NEW YORK ( Associated Press) — Seven states are headed for primary elections Tuesday is when the nation comes to terms with last week’s surprise decision by the Supreme Court that decimated the constitutional right to abortion.
This week’s nomination contests may provide the first clues as to whether the political landscape has changed. Abortion is particularly relevant in Colorado, where GOP voters are deciding whether to nominate a rare abortion-rights-supporting Republican to the US Senate.
And in Illinois, a Donald Trump-backed congresswoman over the weekend in Roe v. Wade ignited a political firearm by celebrating the reversal as a “victory for white life.” Saying that her spokesperson later said “stumbling” and meant “right to life”.
The primaries will also provide new insight into the state of the Republican Party, the central issue in nearly every GOP contest loyal to Trump and his baseless conspiracy theories. Republicans who have pushed back at all, including a senator in Oklahoma and a congressman in Mississippi, face dire challenges.
Democrats have their challenges. Illinois voters will decide a rare incumbent-on-contest primary for a House seat, while in South Carolina, Democrats are choosing which candidate will take on South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott this fall.
Overall, primary elections are being held in Colorado, Illinois, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah on Tuesday. Special elections are being held in Nebraska.
What to watch:
Colorado
GOP businessman Joe O’Dea, who has spoken publicly about his support for abortion rights, is running for the nomination to take on Democratic Sen. Michael Bennett this fall. O’Dea’s top rival is State Representative Ron Hanks, who opposes abortion under all circumstances and attended a January 6 rally before the uprising at the US Capitol.
O’Dea said he supports a ban on late-term abortions and government funding of abortions, but that the decision to terminate a pregnancy in the early months is “between one person and their god.”
While Colorado has trended Democratic over the past decade, Tuesday’s top Republican primary contests will show whether far-right candidates like Bennett, Gov. Jared Polis and Secretary of State Jenna Griswold are making progress in their quest to take on unopposed Democrats, who have led. National fight against those who denied the 2020 election.
One of them is Republican Tina Peters, a conspiracy-theorist county elections clerk who has been indicted. To tamper with voting equipment and post data online. Peters wants to remove Griswold as Colorado’s top election official, despite calls from the state GOP for Peters to suspend his campaign. She is running against Republican Pam Anderson, the former head of the state clerks association and defender of Colorado’s mail-in election system.
Colorado’s congressional primaries will measure the staying power of GOP firebrand Rep. Lauren Boebert for the first time in a sprawling western Colorado district that leans more Republican after redistribution. That state is against Sen. Don Quorum, a cannabis farmer and GOP liberal.
In the Republican race to fight polis, Greg Lopez, a former suburban Denver mayor, is facing statewide-elected Republican Heidi Ganahl as regent for the University of Colorado.
Illinois
As he is in most GOP contests, Trump is a central issue in Illinois’ Republican primary. for the governor.
Darren Bailey, a conservative farmer who earned Trump’s support over the weekend and often reads from the Bible in campaign videos, is part of the six-candidate Republican field. His rivals include Richard Irwin, the first black mayor of Illinois’ second-largest suburb, who had $50 million in backing billionaire Ken Griffin, but was heavily targeted by Democrats, who saw Bailey as an easy matchup for the Pritzker. see as.
While Trump endorsed Bailey, he also campaigned with first-term Representative Mary Miller, who is challenging five-term Representative Rodney Davis in one of the state’s two incumbent-at-primaries.
But at Saturday’s rally, Miller described the Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade as a “victory for white lives.” A spokesman later said he intended to say the decision was a victory for the “right to life”.
But the women of Illinois Congress are no strangers to provocative statements. Soon after joining the House, Miller quoted Adolf HitlerHe was right in saying that “he who has youth has a future.”
Davis is a powerful, more moderate legislator, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, which deals with election legislation and the Capitol complex.
Meanwhile, two Democratic incumbents — Reps Sean Castane and Mary Newman — are facing each other for the Chicago area seat. Also on the Democratic side, about two dozen candidates are fighting to succeed Rep.The only MP to defeat Barack Obama. These include John Jackson, son of civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Carin Norrington-Reeves, a Rush supporter.
New York
Governor Kathy Hochul, who was last vaulted into office when Andrew Cuomo resigned In the midst of a sexual harassment scandal, she is trying to get hold of her job.
