Eliza Collins USA TODAY Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the impact of an affair on Mark Sanford's political career. WASHINGTON – For Mark Sanford, the Republican Party looks a lot like the party of President Donald Trump. The sitting Republican House member lost his primary race to state Rep. Katie Arrington, who campaigned as a Trump ally, after the president made a last-minute endorsement of Arrington. Sanford has been one of the few members to criticize the president, and GOP primary voters punished him for it, handing him his first electoral defeat. Some folks who were not feeling the sting of defeat? Women, particularly Democratic women, who won primary elections across the country. And the effects of Maine's new voting system was still to be determined. Hours after the polls closed, votes were still being tabulated. Here are some takeaways from Tuesday's primaries in South Carolina, Maine, Virginia and Nevada. It's Trump’s party Just three hours before the polls were supposed to close in South Carolina, Trump inserted himself into an already tight race between Sanford and Arrington. Trump said he endorsed Arrington over his party's incumbent lawmaker because Sanford — who has never hesitated to criticize the president — was “very unhelpful” and “nothing but trouble.” It was the first election loss for a politician who is no stranger to controversy. Sanford's political career was damaged in 2009 over an affair, but he won his House seat just a few years later. Arrington had been running as a Trump ally while highlighting Sanford's criticism of the president. Sanford isn’t the only incumbent whose criticism of Trump hurt in the primary. Alabama Republican Rep. Martha Roby was forced into a runoff last week. She came under fierce fire in her GOP primary for withdrawing her endorsement of Trump in the 2016 presidential race after the "Access Hollywood" tape revealed Trump's boasts about grabbing women by the genitals. Roby's opponent, Bobby Bright, a one-time Democratic congressman, ran ads accusing Roby of turning “her back on President Trump when he needed her the most.” On the flip side, support from the president was not enough to keep South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster from a runoff after he failed to secure over 50 percent of the vote, but it did have him leading by a significant margin. McMaster — who was an early endorser of the president’s — has gotten Trump’s blessing via Twitter. Women — especially Dems — keep winning In almost every race where a woman ran in Virginia she won. Democratic women won their primaries in Virginia’s 7th and 10th Congressional Districts. Both districts are held by Republicans but are on Democrats radar for the fall, with the 10th being one of their top targets. Former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger won Democrats’ nomination for Virginia’s 7th District and state Sen. Jennifer Wexton beat a crowded field for the 10th. Republican Shion Fenty, an administrative assistant, was the rare Virginia woman to lose her primary to a man. She lost to evangelical pastor Ryan McAdams for the GOP nomination for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District. In Nevada, Rep. Jacky Rosen easily secured the Democratic nomination for Senate. Susie Lee, an education advocate, won her crowded primary for the 3rd Congressional District by a majority of the vote. But it wasn't just Democratic women who won. Arrington beat incumbent Sanford for the GOP nomination in South Carolina. Tuesday's results weren't the first example of Democratic women succeeding this primary season. From Pennsylvania to New Mexico and Kentucky to Nebraska, female candidates, particularly Democrats, have been winning their primaries. Dave Wasserman, the editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report said that women were nominated as the Democratic candidate in the general election almost half the time, compared to just a sixth on the GOP side. New voting systems leave much to be determined Like we found in California, there's still much to be determined about new voting systems. Maine voters tried Instant Runoff Voting for the first time Tuesday, and at the same time they voted on whether to keep the system. Under Instant Runoff Voting, first-choice votes are counted and, if no candidate gets over 50 percent, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is removed from the race. Those who gave that candidate their first-choice pick have their votes redirected to their second choice. The process is repeated until a candidate has a majority of the vote and is declared the winner. Mainers voted in 2016 to start using the service. Voters went back to the polls Tuesday to determine if they would keep using it. They rejected a legislative delay of ranked-choice voting, meaning the system will be used in federal elections in November in the state. The Associated Press called Maine's Republican gubernatorial primary for businessman Shawn Moody, but the Democratic primary wasn't being called because no candidate was close to a majority. Because no candidate could be declared the outright winner, more tabulations are required next week under the state's new ranked-choice voting system. It's a tough year to be a GOP incumbent Sanford's loss Tuesday may have been one of the most high profile, but he joins a line of his Republican House colleagues who have lost their primary — like Rep. Robert Pittenger — or bid for higher office this cycle. Two House GOP members in Indiana, Reps. Luke Messer and Todd Rokita, ran for their party's nomination for the Senate — both lost to wealthy businessmen. West Virginia Rep. Evan Jenkins lost his bid to be the Republican Senate nominee to the state's attorney general. Rep. Raul Labrador, a Freedom Caucus colleague of Sanford's, lost his campaign to be the GOP nominee for Idaho governor. There have been a couple of bright spots for GOP incumbents: Rep. Lou Barletta, a Trump ally, will take on Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in November, and Rep. Kristi Noem won her party's nomination for South Dakota governor.