What Went Down During The May 17 Primary Elections

Sarah, one big wild card going into the midterms is whether abortion will still be constitutionally protected — and if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, I think Republicans with very extreme stances (like Barnette and Mastriano) could find themselves in trouble. That’s because even though Americans’ views on abortion are complicated, the vast majority of people want abortion to be legal in at least circumstances. Barnette and Mastriano support banning abortion with no exceptions. It’s hard to stress how far outside the mainstream that view is — and if abortion is on people’s minds in a state like Pennsylvania, those kinds of positions could become a real problem.

Definitely something that Geoffrey and I have thought about, Kaleigh. Maybe we’ll find out more soon! 👀

The idea that more extreme candidates will have a harder time winning is certainly seems to be the wisdom the Democrats still subscribe to. They’ve been boosting Mastriano and highlighting his ties to Trump to Republican voters:

That said, I feel like personality can trump ideology (pun intended) in ways the Democrats and the old wisdom might not account for.