WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell dispatched his Tea Party challenger with ease Tuesday night, and Democrats turned to two women, Alison Lundergan Grimes to oppose him in Kentucky and Michelle Nunn to fight for Georgia, in elections next fall with control of the Senate at stake.
Setting up a third high-profile race, Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas and his Republican challenger, Rep. Tom Cotton, were unopposed for their parties’ nominations.
On the busiest primary night of the year to date, Democrats eyeing a return to power in the Pennsylvania Capitol nominated businessman Tom Wolf to oppose Republican Gov. Tom Corbett’s bid for a second term.
Republican primary struggles between establishment-backed conservatives and Tea Party-favored rivals were a dominant feature of the evening, as they had been earlier in North Carolina and will be in Mississippi, Kansas and Alaska.
The GOP must gain six seats to win a Senate majority, and party leaders have made it a priority to avoid the presence of candidates on the ballot this fall who are seen as too conservative or unsteady — or both — to prevail in winnable races. For Democrats, Tuesday night was a chance to showcase challengers — both of them women — in the rare states where the party has hopes of picking up GOP-held seats.
There were also primaries in Georgia, Idaho, Oregon and Pennsylvania. There were gubernatorial primaries five states.
• In Kentucky, McConnell, a five-term lawmaker and the embodiment of the GOP establishment, was pulling 60 percent of the vote. Challenger Matt Bevin was gaining 36 percent.
Grimes, a prize Democratic recruit, was piling up 76 percent in a four-way race, winning her Kentucky primary with ease.
She and McConnell wasted no time turning their attention to the fall campaign.
“Make me the majority leader, and Kentucky will lead America,” McConnell said in an appeal to home state pride, adding that he would use his power to check President Barack Obama’s agenda.
• In Georgia, Nunn, whose father was a four-term Democratic senator from the state, easily outpaced her Democratic rivals and awaited the outcome of the GOP primary to learn her opponent for the fall.
Former Dollar General chief executive David Perdue advanced to a GOP runoff. Whom he will face July 22 was too close to call Tuesday evening.
Seven Republicans vied for that nomination. In early returns, Rep. Jack Kingston and former Secretary of State Susan Handel were closest to Perdue. Reps. Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun also were on the Georgia Republican ballot.
Georgia’s Republican Gov. Nathan Deal defeated two primary challengers. State Sen. Jason Carter, grandson of the 39th president, was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
• In Pennsylvania, Chelsea Clinton’s mother-in-law, former Rep. Marjorie Margolies, lost her bid to return to the House — despite fundraising and other campaign help from Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
