Here are the highlights from last night, where Alabama, Arkansas, California, North Carolina and Texas voters hit the polls to vote in congressional elections: Money talks: Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) gambit worked: He spent tens of millions of dollars to get a Republican into the general election. Schiff poured in a mammoth $32 million on advertising alone, according to ad tracker AdImpact, including spots that sought to boost Republican Steve Garvey to avoid facing fellow Democratic Rep. Katie Porter in the general election. Schiff also benefited from Fairshake, a pro-crypto PAC, that dropped over $9 million on ads to rail against Porter. Schiff faces a clear path to victory against Garvey in November, given the Democratic lean of the state. Porter and Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee will be out of Congress. An upset in Alabama: Republican Rep. Barry Moore beat the odds in a rare — and messy — member-on-member primary in Alabama’s 1st Congressional District, held by Republican Rep. Jerry Carl. Moore was drawn out of his seat last year after a court ruled that the state needed another district to increase the influence of Black voters. Carl had a geographical advantage going into the race. And he and his allies hit Moore, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, with a barrage of attacks over the course of months. Conservatives for American Excellence, a group bankrolled by GOP megadonors that played in Republican House primaries across the country, poured in six figures against him, too. But Moore had the backing of the Club for Growth, whose allied group School Freedom Fund put in over $800,000 in support of him. … But most primary challengers weren’t so lucky: In Texas’ 18th Congressional District, former Houston City Councilmember Amanda Edwards couldn’t topple longtime incumbent Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. Pervez Agwan, a progressive challenger to Democratic Rep. Lizzie Fletcher in Texas’ 7th Congressional District, where the Israel-Hamas war was a flashpoint, was also unsuccessful. The same goes for state Sen. Clint Penzo, who ran to the right of Republican Rep. Steve Womack in Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District. A mixed bag on candidate quality: Republicans breathed a sigh of relief when the results for North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District rolled in. Army veteran Laurie Buckhout defeated Sandy Smith, a repeat candidate who has faced allegations of domestic abuse (which she has denied) and who some feared would be vulnerable in the general election for this battleground seat against Democratic Rep. Don Davis. The Congressional Leadership Fund, House Republicans’ main super PAC, spent six figures to boost Buckhout over Smith. The same didn’t hold true on the statewide level. North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson easily won the GOP nomination for governor, and will face off against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein. Democrats are hopeful that Robinson’s laundry list of scandals will hurt him in the general election. But Robinson has the support of the RGA, and he could ride on former President Donald Trump’s coattails to victory in the battleground state. The question marks: The fun isn’t over just yet — a handful of contests are going to runoff elections. There will be dual runoffs on April 16 in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, the new Black opportunity district: Shomari Figures and state House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels on the Democratic side, and former state Sen. Dick Brewbaker and attorney Caroleene Dobson for the GOP. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination is the favorite come November. In Texas’ 23rd District, Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales — who was censured by the Texas GOP after defying the party line on gun control, gay marriage and border security — faces a runoff against pro-gun social media influencer Brandon Herrera. That will take place on May 28. A handful of districts in North Carolina are also poised to head to runoffs on May 14. That includes the 6th District, where former Rep. Mark Walker and Addison McDowell, a first-time candidate who has a Trump endorsement, will face off. Republicans in the 13th District, an open and safe red seat, will also compete again. And in the 8th District, Mark Harris — whose apparent general election victory for Congress in 2018 was tossed out after election fraud allegations against an operative paid by his campaign — was in the lead, but if he will avoid a runoff or not was too close to call as of early Wednesday morning. It’s Wednesday. Send us your takeaways from last night at mfernandez@politico.com/@madfernandez616 and lukenye@politico.com/@Lawrence_Ukenye. Days until the Mississippi primaries: 6 Days until the Illinois and Ohio primaries: 13 Days until the Pennsylvania primaries: 48 Days until the Republican National Convention: 130 Days until the Democratic National Convention: 166 Days until the 2024 election: 244
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