<doc-sep>The surprise defeat of South Carolina GOP Rep. Mark Sanford last night to a primary challenger, State Rep. Katie Arrington, who made his criticism of President Donald Trump a focal point of her campaign, brought into focus the looming presence the commander-in-chief has over an already chaotic midterm cycle for the Republican Party. Sanford's loss writes another bizarre chapter in a political career full of controversy and distraction. Forced into political exile after lying about an extra-marital affair he was having while Governor of South Carolina, Sanford made an unexpected comeback in 2011. He won the Charleston-based congressional seat in a special election, and established himself as a fiscally conservative, libertarian-leaning voice and member of the House Freedom Caucus. The loss makes Sanford the second House member to lose a primary this cycle after Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C. was defeated last month by pastor Mark Harris. Sanford is also not alone in facing backlash as a Republican willing to voice his criticism of President Trump. Last week, Alabama GOP Rep. Martha Roby was forced into a runoff election after a primary contest that centered on her decision to not vote for Trump following the October 2016 publication of his vulgar comments during a filming of "Access Hollywood." The result further solidifies the trend for Trump critics in the Republican Party, and comes on the heels of the decisions by GOP Senators Jeff Flake and Bob Corker – both prominent Trump critics – to not seek re-election this cycle. "Certainly we’ve seen some problems in primaries for Trump critics in the party," said Kyle Kondik, an analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, "Being a Trump critic is a hard position to be in in the Republican Party, and I don’t think Sanford’s sometimes criticism of Trump helped him, that’s for sure." Despite the effect that Trump may or may not have had on the race, Kondik also pointed out that Sanford, who garnered just 56 percent of the vote in the 2016 Republican primary in his district against a little-known challenger, was already a prime candidate to become one of the handful of members who fall victim to primary challengers each election cycle. "Sanford's performances in the past have been weak," Kondik said, "Very rarely do House members lose re-nomination and Sanford but a logical candidate given his opposition to Trump and his general weakness with the electorate." Sanford is indeed an outspoken challenger of Trump, but his defiance of the president may have contributed to his upset defeat. During the 2016 presidential election, after Trump ventured to Capitol Hill to meet with Republicans, Sanford came out of the meeting telling reporters, "I wasn’t particularly impressed." "It was the normal stream of consciousness that’s long on hyperbole and short on facts," he added. He also thrusted some blame onto Trump for increasing divides within the modern Republican party and creating an even more volatile political climate. "I would argue that the President is at least in partially – again not in any way totally, but partially to blame for demons that have been unleashed," Sanford said in a June 2017 interview with MSNBC. Aboard Air Force One, Trump endorsed Sanford’s opponent mere hours before polls closed, tweeting, "Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble." Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble. He is better off in Argentina. I fully endorse Katie Arrington for Congress in SC, a state I love. She is tough on crime and will continue our fight to lower taxes. VOTE Katie! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2018, My political representatives didn’t want me to get involved in the Mark Sanford primary thinking that Sanford would easily win - but with a few hours left I felt that Katie was such a good candidate, and Sanford was so bad, I had to give it a shot. Congrats to Katie Arrington! