WASHINGTON -- Six-term Republican Sen. Thad Cochran and Tea Party-backed challenger Chris McDaniel dueled at close quarters in Mississippi's primary election Tuesday. Meanwhile, GOP governors in South Dakota, Alabama and Iowa coasted to renomination.
Primary elections were taking place in Alabama, New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Mississippi and Iowa, where Republican state Sen. Jodi Ernst beat four rivals for the right to oppose U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley in the fall for a Senate seat long in Democratic hands.
In a third Senate race on the busiest night of the primary season, former Gov. Mike Rounds won the Republican nomination in South Dakota -- and instantly became a favorite to pick up a seat for the GOP in its drive to capture the six the party needs to capture a majority this fall.
Five states were picking nominees for governor, including California, where Democrat Jerry Brown cruised to renomination to a fourth term.
Dozens of nomination races for House seats dotted the ballot, too, including 38 in California's open-primary system, which awards spots on the November ballot to the two top vote-getters regardless of party.
The Senate contest between Cochran and McDaniel in Mississippi drew top billing, a heated race between a 76-year-old pillar of the establishment who has helped funnel millions of dollars to his state and a younger state lawmaker who drew backing from Tea Party groups and former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Returns from 91 percent of the state's precincts showed McDaniel narrowly ahead.
State law requires the primary leader to gain at least 50 percent of the vote to win the nomination outright. The presence of a third Republican on the ballot, Thomas Carey, raised the possibility that a June 24 runoff between the top two finishers would be needed.
The contentious race between Cochran and McDaniel attracted millions of dollars in spending, and many voters complained about negative TV ads that dominated airwaves in the final days.
The campaign took a turn toward the sensational when four men, all McDaniel supporters, were arrested and charged with surreptitiously taking photographs of the senator's 76-year-old wife, who suffers from dementia and has long lived in a nursing home.
Cochran's supporters advertised in at least one black newspaper in the race's final days as they appealed to traditionally Democratic voters to extend his career.
Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs, a black Democrat who served for 26 years in the state Legislature, said he was supporting the white, Republican incumbent. He said the senator has secured federal funding for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers research station in his city, adding, "It is incumbent for me to vote for Thad."
In the national battle for control of the Senate, Republicans need to gain six seats this fall to capture a majority. Former U.S. Rep. Travis Childers captured the Democratic nomination to oppose the winner of the Cochran-McDaniel race in Mississippi, which last elected a Democratic senator in 1982.
In Iowa, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin's retirement created an open seat that Braley, a fourth-term Democratic lawmaker, sought to fill, as did Ernst and three rival Republicans.
Ernst fashioned her rise in the race on memorable television commercials.
"I grew up on an Iowa farm castrating hogs, so when I get to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork," she said in one of them, concluding with a smile, "Let's make 'em squeal."
She was able to transcend many of the intraparty divisions that flared in other races, gathering support from Palin and former Sen. Rick Santorum as well as Mitt Romney, the party's 2012 presidential candidate.
In other Senate races, appointed Democratic Sen. John Walsh and Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Daines in Montana each overpowered their primary rivals en route to a likely race in the fall that the GOP is expected to target as an opportunity to gain a seat.
Republicans looked at another fall pickup opportunity in South Dakota, where Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson has chosen to retire. Rounds easily eclipsed his rivals for the GOP nomination. Rick Weiland, making his third try for a seat in Congress, was unopposed by other Democrats.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., had no competition for renomination, and four Republicans sought to oppose him in the fall.
In New Mexico, former Republican Party Chairman Allen Weh won the nomination to oppose Democratic Sen. Tom Udall.
Democrats fielded no candidates in Alabama to oppose GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions, who was renominated without primary competition and is assured of re-election in November.
Republican governors winning renomination included Robert Bentley in Alabama, Dennis Daugaard in South Dakota and Terry Branstad, seeking a sixth term in Iowa. All are favored to return to office in the fall.
Gov. Susana Martinez had no Republican opposition in her pursuit of a second term in New Mexico.
U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo hovered around 50 percent in a five-way contest in Mississippi. He faced the possibility of a runoff against former Rep. Gene Taylor, a Democrat seeking a comeback after switching parties.
Information for this article was contributed by Emily Wagster Pettus and Jeff Amy of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/04/2014