Tuesday night’s primaries were the first big elections of the 2018 midterms, settling nasty Senate primary races in Indiana and West Virginia and setting up Democrats to make a run for the Ohio statehouse.
But the night also featured a number of interesting state-level and House races — plus a wild night online for the Senate majority leader — that you might’ve missed.
Here are seven primary night stories you should know.
Rachel Crooks secures a nomination
Rachel Crooks, one of the 19 women who have accused President Trump of sexual misconduct, officially won her uncontested primary in Ohio. Crooks, 35, will face Republican state Rep. Bill Reineke. The district, located outside of Toledo, voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, but flipped for Trump in 2016.
“Democrats are here. But it almost felt like we didn’t know that we were out there,” Crooks said earlier this year when she announced her campaign. “I think there’s this momentum now that Trump has been elected, that we know there are more of us out there, and we’re more active in politics.”
Democrats get a chance to turn coal country blue
Richard Ojeda won the Democratic nomination in West Virginia’s third district Tuesday. The district voted for Trump at a higher margin than anywhere else in the state (which the president won by 40 points) — about three out of every four people went for Trump in 2016.
Ojeda, a pro-gun rights Army veteran and current state senator, has received national attention for his support for teachers, who recently went on strike in the state. His pro-labor stances have been central to his campaign, and he’s promised to overturn right-to-work, which allows workers to opt-out of their local union, should he be elected.
The coal miners union, which helped lead Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA) to victory in a recent special election there, has also put its weight behind Ojeda.
Ojeda previously voted for Trump but says he regrets his decision. “It’s been a friggin’ circus for a solid year,” Ojeda said in an interview with Politico. “All he’s done… is shown that he’s taking care of the daggone people he’s supposed to be getting rid of.”
Ojeda will face Republican Carol Miller in the general election this fall.
Pittenger becomes the first incumbent to lose a primary
Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-NC) on Tuesday night became the first incumbent to lose a primary in 2018. The race was a rematch with Mark Harris, a reverend who lost to Pittenger two years ago by just 134 votes.
Although Pittenger outspent Harris by a two-to-one margin, Harris’s work to portray Pittenger as a “swamp” creature appears to have done the trick. Harris specifically honed in on Pittenger’s vote for a $1.3 trillion spending bill that ended a government shutdown earlier this year, while simultaneously touting his own evangelical credentials.
Harris will now face veteran Dan McCready in the general election this November. McCready has quite the war chest compared to Harris: according to recent FEC filings, McCready has $1.2 million for the general election, and Harris has a little over $70,000.
A Tea Party referendum in Ohio
Former NFL player Anthony Gonzalez won the GOP nomination in Ohio’s 16th District on Tuesday. The race drew some national attention for its localized version of fights happening in the national Republican party.
Gonzalez is a business-friendly conservative more in the mold of Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) while his rival, Christina Hagan, was staunchly pro-Trump and emulated the hard right Freedom Caucus members.
Gonzalez will face Susan Moran Palmer, a health care professional, in November’s general election as they vie to replace Rep. Jim Renacci, who is running for Senate.
A good night for women
Women won nominations in nearly every Democratic race they contested Tuesday. In Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Indiana, 18 women won the nomination out of the 23 Democratic primaries in which at least one woman ran.
As Newsweek noted, West Virginia had the highest number of women running, with five women running for three open House districts, making up 27.8 percent of House candidates in the state. Women made up about 20 percent of House candidates in Ohio, 18 percent in North Carolina, and 17 percent in Indiana.
Sheriffs who work with ICE lose their jobs
Two sheriffs who have worked with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain undocumented immigrants in North Carolina were voted out of office Tuesday night.
In Durham, Sheriff Mike Andrews was beat by Clarence Birkhead. Andrews was known for having brought serious charges against 12 people involved in toppling a confederate statue last year.
In Charlotte, Sheriff Irwin Carmichael, who has also worked with ICE to detain undocumented immigrants, lost by a wide margin to Gerry McFadden, who has said he will not work with the enforcement agency.
Cocaine Mitch comes to life
Coal baron Don Blankenship, who recently finished a prison sentence after conspiring to violate federal safety and health laws at a West Virginia mine where an explosion killed 29 people in 2010, lost his Republican primary bid Tuesday night. Blankenship had repeatedly attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, calling him “Cocaine Mitch,” an apparent reference to a 2014 report about drugs found on a ship owned by McConnell’s father-in-law.
McConnell’s allies have poured money into the race in an effort to take down Blankenship, and when their plan worked Tuesday night, McConnell tried to gloat about the victory using a questionable pop culture reference, raising eyebrows.
“Thanks for playing @DonBlankenship,” the official Team Mitch account tweeted, along with a picture of McConnell surrounded by what appeared to be clouds of white dust.
Thanks for playing, @DonBlankenship. #WVSen pic.twitter.com/TV1ETgQdmu
— Team Mitch (@Team_Mitch) May 9, 2018
As some on Twitter noted, the picture was a recreation of a Narcos promotional image, in which one of the lead characters is seen surrounded by clouds of cocaine.
Comparing yourself to Pablo Escobar to own your political opponent pic.twitter.com/Ca00vZWnVX
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) May 9, 2018
Low blow, Mitch. https://t.co/5tk2Kf8X7Q
— Narcos (@NarcosNetflix) May 9, 2018
The Netflix show, which tells the story of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and other cocaine kingpins, eventually weighed in on Twitter, sharing the tweet and writing, “Low blow, Mitch.”