Who were the winners and losers in the June 28 primary elections?

On Tuesday, voters in five states, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Oklahoma and Utah, went to the polls to make their voices heard. The winners will go on to compete in the 2022 Midterm Elections that could change the balance of power in Congress.

Democrats preferring to face MAGA-aligned Republican candidates, hoping it will improve their chances of winning in November, even gave some a hand to try to get them across the finish line.

Colorado

Two of the most important primary races in Colorado were to decide who would be the Republican candidates to take on the incumbent Democratic governor and sitting Democratic US senator for the state. In both cases the moderate nominees beat out the ones peddling the election fraud lies spouted by former President Trump.

Good news for the Republican party and bad news for Democrats. The state has been trending blue in recent years but with high inflation and households finances being ravaged by higher prices voters may be looking to punish the Democrats.

Joe O’Dea, a construction company CEO, will try to unseat Senator Michael Bennet who admitted that he could be facing a “tough race” this fall in the face of a predicted “red wave”. The Democratic Colorado tried to help his opponent state Rep. Ron Hanks, a 2020 election denier, spending nearly $4 million on ads to attack O’Dea’s conservative credentials.

Heidi Ganahl, a member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents, beat Greg Lopez who ran as a hard-line conservative and repeatedly echoed the “Big Lie” claims about the 2020 election being stolen. Ganahl will run against Governor Jared Polis in the gubernatorial race.

All members of the House of Representatives are up for reelection, but eyes were on one Congressional District in particular in Colorado. Representative Lauren Boebert, a firebrand and one of the most outspoken Trump supporters in the US Congress, saw off her first primary challenge from a moderate Republican, State Senator Don Coram.

Illinois

JB Pritzker handily won both of his races on Tuesday, garnering almost 92 percent of the vote in his primary race and getting his chosen opponent in the GOP gubernatorial primary. He and the Pritzker-funded Democratic Governors Association dumped $35 million combined into the Republican primary stymieing the hopes of the establishment candidate Richard Irvin. GOP voters went for the MAGA-aligned candidate Darren Bailey who took in over 57 percent of the vote. Despite spending $50 million on the campaign, Irvin came in third place.

Incumbent Senator Tammy Duckworth is up for reelection this year, she’ll be running against perennial candidate Kathy Salvi, who won the GOP senatorial primary race.

New York

The biggest race in New York was for the governorship which Kathy Hochul won resoundingly with nearly 67 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary. She is looking to serve her first full term in office after taking over the state’s top job when Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace amid a sexual harassment scandal.

She will face Lee Zeldin in November who bested three other GOP candidates vying for the governor’s mansion. Zeldin was one of 138 House Republicans to vote against the counting of certified electoral votes after the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

Oklahoma

Oklahomans will be electing two US Senators this year with Senator James Lankford up for reelection and Senator Jim Inhofe retiring before his six-year term ends, both of whom are Republicans. The field for Inhofe’s seat was wide open with a crowded field of GOP candidates, none of whom garnered over 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. On 23 August Republicans will vote again deciding between the top two candidates, Markwayne Mullin and TW Shannon.

Utah

Incumbent Senator Mike Lee with over 62 percent of the vote easily saw off two primary challengers, Ally Isom and Becky Edwards, vying to replace the Trump-backed candidate. Both Edwards and Isom have been critical of the former president.