Voters in Maine and South Carolina shaped the 2026 midterm landscape June 9, while California’s June 2 gubernatorial primary produced a closely watched November matchup, setting up U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races that will test partisan strongholds in California, Maine, and South Carolina.
California gubernatorial race
In California’s June 2 all-party primary for governor, former FOX News host and Trump-endorsed Republican Steve Hilton advanced to the November ballot by edging out billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer. The race was called by AP News and NBC News June 9.
Hilton will face Democrat Xavier Becerra, who was U.S. Health and Human Services secretary under former President Joe Biden, in a contest that heavily favors Democrats in deep-blue California.
According to NBC News’ results, Becerra led the primary with about 27.9% of the vote, Hilton followed with roughly 25%, and Steyer came in third with about 22.5%. The top two candidates advance to the general election regardless of party to succeed current Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is term-limited.
Maine Senate primary race
Graham Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer, Marine Corps veteran, and progressive populist, won the Democratic Senate primary with about 72% of the vote, according to NBC News results. He will face incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November. Platner was backed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
Platner’s campaign faced scrutiny over past personal controversies, but he prevailed after Maine Gov Janet Mills, a Democrat, suspended active campaigning. As Zeale News previously reported, the Catholic League issued an alert to Christians ahead of the election over “troubling” and “obscene” remarks it says Platner made about Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the group’s president, Platner called Christ a “zombie” and the Virgin Mother a “skank.”
South Carolina Senate primary race, gubernatorial race
Incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham, who spent at least $27 million on the race, won the Republican primary for a fifth term, taking about 56.8% of the vote against five other challengers, according to Ballotpedia. Graham, one of President Donald Trump’s allies in the Senate, received the President’s endorsement in 2025.
Businessman Mark Lynch trailed Graham with roughly 28.9% of the vote. Trump’s former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent recently endorsed Lynch, calling him an “America First candidate” who will “keep us out of all these foreign wars” and is “best postured right now to get the warhawk neocon Lindsey Graham out of office.”
Each of the other four candidates received less than 4% of the vote.
On the Democratic side of the Senate race, Dr. Annie Andrews won the nomination with about 61.5% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia’s results, and will challenge Graham in November in the solidly Republican state.
In the state’s gubernatorial race, U.S. Rep Nancy Mace conceded after failing to advance. Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, a Catholic, and state Attorney General Alan Wilson — both Republicans — will head to a June 23 runoff. Evette received about 29% of the vote, and Wilson received roughly 26%, according to results from ABC News.
Mace — who emphasized support for Trump during the campaign but also defended her decision to vote for the release of the Epstein files despite Trump’s initial opposition — only won about 12% of the vote. After conceding, she endorsed Wilson, citing his “law and order” credentials.
State Rep. Jermaine Johnson won the Democratic nomination for governor with about 60% of the vote in a three-way race, according to ABC News. He will face the Republican runoff winner in November to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Henry McMaster.