Platner unscathed, Mace unsuccessful: Takeaways from June 9 primary results

• Maine Democrat Graham Platner won his primary despite recent scandals involving his personal life.
• South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace finished poorly in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina avoided a runoff by winning his Republican primary outright.

Americans across the country had a busy primary election June 9, with Maine Democrat Graham Platner's character test as the main event.

The 41-year-old political newcomer's populist campaign rocked the Democratic establishment, but it has hit a snag after embarrassing revelations about his personal life came to light. Platner nonetheless cruised to victory and will face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a key race for control of the Senate.

Maine Democrats also had a critical House election as they voted on a nominee to succeed Rep. Jared Golden in a Republican-leaning district that will be a battleground in November. In South Carolina, Rep. Nancy Mace waged an unsuccessful bid for governor that once against tested if a Republican who hasn't always been on the same page with President Donald Trump has a future in GOP politics.

There was also a telling primary battle on the ballot in the Palmetto State featuring Sen. Lindsey Graham, who fended off a challenge from an anti-war conservative.

Here are the important takeaways from Tuesday's elections.

Platner avoids major protest vote amid scandals

Platner's win in the primary against Gov. Janet Mills, who had suspended her campaign in April, was widely expected even as his personal life became the focal point of the primary campaign's final days.

Leading up to the election, the progressive first-time candidate was leading by as much as 66 percentage points in a University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll released in May. That survey was taken before a New York Times story in which several former girlfriends described their relationships with him as "unsettling" and "toxic."

"If you believe in transformational politics, you need to believe in the ability for people to transform," Platner said in a sit-down conversation June 9 with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, a key supporter in Congress.

National Democrats were holding their breath for any signs of a significant protest vote.

With 84% of votes counted, Platner, an oyster farmer and former Marine, was winning with about 72% of the vote to roughly 20% for Mills.

Platner has denied the allegation from a conservative activist he dated that he grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her arm, and other controversies have hounded him during the campaign, including sending sexually explicit text messages to women during his marriage. He also continues to face scrutiny for a tattoo he has repeatedly denied knowing resembled a Nazi symbol before covering it up last year.

"The allegations against Graham Platner are extremely troubling and serious, and he owes the people of Maine a detailed answer," Collins told reporters June 9. "I haven't heard that."

Which liberal will Democrats nominate in crucial House race?

The battle for controlling Congress may come down to a handful of seats this year, including Maine's 2nd Congressional District, where Rep. Jared Golden, a moderate Democrat, is retiring.

That put a lot of attention on a high-stakes primary battle in which four Democratic contenders were running to the left of Golden in a rural district that voted for Trump three times.

Early results showed state Sen. Joe Baldacci, State Auditor Matthew Dunlap, and Jordan Wood, a former congressional staff member, all within 4 percentage points of one another with about 30% of the vote counted.

Paige Loud, a social worker, was in last, carrying about 10% of the total vote.

But the contest is expected to be a tight one because of Maine’s ranked choice voting system in a rural district The Cook Political Report rates as a "likely" Republican flip this fall. The winner will face former Gov. Paul LePage, a fiery conservative who ran unopposed in the GOP primary.

Mace finishes in basement of SC gubernatorial primary

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace's bid for governor finished nowhere near the top of the Republican field despite the outspoken conservative's attempts to remain close to the president.

The congresswoman received only about 11% of the vote with about half of the votes counted, well behind Lt. Gov. Pam Evette – whom Trump endorsed – and state Attorney General Alan Wilson. Those two are headed to a June 23 runoff.

Mace once called herself "Trump in high heels," and at one time she was a rumored choice for a vice presidential nomination in 2024.

But she and the president have had an on-again, off-again friendship over the years, mostly notable because she was one of four House Republicans – along with Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia – who voted to compel the Justice Department to release its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Greene resigned her House seat after becoming a pariah among Trump's allies, and Massie fell to a Trump-backed opponent in the Kentucky primary in May.

"As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up," Mace said in her concession speech. "I chose to expose the abusers of children and, apparently, I chose wrong if the goal was winning an election. I’m at peace with that."

Mace notably threw her support behind Wilson in that speech, saying he would "mop the floor" with Evette.

Lindsey Graham fends off challengers

Although he led his five primary opponents by wide margins, Sen. Lindsey Graham faced a real possibility of being forced into a runoff election June 23 as multiple polls had showed him hovering barely above or below the needed 50% threshold. The veteran lawmaker escaped that fate with about 59% of the vote by the time most outlets had called the race in his favor.

The four-term lawmaker's support for the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran angered portions of the Make America Great Again movement and animated leading challenger Mark Lynch's mostly self-funded campaign.

"Endless war and endless spending is Lindsey's legacy. Never forget that," Lynch said in a post June 8 on X, which featured a picture of Graham shaking hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Lynch also tried to cast Graham as disloyal to the president in campaign ads, but Trump's endorsement and the roughly $18 million the senator and his allies poured into the race helped him clear the South Carolina election hurdle.

Beccerra, Hilton advance in California

The California gubernatorial race was June 2, but it took a week before the outcome was determined. Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton are now projected to advance to the general election.

Both parties escaped fears of being locked out after early polling showed two GOP contenders atop the state's nonpartisan "jungle" primary system and more recent polling indicated billionaire Tom Steyer, a Democrat, might overtake Hilton.

Becerra, a former Biden administration Cabinet secretary, received nearly 28% of the vote, followed by Hilton, a former Fox News host, who received close to 25%, according to The Associated Press.

Steyer finished in third with 22.6%, followed by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, holding 10.2%.

Becerra and Hilton are looking to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, a rumored 2028 presidential contender, who terms out in January after eight years in office.

Contributing: Margie Cullen and Terry Collins