Ohio had a primary on Tuesday…
Former congressman and NAACP president Kweisi Mfume is heading back to the House after a special election in Maryland on Tuesday made him both the successor and immediate predecessor of former House Oversight Chairman Elijah E. Cummings, who died in October.
Voters in Ohio on Tuesday also chose House nominees in primaries that were rescheduled at the last minute in mid-March. Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty faced a challenge in the Columbus-based 3rd District from an opponent backed by the liberal Justice Democrats, while two Democrats vied for the nomination in the Cincinnati-area 1st District to take on Republican Rep. Steve Chabot.
The elections were the first major test of a rapid shift to voting almost entirely by mailsince the coronavirus pandemic forced states across the country to postpone or cancel in-person voting to control the spread of infections.
Official results in Maryland will not be released until May 8 to allow time for all ballots mailed by Tuesday’s deadline to be delivered and counted.
In the Baltimore-area 7th District, Mfume was leading Republican Kimber Klacik, 73 percent to 27 percent, with 40 percent of precincts reporting, when The Associated Press called the race….
Roll Call...More..
Former Vice President Joe Biden won the Ohio primary easily on Tuesday, defeating Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who suspended his campaign earlier this month.
The race was called shortly after polls closed, with tallies showing Biden with more than 72 percent of the vote in Ohio, the latest Midwestern state to be won by the former vice president. Sanders came in second at roughly 16 percent.
Ohio has trended Republican recently, with President Trump winning the state by 8 points in 2016. But former President Obama, with Biden as his running mate, won the Buckeye State in 2008 and 2012….
Note…
This IS the second primary to occur after the March virus crisis started….