Hochul, a Democrat from western New York, is facing challenges from New York City’s elected public advocate, Jumane Williams, and Representative Tom Suozzi, a moderate congressman from Long Island.
Tuesday’s elections include New York’s statewide office and state assembly races, but primary elections for US House seats and the state Senate. Will be held on 23rd August. Those elections were delayed because a redistribution lawsuit caused the court to throw up new political maps.
Hochul, who was Cuomo’s lieutenant governor for six years, promised to restore New Yorkers’ confidence in his government after stepping into office last summer, but he stumbled upon a major stumbling block. In April, when his elected lieutenant governor was arrested In a federal corruption investigation.
Williams, a progressive running to Hochul’s left, said that Hochul is either “constantly embarrassingly out of the loop, or shamefully enabled through his inaction.” Running to the right of Hochul, Suozhi says she is not getting tough on the crime, suggesting that she should have gone further to tighten the state’s bail law.
On the Republican side, Rep. Lee Zeldin Considered to be a frontrunner in the crowded field featuring Andrew GiulianiSon of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliania, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino; and businessman Harry Wilson. Former Vice President Mike Pence has backed Zeldin, who also has support from the state GOP and the Conservative Party, but Trump stayed out of the race.
Utah
The Republican primary for the US Senate pitted one of Trump’s closest aides, incumbent GOP Sen. Mike Lee, against two challengers who have spent months questioning Lee’s loyalty to the former president.
Former state lawmaker Becky Edwards and political activist Eli Isom have attacked Lee as a divisive politician who cares less about making television appearances and governing than winning on Trump’s side. Unlike Lee, neither voted for Trump in 2020.
Both Republican challengers have highlighted post-election text messages that Lee sent to Trump’s chief of staff, indicating his early involvement. Trying to reverse the election. Edwards also distinguished himself by saying that he disagreed with the US Supreme Court’s decision to revisit Rowe v. Wade.
The Senate is testing the primary whether Trump’s divisive politics and conspiracy theories resonate with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which make up the majority of Utah’s population.
In November, the winner will face independent Evan McMullin, a former Republican who won support from the state Democratic Party. in April.
Mississippi
Congressional primary runoffs are rare in Mississippi, but on Tuesday, two Republican incumbents in the state are fighting to keep their jobs in the runoff against the opponents of his own party.
Representative Steven Palazzo is seeking a seventh term and was deemed vulnerable after he was accused of misusing campaign funds to abuse his office in a 2021 congressional ethics report.
Representative Michael Guest is seeking a third term. He voted on January 6 to create an independent commission to investigate the Capitol rebellion and was forced into a runoff amid criticism that he was loyal to Trump.
Both Palazzo and Guest failed to cross the 50% threshold to win outright in their June 7 primaries. Palazzo faces off against Sheriff Mike Eizell of a coastal county, while the guest is going up against Michael Cassidy, a former Navy fighter pilot who has uncovered his allegiance to Trump.
Oklahoma
Republicans are choosing two US Senate candidates on Tuesday.
A horde of high-profile GOP contenders vie to replace retired Sen. Jim InhofeIncluding Scott Pruitto, Trump’s former Environmental Protection Agency administratorwho resigned From his Washington Post under a cloud of ethics scandals. Other candidates include Rep. Markwen Mullin; TW Shannon, the first Black House speaker of the state legislature; and Luke Holland, Inhofe’s longtime chief of staff.
Republican Sen. James Lankford is facing his primary test that focuses on Trump.
Lankford, one of the most conservative members of the Senate, has faced backlash from Trump loyalists for not adopting the former president’s lies about election fraud. Lankford faces off against Tulsa evangelical pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, who is supported by Michael Flynn, a political newcomer.Trump’s former national security adviser.
Nebraska
A judge will sentence longtime Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry on Tuesday for campaign contributions On the same day voters will decide who should serve the Republican term. Fortenberry resigns in March.
Republican Mike Flood will favor Republican Mike Flood to win the election over Democrat Patty Pansing Brooks in the Republican-leaning district. Both are state legislators.
Regardless of who wins the special election, Flood and Pansing Brooks will again face off in November’s general election. The East Nebraska District includes parts of Lincoln and suburban Omaha, as well as rural areas.
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Associated Press writer Michelle Price in New York; Sarah Burnett in Chicago; Sam Metz in Salt Lake City; Jim Anderson in Denver; Grant Schulte in Omaha, Neb.; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, SC contributed to this report.
