Here are tonight's election results from three key GOP Senate primary races:
Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon has won the GOP nomination in the race to replace retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman (I), while Rep. Christopher Murphy won the Democratic nomination, according to the Associated Press.Murphy had 68 percent of the vote at the time the Associated Press called the race, defeating former Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, who had 32 percent.
McMahon had 75 percent of the vote, putting her 50 points ahead of her Republican rival, former Rep. Christopher Shays.
From the beginning of the cycle, McMahon and Murphy were expected to win their parties’ nominations. Going forward, Murphy is the undisputed frontrunner in the fall.
Recently, though, national Republicans have begun to pay more attention to the Connecticut Senate race. This is McMahon’s second GOP Senate nomination. She lost the general election to now-Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) in 2010.
Rep. Connie Mack IV, who had broad support from just about every swath of the Republican Party, easily picked up the GOP nomination for Senate to take on Sen. Bill Nelson (D) in November.
Mack defeated long-shot candidates former Rep. Dave Weldon, retired Army Col. Mike McCalister and activist Marielena Stuart in primary. With 42.7 percent of precincts reporting, Mack had 58.5 percent of ballots cast, according to the Associated Press.
Nelson also easily dispatched a nonserious opponent. The two-term Senator took 79.3 percent of the vote, with 43.1 percent reporting, per AP results.
Mack is seen in both Democratic and Republican circles as a particularly weak candidate. The race in November favors Nelson.
Roll Call rates the Senate race as Leans Democratic. Nelson is widely expected to outperform President Barack Obama regardless of whether he wins the battleground state.
We're still waiting on the election results from the Wisconsin Republican Senate primary. Polls close at 9:00 pm EST. Stay tuned for updates.
Update - Follow the results as they come in here.
Update II - With 82 percent of precincts reporting, Tommy Thompson has been declared the winner:
Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson has won the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat the party is trying to capture for the first time in more than five decades.The ex-governor and Health and Human Services secretary under President George W. Bush defeated three GOP rivals during Tuesday's primary.
It marked Thompson's first time on the ballot since 1998. He advances to face Democrat Tammy Baldwin in the Nov. 6 election.
The seat became open following the retirement of Democrat Herb Kohl.
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The win follows a blistering primary in which hedge fund investor Eric Hovde invested nearly $5 million of his own money into the race. U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann and state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald also sought the GOP nomination.
Editor's note: This post was edited in order to include the Florida Senate primary election results.
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