THE OTHER PRIMARIES:
A FEW INCUMBENTS UNDER FIRE

For most incumbent governors, senators and House members, winning renomination in their party’s primary is a very low hurdle. Most of those seeking re-election are unopposed in their primary or draw no more than token opposition.

Token opposition can routinely drain 5%, 10% or even 15% of the primary vote from an incumbent’s total. But once the anti-incumbent vote gets much higher than that it begins to take on significance.

That does not mean that the incumbent is in any particular danger in the fall, particularly if he or she represents a one-party district. But it does indicate a degree of resistance to the incumbent within party ranks – sometimes caused by ideological fissures in the state or district or lingering ethics problems involving the incumbent.

Following is a list of incumbent governors, senators and House members who have drawn less than 80% of their party’s primary vote this year. Results are based on official returns where available; nearly complete, but unofficial returns elsewhere. The chart indicates the number of terms that incumbents have served in their current office.

Incumbents who lost their primary this year are indicated in italics. The chart reflects results from all primaries held through early June.

Incumbent		Term	Primary Vote %	Outcome
Governors
	(none)
Senators
	Mike DeWine, R-Ohio	1	79.5	Won
House Members
	Matthew G. Martinez, D-Calif. 31	9	31.4	Lost
	James A. Traficant, D-Ohio 17	8	50.5	Won
	Marge Roukema, R-N.J. 5	10	51.9	Won
	Earl F. Hilliard, D-Ala. 7	4	58.1	Won
	Bobby L. Rush, D-Ill. 1	4	61.0	Won
	Mark E. Souder, R-Ind. 4	3	61.8	Won
	Ken Calvert, R-Calif. 43	4	67.0	Won
	James C. Greenwood, R-Pa. 8	4	67.3	Won
	Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas 15	2	73.5	Won
	Robert A. Brady, D-Pa. 1	1	76.7	Won
	Roscoe G. Bartlett, R-Md. 6	4	77.8	Won
	Dan Burton, R-Ind. 6	9	79.4	Won