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2018 The stunning upset also drew reaction from across the political world, as the news reverberated around an already unsettled political landscape ahead of the 2018 midterm elections in November. Former Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., expressed outrage at Sanford’s loss, noting that the South Carolina congressman "supported POTUS with his votes" on issues from taxes to healthcare to government spending. "Yet because he was willing to honor Article 1 Separation of Powers and speak his mind, he loses a primary? We have entered the twilight zone…," Ribble tweeted Wednesday morning. Sanford took his loss in stride during his first ever concession speech in Mount Pleasant late Tuesday night. "It may have cost me an election, but I stand by every one of those decisions to disagree with the president because I didn't think they would be concurrent with the promises I made when I first ran for office and for the very voices of the people of the 1st District that I represent,” he said, according to the Post and Courier. Her unexpected victory now makes Arrington the poster child for the pro-Trump wing of the Republican Party's 2018 takeover. In her victory speech Tuesday night, Arrington embraced the president wholeheartedly and implored the party to stand by him. "We are the party of President Donald J. Trump," she said. In Virginia, Corey Stewart, known for courting controversy and a figure who faced criticism for his response to the violence in Charlottesville, won the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in another result that showcased the sway proving one's loyalty to President Trump can have on Republican voters. Stewart narrowly edged out State Delegate Nick Freitas and earned praise from the President on Twitter this morning. ABC News' Meena Venkataramanan contributed to this story. My political representatives didn’t want me to get involved in the Mark Sanford primary thinking that Sanford would easily win - but with a few hours left I felt that Katie was such a good candidate, and Sanford was so bad, I had to give it a shot. Congrats to Katie Arrington! The stunning upset also drew reaction from across the political world, as the news reverberated around an already unsettled political landscape ahead of the 2018 midterm elections in November. Former Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., expressed outrage at Sanford’s loss, noting that the South Carolina congressman "supported POTUS with his votes" on issues from taxes to healthcare to government spending. "Yet because he was willing to honor Article 1 Separation of Powers and speak his mind, he loses a primary? We have entered the twilight zone…," Ribble tweeted Wednesday morning. Sanford took his loss in stride during his first ever concession speech in Mount Pleasant late Tuesday night. "It may have cost me an election, but I stand by every one of those decisions to disagree with the president because I didn't think they would be concurrent with the promises I made when I first ran for office and for the very voices of the people of the 1st District that I represent,” he said, according to the Post and Courier. Her unexpected victory now makes Arrington the poster child for the pro-Trump wing of the Republican Party's 2018 takeover. In her victory speech Tuesday night, Arrington embraced the president wholeheartedly and implored the party to stand by him. "We are the party of President Donald J. Trump," she said. In Virginia, Corey Stewart, known for courting controversy and a figure who faced criticism for his response to the violence in Charlottesville, won the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in another result that showcased the sway proving one's loyalty to President Trump can have on Republican voters. Stewart narrowly edged out State Delegate Nick Freitas and earned praise from the President on Twitter this morning. ABC News' Meena Venkataramanan contributed to this story.<doc-sep>The Democrats who might lead the House Pelosi: Tomorrow will be a new day in America LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 20: U.S. Rep. and U.S. Senate candidate Jacky Rosen (D-NV) speaks during a rally at the Culinary Workers Union Hall Local 226 featuring former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on October 20, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Early voting for the midterm elections in Nevada begins today. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Hear from the Democrats who took back the House Democratic congressional candidate Ilhan Omar is greeted by her husband's mother after appearing at her midterm election night party in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. November 6, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Miller Meet the Republicans who held onto the Senate (2018) Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., speaks to supporters after she was declared the winner over former Gov. Phil Bredesen in their race for the U.S. Senate Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Franklin, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) (CNN) — Rep. Mark Sanford, a South Carolina Republican who’s a critic of President Donald Trump, will lose his GOP primary to his conservative challenger, state Rep. Katie Arrington, CNN projects. The outcome – one that national Republicans working on House races said as recently as Tuesday morning they did not anticipate – is another sign that GOP primary voters are rejecting lawmakers who break with Trump. Trump endorsed Arrington hours before the polls closed Tuesday in a tweet attacking Sanford for being “very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA.” Last week in Alabama, GOP Rep. Martha Roby – who had called on Trump to exit the 2016 race after the “Access Hollywood” tape became public – was held under 50% in her primary and forced into a runoff. On Tuesday night, Sanford told supporters gathered in Mount Pleasant, “I’ve always been a realist, and at this point, based on the