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.
Swalwell resigned from Congress amid sexual assault allegations earlier this year. Regardless of who is chosen to replace him, the 14th Congressional District seat is guaranteed to remain under Democratic control.
Florida's primary will choose candidates to complete the remainder of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s term in the U.S. Senate. There’s also an open contest to replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis, featuring Rep. Byron Donalds on the Republican side and former Rep. David Jolly as a Democrat.
Alaska voters will narrow down a wide field of candidates for a competitive U.S. Senate seat that’s 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 and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. 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.
An unusually high number of open-seat races 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, along with U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman’s 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.
In Florida, Rep. Byron Donalds touts Trump endorsement but has a careful message on the president’s economy
The southwest Florida representative has had the president’s backing for the duration of his campaign to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
But Donalds has offered a broader message, promising to tackle an economy that’s tough on many Floridians — while not blaming Trump.
“Affordability is a problem for all Floridians. It doesn’t matter what your politics are. It doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is,” Donalds said, promising to address taxes, property insurance premiums and health insurance access.
His message is notable not just because he so carefully frames economic realities under Trump but also because Donalds explicitly mentions race. Donalds would be the first Black governor of Florida, but he typically does not emphasize that historic possibility.
Donalds faces several primary opponents, including Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and business owner James Fishback. Florida’s winner-takes-all rules mean there’s no runoff, making Donalds a strong favorite.
Ball
ot measure focuses on money in political campaigns
Alaska voters will decide whether to reimpose campaign contribution limits, five years after a divided federal appeals court struck down a number of contribution caps.
The lone measure on Tuesday’s primary ballot asks voters whether to impose a $2,000 limit on the amount individuals can give to candidates in state and local elections. The measure would cap at $5,000 what an individual could give to political parties.
It also would set limits on spending on groups other than political parties and how much individuals and groups could give to joint campaigns for governor and lieutenant governor.
Supporters say limits are needed to prevent special interests and wealthy donors from having outsized influence on a campaign or race. Opponents say the measure would favor candidates with existing name recognition and that limiting what someone can contribute limits their voice.
Early voting went down in Florida from ’22 and the GOP’s advantage narrowed
Early voting totals for Florida’s Tuesday primaries were down significantly across the board compared to four years ago.
Republicans cast 870,934 early ballots compared to Democrats’ 806,668. Adding independents and minor party voters, the total early turnout was 1,913,985. That includes in-person voting and mail ballots.
In the 2022 primary, Republicans cast 1,725,184 early votes, Democrats cast 1,535,743, and the total early vote was almost 3.7 million.
Those numbers mean Republicans’ early advantage dropped from 46.6%-41.5% four years ago to 45.5%-42.1%. Democrats have argued that independents are breaking solidly in their favor. Still, the early vote totals do not suggest the kind of surge in enthusiasm among the Democratic base that the party has seen in many other states this year.
Florida Democrats need a much bigger swing overall in November to close their statewide general election gaps from 2022.
Alaska voters contend with high fuel costs
Races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and governor top Alaska’s primary ballot Tuesday, at a time when residents are feeling the squeeze from high fuel and energy costs.
Spikes in oil prices driven by the war in Iran have helped the financial outlook for the state, which relies on oil revenue. But it’s also hit many consumers hard, including residents of rural western Alaska who get their supplies by barge or plane and rely on diesel fuel.
Many communities had to lock in their shipments when prices were high.
A retired colonel, rancher and Wyoming’s education leader vie for governor
Wyoming’s governor’s office is up for grabs now that Republican Mark Gordon is winding down his second term in office.
Though not the final word on who will succeed him — that happens in November — Republicans have won the governor’s race every year since 2010.
This year, four Republicans are competing for the job. Brent Bien, a retired U.S. Marine colonel and combat pilot, is running again after getting almost 30% of the vote against Gordon four years ago.
Also running is state Sen. Eric Barlow, a U.S. Marine veteran and livestock veterinarian. He’s a former Wyoming House Speaker.
A third candidate is Wyoming’s state superintendent of public instruction, Megan Degenfelder, who previously worked in the coal, oil and gas industries.
Also running is Curt Blake, a rodeo and Western events organizer who hasn’t actively campaigned or participated in candidate forums.
The winner will face Ken Casner, an Elk Mountain store owner who is unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Groups blast Alaska elections officials over handling of voter rolls
Voting rights groups say Alaska election officials acted unconstitutionally in moving about 3,000 people from active voters rolls weeks before the primary and asking them to verify their citizenship.
The groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, stopped short of suing but kept that as an option if election officials did not take steps to ensure all eligible Alaskans who received the letter are able to vote in Tuesday’s primary.
The groups want to ensure that polling locations have a list of voters who were affected and that poll workers know voters can cast questioned ballots. They also want voters to know that they do not need to provide proof of citizenship.
An Alaska Division of Elections spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
In early August, the division said about 100 people responded to the letter to say they’re not citizens and about 685 affirmed their citizenship. About 2,250 others had not responded or could not be reached by mail.
