Lucy Campbell
Millions of voters across the country are heading to the polls today in crucial primaries in a slew of key gubernatorial, Senate and House races.
Here’s a quick rundown of what we’re watching:
California
Voters are casting ballots on who should lead the nation’s most populous state (and the world’s fourth largest economy), where there is no clear leader among candidates vying to advance in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic governor Gavin Newsom. The race for Los Angeles mayor is also on the ballot, along with a series of high-stakes US House contests in the state’s newly redrawn congressional districts – which are set to play an outsized and potentially decisive role in the battle for power in Washington in November’s midterm elections. My colleague Lauren Gambino has more:
Iowa
Per my colleague Chris Stein, with Trump’s approval ratings deep underwater, gas prices high and historical political trends favoring the party out of power, Democrats this year are considering a comeback in Iowa, putting the state at the center of their campaigns to win back control of both the US House and the Senate. That effort for a “once-in-a-generation” breakthrough in the GOP-dominated state is being led by pro-hunting Democrat Rob Sand, who is running for governor. Chris wrote about him below. Democrats also believe they have a shot at winning three of the state’s US House seats and a competitive chance at securing a US Senate seat, where the GOP frontrunner recently called Trump’s war on Iran a “political liability”.
New Jersey
One of this year’s most closely watched House midterms will take place in the battleground district currently represented by now-infamous Republican Tom Kean Jr, who has drawn public scrutiny and concern after missing more than 100 House votes due to an undisclosed illness. Voters are deciding which Democrat will run against him in November – and the seat is a must-win for the party. The frontrunner, veteran army trauma surgeon and political newcomer Adam Hamawy, has secured endorsements from the likes of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. My colleague Joseph Gedeon has more:
New Mexico
Contests in the state include primaries for congressional seats, a US Senate seat and a long list of statewide offices, but the governor’s race is the main event. Deb Haaland, who was Joe Biden’s interior secretary, is running for the Democratic nomination, which could put her on a historic path for Native American leaders.
Montana
In Montana, a five-way Democratic fight is under way for the retiring Republican senator’s seat. Independent Seth Bodnar, former president of the University of Montana, is outraising them all at the moment but they’re refusing to step aside, Politico reports this morning.
South Dakota
The race is on for state governor, Sioux Falls mayor, a US Senate and House seat, a Republican primary for local lawmakers. The incumbent GOP governor Larry Rhoden faces three primary challengers in his first run for a full term. He stepped up into the role from the lieutenant governorship when the former governor, the since-ousted Kristi Noem, left to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
Key events
Alabama can use a redrawn congressional map that eliminates one of the state’s two majority-Black districts in this year’s midterm elections, the US supreme court ruled in a 6-3 decision today.
My colleague Sam Levine has the full story:
The court’s emergency ruling is the most consequential decision it had issued since its landmark ruling in late April that struck down a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act. In that case, Louisiana v Callais, the court’s majority made it nearly impossible to win Voting Rights Act claims, saying that plaintiffs had to prove intentional discrimination. But on 26 May, a three-judge panel said the map Alabama wants to use for this year’s midterm was enacted with discriminatory intent.
But in an unsigned opinion on Tuesday, the court’s conservative justices said the panel had failed to properly reconsider the case in light of the Callais decision and other recent cases weakening the Voting Rights Act.
Mariannette Miller-Meeks has won the Republican nomination in her bid for re-election to represent Iowa’s 1st congressional district, despite competition from MAGA candidate David Pautch.
Miller-Meeks will face off against Democratic nominee Christina Bohannan in the November general election.
Polls close in Montana
Polls have closed in Montana, where a five-way Democratic fight is under way for the retiring Republican senator’s seat. Independent Seth Bodnar, former president of the University of Montana, is outraising them all at the moment but they’re refusing to step aside, Politico reported this morning.
Christina Bohannan has won the Democratic nomination for Iowa’s 1st congressional district. She will compete against incumbent Republican congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the November general election.
“Representative Miller-Meeks has gone Washington. Her outright corruption is fueling the cost of living crisis. She sides with insurance companies and Big Pharma over affordable, accessible healthcare for her constituents,” Bohannan said in a statement celebrating her nomination. “Miller-Meeks is too beholden to billionaires and special interests to ever address the needs of everyday working people.”
