Voting in primary elections has wrapped up in seven US states, in what is expected to set the stage for US House and Senate mid-term races slated for November. The states include California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota.
California
With almost 40% of the ballots counted, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California, who was elected in a 2018 landslide and last year crushed a Republican-led recall, has thus far obtained more than 1.7 million votes. He is estimated to advance easily to the general election, where he will face Brian Dahle, a Republican state senator, who gained just 471,000 votes.
Iowa
In Iowa, retired US Navy Admiral Michael Franken has won the Democratic nomination for Senate, easily beating his rival, Rep. Abby Finkenauer. Franken now faces an uphill battle against longtime Republican Senator Chuck Grassley.
Mississippi
In the “Bayou State”, preliminary results have indicated that Republican US Representative Steven Palazzo is advancing to a runoff election.
In last year’s report, the Office of Congressional Ethics found “substantial reason to believe” that Palazzo, who serves on the Appropriations and Homeland Security committees, abused his office by misspending campaign funds. His then-spokesperson Colleen Kennedy, said the office's probe was based on politically motivated “false allegations”.
Montana
Democrat Monica Tranel won a decisive victory in her western congressional district primary in “the Treasure State”, while the Republican primary between frontrunners Ryan Zinke and Al Olszewski saw the former is gaining an upper hand, according to the 73.6% of votes that have already been counted.
It is the first time since 1993 that Montana will have two House seats, after one was added to account for Montana’s soaring population.
Zinke, Donald Trump’s former Interior Department secretary, is widely considered the de facto incumbent, given that he twice won elections for the state’s other House seat before stepping down in 2017 to join the Trump administration.
New Jersey
In “the Garden State”, former state Senate minority leader Tom Kean Jr., the son of former Republican Governor Tom Kean Sr., is hoping for a rematch with Democratic Representative Tom Malinowski, who won a close contest in 2020.
However, with more than 80% of the ballots counted, Tom Kean Jr is currently coming on Malinovski’s heels, gaining 23,251 votes against 33,507 obtained by the Democrat.
New Mexico
Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has easily prevailed over five Republican candidates in a state where Democrats control every statewide office and dominate the legislature.
South Dakota
The counting of more than 98% of the votes in South Dakota showed that Kristi Noem, the incumbent Republican governor, won the GOP primary over Steve Haugaard, the former Speaker of the state House.
Haugaard previously argued Noem spent more time trying to build a national political profile than focusing on her job at home, allegations that were mostly ignored by the South Dakota governor.