Many of this week’s races have yet to be called (hence why there are no winners tables like in my previous takeaways posts.) Click here for up to date election results via NPR.

1. The far-right has a rough night.

There was no shortage of Republican candidates running to the right of GOP House incumbents, each hoping to convince voters that they were the more conservative option. Yet consistently, incumbent candidates won out.

In Iowa, challenger Jim Carlin lost to Sen. Chuck Grassley despite receiving Trump’s endorsement in late 2021. In South Dakota, at-large incumbent Rep. Dusty Johnson fended off a challenge from Taffy Howard, a candidate who ran on a platform molded in opposition to Johnson’s voting record in Congress. Several Republican winners on Tuesday night voted for the recent infrastructure bill. Every Republican who voted in favor of the congressional Jan. 6 commission survived the night. (Make sure to tune in for tonight’s public hearing!)

While the far-right is most certainly not dying out, (many current Republican incumbents would be rightfully classified as “far-right”) this is a clear sign that the Overton window is no longer shifting in their favor. Americans have a limit on how much extremism they can handle and we may be hitting it this primary season.

2. Established Democrats continue to beat progressive challengers.

The Democratic establishment can’t be stopped this primary season.

In New Jersey, all 10 incumbent Democrats won their primaries. The one non-incumbent New Jersey Democrat to win a primary was Rob Menendez, the son of longtime New Jersey politician Bob Menendez, further underscoring the power of the Democratic establishment in the 2022 primaries.

While many would point to California as the bastion of progressive politics, this week’s primaries has shown that it’s incredibly welcoming of the Democratic establishment. In CA-13, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Alex Padilla endorsed moderate candidate Adam Gray who ultimately lead the night in his district’s vote. In CA-15, Kevin Mullin received the endorsement of retiring incumbent Rep. Jackie Speier and has won more votes than his left-leaning challenger Phil Arballo. In CA-34, Rep. Jimmy Gomez faced numerous attacks from leftist challenger David Kim that the incumbent is a ‘fauxgresssive.’ Those attacks weren’t enough to bridge the $1 million fundraising gap between the two candidates. (The candidates are likely to face each other in a runoff in November.)

Let’s be very clear, nationally recognized Democrats are putting their thumb on the scale this primary season. Progressive challengers are not too ideologically extreme for voters, they’re just getting outspent and left out in the cold by the Democratic establishment.

3. The (dumb) fight against mail-in ballots goes quiet.

California, Montana and New Jersey sent mail-in ballots to all of their voters in this primary election. New Mexico, South Dakota and Iowa allow any voter to vote-by-mail as long as they submit a request. Only Mississippi had restrictions that prevented some voters from voting-by-mail if they chose. Despite the fact that voting by mail was the method of choice for many (if not most) voters in Tuesday’s elections, Republicans were surprisingly silent on their recent crusade against mail-in ballots.

While mail-in ballots do slow the reporting of results (many states allow a grace period for voters to “cure” ballots that were submitted incorrectly) there’s no evidence that mail-in ballots hurt the integrity of our elections. Yet that hasn’t stopped Republicans from spreading lies and misinformation to soothe Trump’s bruised ego after losing in 2020. Their strategy may be reaching its conclusion as their challenges to mail-in ballots are consistently falling flat.

Just this week, an Arizona judge blocked a request from the state’s Republican party to abandon mail-in ballots altogether. This is incredibly important as Arizona has allowed no-excuse absentee voting since 1991 and has one of the highest rates of voting-by-mail in the nation, with 90% of its voters opting to mail their ballots in 2020. While I don’t expect Republicans to go completely silent on their vendetta against mail-in ballots, the data is beginning to beat back their criticisms in states across the nation.

Leftover Links

• Here’s how to watch the upcoming televised Jan 6 hearing.

• Nepotism or a political dynasty? Learn more about how the Menendez family gained political power in New Jersey.