Voters in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Georgia, Vermont, and Connecticut are heading to the polls.
Despite five states having down-ballot primaries and runoffs Tuesday, it will be a relatively quiet election day. Nevertheless, there are several intriguing races to keep an eye on in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Georgia.
In Minnesota, one of the most progressive Democrats in the House, Rep. Ilhan Omar, faces a well-funded primary challenger. Across the state, five Republicans are facing off to compete against perhaps the most conservative Democrat in Congress, Rep. Collin Peterson.
A QAnon supporter, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is favored to win a runoff race for the Republican nomination in Georgia’s 14th District, joining several other followers of the conspiracy theory who have real chances of getting elected to Congress.
There are several key congressional races in Wisconsin as well. Democratic Rep. Ron Kind in Wisconsin’s Third District faces a primary challenge from the left, while the district’s pro-Trump lean in 2016 has drawn several potential Republican challengers. The retirement of longtime incumbent Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner opened up a safe Republican seat for which state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald is favored in Tuesday’s primary.
Vox is covering the results live, with our partners at Decision Desk HQ.
Minnesota
Many political eyes will be on Omar’s race in Minnesota’s Fifth District, which consists of much of Minneapolis. Her primary opponent, lawyer Antone Melton-Meaux, isn’t doing well in the Omar campaign’s internal polls in early July. But he has raised a staggering $3.2 million in the second quarter amid a national anti-Omar backlash that many characterized as racist and sexist.
Omar boasts endorsements from several key Democratic players, including Sen. Tina Smith, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, but the Minneapolis Star Tribune endorsed Melton-Meaux last week.
Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson’s Seventh District in the westernmost part of the state has continually turned redder since he was first elected in 1991, and went for Trump by 30 points in 2016. His House seat is one of the most coveted by the National Republican Congressional Committee; the primary to determine his challenger features a five-way race.
Air Force veteran Dave Hughes has already faced off — and lost — against Peterson twice before, and he again seeks the party’s nomination. But he faces stiff competition this year primarily in the form of former Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach, who has won endorsements from President Trump, the NRCC, and the Minnesota Seventh District Republican Party.
Polls close in the state at 9 pm ET; mail-in ballots must be postmarked by election day and received before the county canvass, which is usually two or three days after election day.
Georgia
The general election this fall features at least nine congressional candidates who follow the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory to varying degrees, and some of them have a real shot at winning in safe Republican districts. One of those is business leader Marjorie Taylor Greene, a candidate in Tuesday’s runoff in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. Greene nearly won her June 2 primary outright and is favored in the runoff.
In a 2017 video first reported by Politico in June, Greene was open about her QAnon support, telling supporters, “there’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president to do it.”
House Republican leaders denounced the videos but haven’t done much to stop Greene’s candidacy. She faces neurosurgeon John Cowan in a race she will likely win. That would make her an odds-on favorite in the safe Republican district to get elected to Congress.
Polls close in the state at 7 pm ET; absentee ballots must be received by 7 pm on election day in order to be counted.
Wisconsin
While much of the state is keeping an eye on November, when Republicans in Wisconsin will try to win a supermajority in the state legislature — which would allow them to override vetoes from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on redistricting — two key congressional races are also taking place.
The state’s Third District is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Ron Kind, a moderate who has treaded carefully on issues involving Trump, especially impeachment, in a district that went for the president by 4.5 percent in 2016. That has opened the doorway to a primary challenge from the left in the form of former missionary and pediatrician Mark Neumann, but also to two potential Republican opponents, retired Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden and public relations professional Jessi Ebben.
While Kind is favored in the Democratic primary, Neumann has criticized him for not supporting Medicare-for-all. On the Republican side, Van Orden has raised more money and boasts endorsements from former Gov. Scott Walker and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, while Ebben has the support of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus’s political arm as well as Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan.
Also keep an eye on several key state legislature races that Republicans are hoping to flip, including state Senate districts 10, 30, and 32 and Assembly District 14.
Polls close in the state at 9 pm ET; mail in ballots must be received by 8 pm on election day.
Connecticut and Vermont
New England’s Connecticut and Vermont are also holding primaries today. Vermont’s governor, Republican Phil Scott is heavily favored for re-election to his third consecutive term in November, but he faces off against four lesser known candidates in a primary while several Democrats are competing to challenge him in the general election.
If you want to follow along with races in both states, we’ll be carrying results here.
Polls close in Vermont close at 7 pm ET and Connecticut polls close at 8 pm.
Author: Katelyn Burns
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