Tuesday was a a good night for female candidates.

In Pennsylvania, the state’s all-male congressional delegation is poised to gain several female additions, as women swept to House Democratic primary victories in a number of Democratic-leaning and contested districts.


In Nebraska, another woman — a Bernie Sanders-style liberal the party fears could harm its chances of winning back the House this fall — narrowly defeated a top Democratic recruit for a battleground congressional seat.

There were also closely watched statewide primaries in the four states that voted Tuesday. Pennsylvania Republicans picked their nominees to face two targeted Democrats: Sen. Bob Casey and Gov. Tom Wolf. And Idaho Rep. Raúl Labrador failed to overcome the struggles of GOP House members running in statewide primaries so far this year in his campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, losing to Lt. Gov. Brad Little.

But Tuesday’s contests were dominated by crucial primaries that will play an important role in the battle for control of the House next year. Pennsylvania was ground zero in that effort: Democrats are hoping a newly redrawn congressional map and a spate of retirements will lead to a handful of pickups in November and get the party closer to the 23 seats it needs to regain control of the chamber.

In one Pennsylvania battleground congressional district, Democrats spurned a long-time moderate prosecutor who admitted he was out of step with primary voters — instead nominating a candidate with the backing of EMILY’s List, the powerful group that works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights.

In Nebraska, meanwhile, former Rep. Brad Ashford was on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red-to-Blue” list of favored challengers to GOP incumbents. But with 100 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, the race was called for Kara Eastman, a staunch liberal who led Ashford by 1,126 votes.





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Pennsylvania

Rep. Lou Barletta defeated state Rep. Jim Christiana in the GOP Senate primary on Tuesday night. Barletta, who was boosted by a last-minute Trump robocall in the state, will take on Casey, one of 10 incumbent Democrats seeking reelection in states Trump won in 2016.

Republicans in Pennsylvania also picked state Sen. Scott Wagner, who defeated primary opponent Paul Mango, to face Wolf in November.

In the state’s 7th Congressional District, in the Lehigh Valley, Susan Wild, the former Allentown city solicitor, defeated Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli. Morganelli angered liberal Democrats by tweeting favorably toward President Donald Trump and bucking the party on abortion and illegal immigration.

Wild’s opponent wasn’t clear late Tuesday night. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, former Lehigh County Commissioner Marty Nothstein held a 308-vote lead over current Commissioner Dean Browning, though The Associated Press had not declared a winner.

In another battleground district, in Bucks County, Democrats nominated self-funder Scott Wallace, an attorney. Wallace defeated Navy veteran Rachel Reddick on Tuesday, and he will face incumbent GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in the fall.

Despite Reddick’s defeat, women won a number of contested Democratic primaries on Tuesday. In addition to Wild, Madeleine Dean, a state legislator, and Mary Scanlon, a former school board member, won their respective primaries for open, heavily Democratic seats in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Republicans in the state’s 8th District picked self-funding businessman John Chrin to face Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright in a district that Trump carried last year.

There were also primaries in a number of open, heavily Republican seats. In the 9th District, former state Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser defeated two opponents for the nomination. In the 13th District, physician John Joyce overcame opposition of the conservative Club for Growth to win an eight-way primary with just 22 percent of the vote.

And in the 14th District in the southwestern corner of the state, state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler defeated state Rep. Rick Saccone — Saccone’s second loss in the past two months, after the Republican was defeated in a special election for Congress by now-Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.).

Nebraska

In Nebraska, Ashford’s comeback bid for the Omaha-based seat he held for one term earlier this decade ran headlong into opposition from the left. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Eastman, who ran a true-blue progressive campaign, led Ashford — a Republican, independent and Democrat over the course of his legislative and congressional career — by 1,126 votes.

Democrats had seen Ashford as a stronger candidate in the general election against Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who beat Ashford in 2016.

Also in Nebraska, Democrats nominated candidates to challenge Sen. Deb Fischer and Gov. Pete Ricketts — Lincoln City Council member Jane Raybould and state legislator Bob Krist, respectively — though neither Republican appears vulnerable.

Idaho

Lt. Gov. Brad Little won the GOP nomination to replace three-term Republican Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, who is retiring. Little defeated Rep. Raúl Labrador, who gave up his House seat — from which he has carved an influential role as a leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus — to run statewide.

Little will face former state Rep. Paulette Jordan in the general election.

Oregon

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown will face GOP state Rep. Knute Buehler in the general election, after Buehler won a 10-candidate primary on Tuesday. Brown won 51 percent of the vote in a 2016 special election.