It's the Wednesday after an election (primaries in NC, KY, VA, and NY). This late in the season, the presidential primary is all but decided. That means the state races get more focus, which is probably a good thing. Normally, this would be the time where I'd be writing a blog about the winners and losers. However, this being 2020, things are a little different. With mail-in voting being so prevalent because of Coronavirus, we currently only have front-runners and "apparent" winners. This appears to be the new normal (for this year anyway), and we likely won't have confirmed winners for a few days.

In KY, over 50% of voting was done by mail (as opposed to 2% in previous years), and the state had to close over 3500 of its polling places (leaving just 170) due to a lack of poll workers. The marquee races were for the Dem and Rep noms for U.S. Senate. It appears that Moscow Mitch McConnell won (or will win) the Republican nomination. On the Dem side, the race between Amy McGrath and Charles Booker is too early to call. Also in KY, Republican House Rep. Thomas Massie won renomination. Massie (a libertarian) was strongly opposed by tRump, so this is another loss for him in this long primary season.

In NC, newcomer Madison Cawthorn (who is 24, but will turn 25 before Jan 03) won the Republican party's nomination for a House seat. His losing opponent (Lynda Bennett) was supported by tRump and by Mark Meadows, who left the seat to become part of the tRump team.

In VA, it appears Cameron Webb has handily won the Dem nomination for an open House seat. He seems to be in a good position to possibly take the seat (currently in a Republican district) when he faces Bob Good in the general. Good was chosen by the Republican party in a convention (rather than a primary) earlier this month. Daniel Gade won the Republican nomination to face Democrat Mark Warner in the general for the Senate seat Warner now occupies. That likely will not go well for Gade. Republican Scott Taylor appears to have won the Republican nod in an effort to win back the seat House he lost to Dem Elaine Luria 2 years ago.

Finally - in NY, AOC won re-nomination in her first primary as an incumbent. Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones are newcomers and holding onto leads in their respective House districts. Jamaal Bowman is looking to unseat longtime House Rep Eliot Engel (who has held his seat for 32 years, and chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee). Mondaire Jones will be the first openly gay black man in the House if he wins.

As the mail-in ballots continue to be counted, it will be interesting to see if there is a "coronavirus bloc" of voters who tend to vote a certain way. Regardless - election night in November won't be the same as it has been the last few years - for better or worse. Technology giveth, and Mother Nature taketh away.