numbers I see, I think that I’ll end up losing this election.” In his tweet, Trump referenced a 2009 scandal in which Sanford, then the governor, disappeared for several days. He first claimed he’d been “hiking the Appalachian Trail” but later admitted to an extramarital affair in Argentina. Trump tweeted: “Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble. He is better off in Argentina. I fully endorse Katie Arrington for Congress in SC, a state I love. She is tough on crime and will continue our fight to lower taxes. VOTE Katie!” Arrington also used the sex scandal in her campaign. In one ad, Arrington tied the two chief arguments against him – insufficient support for Trump and the scandal – together. “Mark Sanford and the career politicians cheated on us,” she said in one ad, complaining that Sanford makes it a habit to “go on CNN to bash President Trump.” “Bless his heart, but it’s time for Mark Sanford to take a hike – for real this time,” Arrington said in the ad. Sanford has at times criticized Trump and didn’t back off that criticism in debates with Arrington. His critiques of Trump have often focused on the President’s style. After the shooting at congressional Republicans’ baseball practice, Sanford on MSNBC said Trump is “partially to blame for demons that have been unleashed” in American politics. In 2017, Sanford told Politico that Trump had “fanned the flames of intolerance.” He also called it “befuddling” that with Trump “facts don’t matter.” Sanford addressed Trump’s tweet Tuesday night, saying it’s “fairly unusual” for a president to weigh in as Trump did and saying he’s “neither for nor against Trump,” but instead bases his decisions and comments on his political values. “It may cost me an election in this case but I stand by every one of those decisions to disagree with the president,” Sanford said. The race was perhaps the most closely watched matchup in Tuesday’s slate of primaries, which includes Virginia, Nevada and North Dakota choosing their Senate candidates and Maine for the first time trying – and voting on whether to keep – a new voting system in which voters rank their preferences, rather than only selecting one. Sanford, who has never lost a race before, is also the second incumbent House member to lose in a primary. Rep. Robert Pittenger was ousted in North Carolina last month. Advocate for Confederate symbols wins in Virginia Corey Stewart, the bombastic conservative who built his public image on championing Confederate symbols, will win the Republican Senate nomination in Virginia, CNN projects. Stewart, a member of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, defeated state House member Nick Freitas and minister E.W. Jackson in Tuesday’s primary. He will face Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, the party’s 2016 vice presidential nominee and a heavy favorite for re-election, in November’s midterm election. Tuesday’s House races CNN has also projected the primary winners in three House races where Democrats are hoping to unseat Republicans in the fall. In Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, Democrat and veteran Elaine Luria will face incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Taylor, also a veteran. Taylor, who has been critical of Trump in the past, overcame a primary challenge to win the nomination. Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA operative, won her primary in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District to face incumbent Rep. David Brat in the fall. And in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, state Sen. Jennifer Wexton won the Democratic nomination to unseat Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock, who also overcame a primary challenge. Comstock is seen as one of the most vulnerable Republican members of Congress in November. In South Carolina, Archie Parnell won the Democratic primary in the 5th District despite admitting to domestic abuse in the 1970s. Local, state and national Democrats have called on him to drop out of the race in the deep-red district and said they wouldn’t support him if he won. In Nevada, the parties will choose their nominees in two competitive open seats. In the 4th District, vacated by retiring Rep. Ruben Kihuen, Steven Horsford, a former congressman, will be the Democratic nominee. Another former congressman, Cresent Hardy, is the favorite to be the Republican in the race. And in the 3rd District, philanthropist Susie Lee won the Democratic primary, CNN projects, while Republicans could choose Danny Tarkanian, the son of the legendary UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, who dropped his Senate bid at the urging of Trump. Three states pick Senate candidates The Senate landscape is becoming more settled Tuesday night as well. As expected, North Dakota Republicans chose Rep. Kevin Cramer to challenge Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. In Nevada, Democrats tapped Rep. Jacky Rosen to take on Republican Sen. Dean Heller. Both primaries were sleepy, but the two states will be among the nation’s most competitive Senate battlegrounds in the fall. Governor races take top local billing In South Carolina, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster – an early and vocal supporter of Trump who replaced former Gov. Nikki Haley – fell short of 50% and is headed to a June 26 runoff with the