Bohannan is running for congress for the third time. In 2024, she came within about 800 votes of unseating Miller-Meeks.
Turek and Hinson to face-off for Iowa’s Senate seat
Iowa state representative Josh Turek has won the Democratic nomination for the state’s open US Senate seat – teeing him up to face off against Trump-endorsed Ashley Hinson in the November general election.
While Hinson has received the president’s endorsement, and Turek has called himself as a “common-sense prairie populist”, both spoke of bipartisanship in statements released after their victories.
“My record is one of delivering bipartisan results for Iowans, and that’s exactly what I’ll do in the United States Senate. I’ll work with anyone, from any party, to get things done for Iowa,” Hinson said.
“This campaign has always been about having a Senator from Iowa fighting for the people of Iowa, not for the billionaires or large corporations. In the U.S. Senate, I will work with anyone to address rising costs, stagnant incomes, and out-of-control corruption in D.C. that continues to hurt working people, and I will be a real fighter for Iowans, the middle class and our working families,” Turek said. If he wins in November, he would become Iowa’s first Democratic senator since 2008.
Hamawy wins Democratic nomination for New Jersey’s 12th district
Adam Hamawy has won the Democratic nomination for New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, teeing the army doctor and political newcomer up to face off against Republican Gregg Mele in November’s general election.
“Dr. Hamawy won this race the old-fashioned way by outworking his opponents, out-organizing the establishment, and building the progressive coalition needed to deliver his people-first vision to New Jersey working families,” said Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, a political action committee that supports progressive candidates. “AIPAC, Crypto, and AI wanted to buy this seat and interviewed various candidates, but while they couldn’t choose which corporate shill to back, the left united behind a political outsider with a vision that spoke to the needs and priorities of Jersey voters.”
After returning from a medical mission in Gaza in 2024, Hamawy went to Washington to describe the crisis – which he viewed as a US-funded genocide – to lawmakers, only to encounter “too many doors that were closed, that didn’t even want to listen”, my colleague Joseph Gedeon reports.
One of the few representatives on Capitol Hill who met with him was his own: Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has served New Jersey’s 12th congressional district for more than a decade. When she announced her retirement in November 2025, after six terms, Hamawy decided it was no longer enough to seek the attention of those elected to serve in Washington – and launched his campaign to join them.
Haaland wins Democratic nomination for New Mexico governor
Deb Haaland has won the Democratic nomination for governor in New Mexico. If elected in the November general election, Haaland would become the first Native American woman governor elected in the country.
A single, working mother, Haaland came on the national scene in 2018 when she was elected to Congress alongside a wave of freshman, female lawmakers known as “The Squad” who’d run in reaction to Donald Trump’s election in 2016. Haaland resigned from the House of Representatives in 2021 when Joe Biden chose her to lead his interior department, making her the first Native American to serve in the roll, which includes overseeing much of the nation’s public lands and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
During her time in congress, Haaland – who is from Laguna Pueblo – introduced legislation to stem the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, and as interior secretary she oversaw the formation of a new Missing & Murdered Unit (MMU) within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Last year, New Mexico became the fourth state in the country to create its own law enforcement alert system for missing Indigenous people. Haaland also launched a historic effort to investigate the legacy of Native American boarding schools.
Haaland has campaigned as a fierce critic of Donald Trump, saying in campaign ads that, “Governors are the first line of defense against the horrific policies of the Trump administration.” Since Trump returned to office, New Mexico has been one of few Democratic strongholds in the south-west – with the state working to shore up protections for abortion patients, transgender people and SNAP and Medicaid recipients.
Democratic senator Ben Ray Luján has won his primary in his bid for re-election in New Mexico.
Celebrating her victory in the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 7th congressional district, Rebecca Bennett called her Republican opposition Tom Kean Jr a “coward”.
“You are failing us, and you do not deserve to represent us in Washington,” Bennett said, addressing Kean who has been away from Congress with an unspecified illness since March.
Ashley Hinson has won the Republican nomination to replace retiring Iowa senator Joni Ernst.
A former television anchor turned state senator, Hinson was endorsed by Donald Trump and Ernst in her race against former state senator Jim Carlin.
Election results are coming in from South Dakota, where Mike Rounds has won the Republican nomination for Senate and Marty Jackley has won the Republican nomination for the state’s 1st congressional district.
