Voters in Alabama, Florida and Wyoming are deciding Tuesday which candidates to advance to the general election in key races for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House, as California holds a special election to decide who will serve out the rest of U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s term.<\/p>\n
Swalwell resigned from Congress<\/a> amid sexual assault allegations<\/a> earlier this year. Regardless of who is chosen to replace<\/a> him, the 14th Congressional District seat is guaranteed to remain under Democratic control.<\/p>\n Florida’s primary will choose candidates<\/a> to complete the remainder of Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u2019s term in the U.S. Senate. There\u2019s also an open contest to replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a>, featuring Rep. Byron Donalds on the Republican side and former Rep. David Jolly as a Democrat.<\/p>\n Alaska voters will narrow down a wide field of candidates<\/a> for a competitive U.S. Senate seat that\u2019s expected to play a pivotal role in determining which political party will hold a majority in the Senate next year. Among the 16 candidates running in the all-party primary, the most notable are Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan<\/a> and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola.<\/a> The top four vote-getters will advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation and the winner in November will be determined by ranked choice voting<\/a>.<\/p>\n An unusually high number of open-seat races<\/a> are on the ballot in Wyoming’s primary after two prominent Republican officials announced their retirements. The upcoming departures of Gov. Mark Gordon and U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis<\/a>, along with U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman\u2019s<\/a> decision to run to replace Lummis, mark the first time in 32 years that Wyoming has had open seats for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House at the same time.<\/p>\n Progressives may not find the same juice in Florida as elsewhere<\/p>\n Democrats\u2019 left flank has won notable victories since Trump\u2019s second inauguration, even with mixed results in recent Midwestern primaries. But the party\u2019s progressive wing may find a tougher landscape in Florida.<\/p>\n Our Revolution, the organization started by Vermont\u2019s democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, has endorsed state Rep. Angie Nixon in her U.S. Senate bid against former National Security Council aide Alex Vindman.<\/p>\n Several congressional hopefuls have the nod from various progressive groups, but in most competitive Democratic primaries, progressives face better-funded moderates. In south Florida, especially, many Latino voters are skeptical of anything labeled \u201csocialism\u201d because they or their families fled authoritarian socialist governments to come to the U.S.<\/p>\n Our Revolution endorsee Elijah Manley, one of the candidates running against moderate Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Broward County, said he believes voters are \u201cready for a more progressive approach because the system we have just hasn\u2019t delivered for them.\u201d<\/p>\n California election will determine Eric Swalwell\u2019s temporary successor<\/p>\n Tuesday is voters\u2019 last chance to decide whether a progressive state lawmaker or a moderate San Francisco Bay Area transit leader will fulfill the remainder of Swalwell\u2019s term ending in January. Swalwell, a Democrat, dropped his bid for California governor and resigned from Congress in April after he was accused of sexual assault<\/a>. He denies the allegations.<\/p>\n Aisha Wahab<\/a>, a state senator, is running against Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director and former Dublin mayor. The two Democrats, who advanced after a crowded primary in June, are vying to represent California\u2019s 14th Congressional District, which includes cities east of San Francisco such as Hayward, Livermore and Union City.<\/p>\n Wahab and Hernandez will also face off in a separate general election in November to determine who will serve the next full two-year term.<\/p>\n Aisha Wahab<\/a>, a state senator, is running against Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director and former Dublin mayor. The two Democrats, who advanced after a crowded primary in June, are vying to represent California\u2019s 14th Congressional District, which includes cities east of San Francisco such as Hayward, Livermore and Union City.<\/p>\n Wahab and Hernandez will also face off in a separate general election in November to determine who will serve the next full two-year term.<\/p>\n Incumbent Sullivan and former Rep. Peltola headline Alaska\u2019s US Senate race<\/p>\n Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola are the highest-profile candidates in a race that will be among the few in November to determine control of the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n Sullivan and Peltola have vastly outraised any of the other candidates in the overall field of 16. The candidates and groups that support them have dominated the airwaves and filled mailboxes with flyers ahead of Tuesday\u2019s primary.<\/p>\n Alaska\u2019s primary features all candidates on one ballot, with the top four advancing to November\u2019s ranked vote general election.<\/p>\n Sullivan has leaned into his background as a Marine and supporter of the military, while Peltola has repurposed the \u201cfish, family, freedom\u201d slogan that propelled her to the U.S. House in 2022. She lost reelection in 2024.<\/p>\n Republican redistricting shapes Florida primaries<\/p>\n Gov. Ron DeSantis, in response to Trump\u2019s desire for a better shot to defend the Republican majority on Capitol Hill, eagerly pushed to redraw Florida congressional districts.<\/p>\n It\u2019s yielded a round of political dominoes in South Florida.<\/p>\n Broward County, the state\u2019s most left-leaning county, is down to one presumed Democratic district. It\u2019s plurality Black. But Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an 11th-term lawmaker who doesn\u2019t live in the district, is the favorite as the lone white candidate in District 20.<\/p>\n Wasserman Schultz and Rep. Jared Moskowitz live in a redrawn District 22 that now reaches the more conservative Gulf Coast. But Moskowitz isn\u2019t running in his home district either. He\u2019s running in a new District 25 that stretches along the coasts of multiple southwest Florida counties, including Broward.<\/p>\n National Democrats\u2019 favorite in District 22 is educator Pia Dandiya. Moskowitz and Dandiya are favored over primary opponents. Trump won both districts comfortably.<\/p>\n Wyoming GOP Senate race includes Hageman and 4 little-known candidates<\/p>\n The five Republicans competing to become Wyoming\u2019s next U.S. senator include one with an overwhelming funding and name recognition advantage: Harriet Hageman.<\/p>\n Hageman seeks the GOP nomination after two terms as Wyoming\u2019s representative in the U.S. House.<\/p>\n Through July, Hageman had over $900,000 still available to spend on her campaign, eight times more than the funding runner-up in the GOP race, rancher and business owner Sam Mead.<\/p>\n Former oil field services business owner Jimmy Skovgard had $3,200. The Federal Election Commission had no campaign finance records online for the other two Republican candidates \u2014 massage therapist Jill Edwards and U.S. Air Force veteran and attorney John Holtz.<\/p>\n Former state legislator Jim Byrd, one of two Democrats seeking the party\u2019s nomination, had about $350 cash on hand, according to the FEC.<\/p>\n The winner will succeed Republican U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who is retiring.<\/p>\n Republican incumbent faces independent newcomer for Alaska\u2019s only House seat<\/p>\n Independent commercial fisherman Bill Hill is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich in the race for Alaska\u2019s only House seat.<\/p>\n Hill, a former educator, has focused on issues such as affordability and reining in the influence of ultra-wealthy people and special interests in politics. Hill lives in a fishing community of about 425 people in southwest Alaska, where goods are brought in by plane or barge.<\/p>\n In July, the highest-profile Democrat in the race, pastor Matt Schultz, suspended his campaign and urged voters to back Hill.<\/p>\n No other candidates in the crowded race have reported raising money. Begich has been endorsed by Trump.<\/p>\n Race to replace Swalwell reflects Democratic divide<\/p>\n