4 states head to the polls Tuesday. Here's what to watch

NPR's Leila Fadel looks ahead to some of the day's primary elections with J. Miles Coleman of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

Transcript

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Let's get some analysis from J. Miles Coleman. He's the associate editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. Good morning, and welcome to the program.

J MILES COLEMAN: Sure. Thank you, guys, so much for having me.

FADEL: So before we get to today's primaries, I want to start with California, which is still counting results a week after Election Day. How did California's open primary system affect the LA mayor's race, which has now been called by the AP?

COLEMAN: Yeah. Sure. So California's kind of notorious for drawing this whole process out, you know? But basically, in California and in Los Angeles, everyone runs on the same ballot. You know, it's a nonpartisan election. But even with the Democratic vote, you know, split up between several candidates, it looks like the top two are going to be Democrats.

You know, something we were warning about going into this election is, generally, the Republican vote in California, you know, was more straightforward in terms of the kind of candidates that they were backing, you know, etc. So we were warning of a red mirage. Basically, the results were going to look better for the Republicans at first. Democrats who were kind of sitting on their ballots, waiting to decide between this race and the governor's race, etc., where they had a lot of options, were going to be a little later to turn in their ballots. And that's more or less exactly what we saw as the results were counted. The Republican, a guy named Spencer Pratt, got a lot of media attention on right-wing outlets. But the problem is usually Republicans only get about a quarter of the vote in Los Angeles, and that's about where he was.

FADEL: And that's sort of what played out, then. I want to turn to Maine - a really important Senate race there that could hold the key to who controls the Senate come November. And that is where Graham Platner has really electrified Democratic voters with his tax-the-uber-rich, Medicare-for-all antiestablishment message. But he's also been dogged by controversy about his past, his personal life. But despite that, he's expected to win the nomination - the Democratic nomination in Maine. What does that say to you about what Democratic voters want in Maine and beyond?

COLEMAN: Yeah. Well, it's kind of interesting with Platner. It seems like, you know, his personal life is all out there. You know, almost every day, there's a new scandal. You know, I forget his name. But I remember about 10 years ago, there was also a candidate for president who, every time he was in a controversy - you know, he kept going up (laughter).

So, you know, it's - but I think there's a general attitude among the Democratic primary electorate that in some cases, or in a lot of cases, they aren't willing to defer to their leadership sometimes that they see as, you know, not adequately pushing back against Trump. I think for - you know, for as much controversy as Platner has had, you know, I think that's something he's tapped into. He's tried to position himself as, you know, OK, well, we might respect Senator Susan Collins. But, you know, at the end of the day, she's going to vote with Donald Trump when it matters. You know, I'm not.

FADEL: Yeah. He's tapped into this sort of antiestablishment feeling among Democratic voters, but can he win in the general, given his past? I mean, I interviewed him recently for NPR's Newsmakers, and he talked about how voters don't care about what he called gossip and headlines. They care about the issues. I mean - but will that work in the general, given all this baggage?

COLEMAN: Yeah. You know, it's - you know, one kind of parallel I've been making to this race is in my state of Virginia last year, the candidate for attorney general was a guy named Jay Jones who - shortly before the election, there were these texts revealed that he had talked about doing violent things to his peers. And he still won the election because in a Democratic-leaning year, Virginia, like Maine, is a blue state, and that kind of partisanship was enough to carry him over. So that's what maybe some of the proponents of Platner would be hoping for - that in this type of environment, just the anti-Trump sentiment might kind of paper over any personal issues.

FADEL: J. Miles Coleman at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, thank you so much.

COLEMAN: Sure. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.