Primary Round-up: PA, NE, ID, and OR

Lt. Gov. Brad Little topped a crowded field of Republicans in Tuesday’s primary, capturing his party’s nomination for governor in a contentious race.

Little won 37.3 percent of the vote with 669 of 951 precincts reporting. Congressman Raul Labrador had 30.9 percent and physician and developer Tommy Ahlquist had 28.2 percent.

Meanwhile, Paulette Jordan, a two-term state representative and former Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council member, pulled off an upset win in Idaho’s Democratic gubernatorial primary Tuesday over the party’s 2014 nominee, Boise businessman and longtime school board member A.J. Balukoff.

Oregon Republicans on Tuesday picked state Rep. Knute Buehler (R) as their nominee to face Gov. Kate Brown (D) in November, in hopes of stopping one of the longest streaks of Democratic dominance in the nation.

The Associated Press called the race for Buehler around 11:37 p.m. EST.

Brown, seeking her first full term as governor, will begin the general election campaign as the heavy favorite in a liberal state that favored Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by about 11 percentage points in 2016.

Buehler outlasted a handful of other Republicans, including businessman Sam Carpenter and Greg Wooldridge, once a commander in the Navy's Blue Angels program.

Scott Wagner, who quickly ascended to power after defying the establishment and running a successful write-in campaign for the Pennsylvania State Senate in 2014, on Tuesday secured the Republican nomination for governor, setting up an Election Day matchup between him and a fellow millionaire and York countian: Gov. Tom Wolf.

At 11:35 p.m., with 8,684 out of 9,162 districts reporting, Wagner, 62, of Spring Garden Township, received 289,479 votes — or 45.57 percent.