Primary Elections Held in Six States

Voters chose candidates Tuesday to succeed retiring Sens. Robert T. Stafford (R-Vt.) and William Proxmire (D-Wis.), with moderate Republican Rep. James M. Jeffords facing a conservative in Vermont and former Democratic Gov. Anthony S. Earl battling a sports team owner in Wisconsin.

In other highlights of primary voting in six states, New Hampshire Rep. Judd Gregg was favored over two opponents for the GOP nomination to succeed retiring Gov. John H. Sununu.

Jeffords, whose frequent opposition to President Reagan’s policies angered fellow Republicans, faced newcomer Michael Griffes in the Senate primary. Democrat William Gray, a former U.S. attorney, had no primary opposition.

Proxmire’s retirement in Wisconsin after 31 years in the Senate sparked spirited races in both parties. On the Democratic side, the latest newspaper polls showed Earl and Milwaukee Bucks basketball team owner Herbert Kohl leading a four-way race that included former Deputy Atty. Gen. Edward R. Garvey and Secretary of State Douglas La Follette.

Republicans chose between state Sen. Susan Engeleiter and the more conservative Stephen B. King, former GOP state chairman.

In New Hampshire, Gregg, the son of a former governor, faced former Manchester Mayor Robert Shaw and political neophyte William Lawrence for the Republican nomination for governor. The unopposed Democratic nominee was lawyer Paul McEachern, a foe of the Seabrook nuclear power plant who narrowly lost to Sununu in 1986.