Progressives may not find the same juice in Florida as elsewhere
Democrats’ left flank has won notable victories since Trump’s second inauguration, even with mixed results in recent Midwestern primaries. But the party’s progressive wing may find a tougher landscape in Florida.
Our Revolution, the organization started by Vermont’s 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.
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 “socialism” because they or their families fled authoritarian socialist governments to come to the U.S.
Our Revolution endorsee Elijah Manley, one of the candidates running against moderate Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Broward County, said he believes voters are “ready for a more progressive approach because the system we have just hasn’t delivered for them.”
California election will determine Eric Swalwell’s temporary successor
Tuesday is voters’ last chance to decide whether a progressive state lawmaker or a moderate San Francisco Bay Area transit leader will fulfill the remainder of Swalwell’s 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. He denies the allegations.
Aisha Wahab, 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’s 14th Congressional District, which includes cities east of San Francisco such as Hayward, Livermore and Union City.
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.
Aisha Wahab, 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’s 14th Congressional District, which includes cities east of San Francisco such as Hayward, Livermore and Union City.
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.
Incumbent Sullivan and former Rep. Peltola headline Alaska’s US Senate race
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.
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’s primary.
Alaska’s primary features all candidates on one ballot, with the top four advancing to November’s ranked vote general election.
Sullivan has leaned into his background as a Marine and supporter of the military, while Peltola has repurposed the “fish, family, freedom” slogan that propelled her to the U.S. House in 2022. She lost reelection in 2024.
Republican redistricting shapes Florida primaries
Gov. Ron DeSantis, in response to Trump’s desire for a better shot to defend the Republican majority on Capitol Hill, eagerly pushed to redraw Florida congressional districts.
It’s yielded a round of political dominoes in South Florida.
Broward County, the state’s most left-leaning county, is down to one presumed Democratic district. It’s plurality Black. But Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an 11th-term lawmaker who doesn’t live in the district, is the favorite as the lone white candidate in District 20.
Wasserman Schultz and Rep. Jared Moskowitz live in a redrawn District 22 that now reaches the more conservative Gulf Coast. But Moskowitz isn’t running in his home district either. He’s running in a new District 25 that stretches along the coasts of multiple southwest Florida counties, including Broward.
National Democrats’ favorite in District 22 is educator Pia Dandiya. Moskowitz and Dandiya are favored over primary opponents. Trump won both districts comfortably.
Wyoming GOP Senate race includes Hageman and 4 little-known candidates
The five Republicans competing to become Wyoming’s next U.S. senator include one with an overwhelming funding and name recognition advantage: Harriet Hageman.
Hageman seeks the GOP nomination after two terms as Wyoming’s representative in the U.S. House.
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.
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 — massage therapist Jill Edwards and U.S. Air Force veteran and attorney John Holtz.
Former state legislator Jim Byrd, one of two Democrats seeking the party’s nomination, had about $350 cash on hand, according to the FEC.
The winner will succeed Republican U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who is retiring.
Republican incumbent faces independent newcomer for Alaska’s only House seat
Independent commercial fisherman Bill Hill is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich in the race for Alaska’s only House seat.
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.
In July, the highest-profile Democrat in the race, pastor Matt Schultz, suspended his campaign and urged voters to back Hill.
No other candidates in the crowded race have reported raising money. Begich has been endorsed by Trump.
Race to replace Swalwell reflects Democratic divide
The special general election pits California state Sen. Aisha Wahab, a progressive who’s championed housing issues, against San Francisco Bay Area transit leader Melissa Hernandez, a moderate who’s made cracking down on crime central to her campaign.
Hernandez, who is raising more money, has accused her rival of being too soft on crime, which Wahab denies. Wahab, who won the June primary decisively, says she’s better positioned to fight against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Democrats look for any foothold they can get in Florida
A generation ago, Florida decided a presidential race by mere hundreds of votes and court fights that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet Democrats haven’t won a presidential race, Senate contest or gubernatorial election there since 2012.
It’s gotten so dire for the party that they’re expected, for the second governor’s race in a row, to nominate a former Republican. The leading candidate this time is former Rep. David Jolly, a critic of President Donald Trump who joined Democrats in 2025 after shifting his position on abortion and the Affordable Care Act.
That kind of move didn’t work four years ago, though. Former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist won the nomination and got trounced by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Alaska has an unusual way of selecting its officeholders
Alaska has open primaries, meaning all candidates are listed on one ballot. It uses ranked choice voting in general elections.
In each race in the primary, voters get one pick. The four candidates with the most votes advance to the November election, where voters can choose to rank the candidates in order of preference. The top races on the ballot — for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and governor — each feature more than a dozen candidates. Few races for state legislative seats have more than four candidates running in Tuesday’s primary.
Alaska voters approved this system in 2020, which supporters say lends itself to more moderate candidates, and it was first used in 2022. There have been several efforts to repeal it, including one heading to the November ballot.
