Hillary Clinton is heading to big wins in Pennsylvania and Maryland, and so are two Senate candidates who had the backing of the biggest party insiders.
In Maryland, former chair of the DCCC Chris Van Hollen leads Rep. Donna Edwards by a comfortable margin, winning the white vote by an astounding 52-point margin according to exit polls. Edwards captured the black vote by 32 points, a dominant margin in its own right, but not one big enough to close the gap. Van Hollen and Edwards both have strong progressive credentials, but exit polls show that Van Hollen won among both Hillary and Bernie supporters.
In Pennsylvania, party-backed Katie McGinty successfully chased down Joe Sestak, who had been leading in the polls right up until the final week of campaigning. McGinty had the support of everyone from President Obama to former Governor Ed Rendell in the primary, and despite Sestak’s strong progressive record and a narrower-than-expected loss to Pat Toomey in 2010, the party was particularly vigorous in its effort to defeat him.