LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Voters endured 90-minute waits in Kentucky’s second-largest city, but the biggest hurdle in Tuesday’s congressional primaries seemed to be what wasn’t happening: quick counting of mail-in ballots in that state and New York. Final results in top races seemed unlikely for days.
First-term state legislator Charles Booker was hoping a late surge would carry him past former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath for the Democratic Senate nomination from Kentucky. And in New York, political newcomer Jamaal Bowman was seeking to derail House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel’s bid for a 17th term in Congress.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky easily won the Republican nomination for a seventh Senate term on Tuesday and will be favored in November against McGrath or Booker.
In Virginia, retired Army Col. Daniel Gade won the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Mark Warner. Republican Scott Taylor will face Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) in a rematch between two Navy veterans in a Virginia Beach district from which she toppled him two years ago.
And Cameron Webb, a health policy researcher, won the Democratic nomination for a central Virginia House district. GOP incumbent Rep. Denver Riggleman lost his party’s nomination for the seat, fueling Democrats’ hopes that Webb can capture it.
By late afternoon, there were scattered reports of long lines and absentee ballots that voters never received. Yet voting appeared less troubled than recent elections in Georgia and Nevada, where some people stood in line for hours.
Waits lasting 90 minutes were reported Tuesday morning at the lone voting site in Lexington, Kentucky—Kroger Field, the University of Kentucky’s football stadium.
In Louisville, voting advocates complained that an unknown number of people stayed home because it was difficult to travel to the state’s largest city’s one polling place—the Kentucky Exposition Center.
“In my neighborhood, most people don’t have cars,” said voter Michael Baker. “It’s not fair for them to have one site.”
A judge kept the polling place open an extra half hour after about 175 people, some of whom pounded on the building’s doors, demanded to vote. Louisville has 600,000 residents.
There were so many mail-in ballots that Kentucky’s two biggest counties, Jefferson and Fayette, weren’t planning to release results on election night, said Secretary of State Michael Adams.
Kentucky’s voting is usually 2 percent by mail. This year officials expect that figure to exceed 50 percent, and over 400,000 mail ballots were returned by Sunday. All received by June 27 will be counted.
New York voters who have requested but not used absentee ballots can legally vote in person.
New York officials expect the vast majority of votes to be mail ballots this year, compared to their typical 5 percent share. Counties have until eight days after Election Day to count and release the results of mail ballots, with 1.7 million requested by voters.
There was also one Republican House runoff each in North Carolina and Mississippi.
Kentucky’s McGrath was buoyed by a massive $41 million bank account. Her military resume and centrists views helped her win support from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Schumer was hoping McGrath would win an uphill November race against McConnell and help Democrats capture control of the chamber.
Booker’s underfinanced campaign caught fire after he attended recent protests against the March police killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in her Louisville home. That helped him win support from progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the state’s two largest newspapers.
In New York, Engel is supported by Democratic stars like Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the Congressional Black Caucus, plus major labor unions. He’s one of Congress’ most liberal members.
But Bowman, an educator, has drawn strength from anti-racism protests and his accusations that Engel has grown aloof from his diverse district in parts of the Bronx and Westchester. Bowman has been helped by progressive groups and by Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the far-left icon.
Ocasio-Cortez herself was being challenged by one-time CNBC anchor and former Republican Michelle Caruso-Cabrera. Ocasio-Cortez was an unknown 28-year-old when she won a 2018 primary over longtime Rep. Joe Crowley, who seemed in line to become House speaker.