second-place finisher, businessman John Warren. Democrats, meanwhile, nominated state Rep. James Smith, a Joe Biden ally, to take on the Republican winner. In Nevada, the race to replace outgoing Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval features primaries in both parties. Democrats will choose between two Clark County commissioners – Steve Sisolak, a moderate backed by former Sen. Harry Reid, and Chris Giunchigliani, who was endorsed by Hillary Clinton and is a woman, which has proven to be a decisive advantage in earlier Democratic contests this year. Republicans, meanwhile, chose Adam Laxalt, the state’s attorney general and the son of former New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici and Michelle Laxalt, the daughter of former Nevada governor and senator Paul Laxalt, CNN projects.<doc-sep>
Hours after a last-minute broadside from President Donald Trump, South Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Sanford lost his primary race on Tuesday night, possibly ushering in an end to a political career plagued by a major scandal. With 99 percent of the state's precincts reporting, state Rep. Katie Arrington had 50.5 percent with 32,441 votes to Sanford's 46.5 percent with 29,899 votes. Arrington needed over 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. Earlier Tuesday night, as the results were still coming in, Sanford suggested that he was ready to throw in the towel. "I think I'll end up losing this election," he said. Moments after arriving back in the U.S. from Singapore on Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted his congratulations. "My political representatives didn’t want me to get involved in the Mark Sanford primary thinking that Sanford would easily win - but with a few hours left I felt that Katie was such a good candidate, and Sanford was so bad, I had to give it a shot," the president said. "Congrats to Katie Arrington!" Arrington, a political newcomer who has held her seat since 2016, spent the campaign blasting Sanford — who had never lost an election — over his lack of loyalty to Trump and attacked him in ads for a much-publicized extramarital affair with an Argentinian journalist. Trump hit Sanford for the affair, too. "He is better off in Argentina," Trump tweeted, alluding to Sanford's relationship with the Argentinian journalist, which burst into the headlines in 2009 when he was South Carolina's governor. "Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble," Trump wrote Tuesday afternoon, less than three hours before polls closed. The "MIA" mention was apparently a reference to the then-married Sanford's disappearance from his state for days during the affair when he secretly traveled to Argentina to be with his lover. Trump also threw his support behind Arrington. "She is tough on crime and will continue our fight to lower taxes. VOTE Katie!" the president tweeted Tuesday while en route back to the White House from his Singapore nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Arrington returned the favor, telling the crowd at her election night party, "We are the party of Donald J. Trump," according to The Post and Courier in Charleston. Prominent Republican members of Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., came to Sanford's defense after Trump's attack on him. A source on Ryan's political team told NBC News that the speaker, in keeping with his policy of supporting all GOP incumbents for re-election, backs Sanford. Sanford had been running an ad buy in recent days that hit back at Arrington's criticism that he hasn't been sufficiently supportive of the president, who won the congressional district by double digits in 2016. Sanford had previously called the president's steel and aluminum tariffs "an experiment with stupidity," and he suggested that Trump's rhetoric has been divisive and bad for the country. Only four Republican members of Congress have voted for Trump-backed legislation less often than Sanford, according to an analysis of voting data by FiveThirtyEight. And during the 2016 race, Sanford, who supported Trump, nevertheless called on the GOP nominee to release his tax returns. In one of his TV commercials, Sanford told viewers, "Overwhelmingly, I've voted with the president, and a long list of independent scorekeepers will tell you so." In another, he voiced support for Trump’s signature immigration proposal, saying, "I've supported efforts to secure the border and build a wall." Arrington will go up against lawyer Joe Cunningham, who won the Democratic primary in the district. A Democrat has not won South Carolina's 1st Congressional District since 1978. South Carolina residents also voted in gubernatorial primaries for both parties. On the GOP side, they sent incumbent Gov. Henry McMaster to a June 26 runoff along with businessman John Warren, after no candidate passed the 50 percent threshold. On the Democratic side, voters picked state Rep. James Smith to advance to the November general election. Voters in Maine, North Dakota, Nevada and Virginia also headed to the polls Tuesday for primaries in congressional, Senate and gubernatorial races. In Virginia, Corey Stewart, a Trump-supporting immigration hardliner who campaigned on keeping up Confederate monuments, narrowly won the GOP U.S. Senate primary, and will go up against incumbent Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine this fall.