WASHINGTON — Republicans nominated a Donald Trump-backed state senator to take on Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, NBC News projects, setting up a November contest where abortion is expected to be a defining issue.

Tuesday’s primaries and runoffs in eight states were the first elections since the Supreme Court's monumental decision striking down Roe v. Wade and also served as a test of Democrats’ efforts to pick their opponents by meddling in GOP primaries.

The controversial tactic worked in Illinois, where Pritzker and allies sought to derail a more moderate Republican who they thought would be more formidable in November, but it failed in Colorado where Republicans did not nominate the Senate and gubernatorial candidates Democrats hoped they would.

Meanwhile, in New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul will face Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, a close Trump ally in Congress, NBC News projects.