6Why are these midterm races so important? More

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      Who Won and Who Lost in Tuesday’s Primary Elections

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      Voters in several states weighed in on key contests in Tuesday’s primaries. Here are some of the most notable wins and losses:South CarolinaRepresentative Tom Rice, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald J. Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, was defeated by his Trump-backed challenger, State Representative Russell Fry, in the Republican primary in the Seventh Congressional District.Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican, defeated her Trump-endorsed challenger, Katie Arrington, a former state legislator, to win the party’s nomination in the First Congressional District. The race tested whether Republican primary voters prized loyalty to Mr. Trump over concerns that Ms. Arrington wasn’t a strong general election candidate. NevadaIn the state’s G.O.P. Senate primary, Adam Laxalt won his party’s nomination and will face the incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who is seen as vulnerable this fall. Mr. Laxalt, a former attorney general, was endorsed by Mr. Trump and had helped lead Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the presidential election results in Nevada in 2020. Joe Lombardo, the Las Vegas area sheriff who was endorsed by Mr. Trump, won the Republican nomination and will challenge Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, in what is expected to be one of the tightest governor’s races in the country.Jim Marchant, one of the organizers of the “America First” slate of secretary of state candidates who continue to harbor doubts about the 2020 election, won the Republican nomination to be the state’s top election official. He will compete against Cisco Aguilar, a Democratic lawyer who ran uncontested.April Becker, a lawyer and political newcomer, won the Republican nomination in the Third Congressional District and will face Representative Susie Lee, a Democrat.TexasMayra Flores won the special election in the 34th Congressional District, flipping a seat — at least for now — that had long been held by Democrats. She’ll have the seat at least until the end of the year. It was vacated by Representative Filemon Vela, a Democrat who resigned to take a job with a lobbying firm. Ms. Flores will be the first Republican from the district and the first Latina Republican from Texas in Congress.MaineBruce Poliquin, who used to represent the Second Congressional District, won the Republican nomination for his old seat. He will challenge Representative Jared Golden, one of the country’s most endangered House Democrats, who was uncontested in his primary. More