On Tuesday, voters will go to the polls in New York, Florida, and Oklahoma for the month of August’s last primary.
The election cycle has mostly been seen so far as a test of Donald Trump’s ability to continue to have an impact on the GOP.
But on Tuesday night, all eyes will be on crucial contests in Florida and New York that may have a profound impact on the Democratic Party.
Due to freshly adjusted district borders based on the most recent census, the Empire State will lose one representative in the House of Representatives in the next election.
One special election to fill a vacancy in the House is being monitored as a possible harbinger for the midterm elections in November and is taking place several hours north of New York City.
Tonight is likely to mark the end of the political career of at least one member of the Big Apple’s congressional delegation.
And in Florida, Democrats are deciding which progressive challenger they want to field this year to take on the state’s well-liked Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.
In Florida’s 1st Congressional District, Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is the subject of a federal investigation into sex trafficking with a minor, is expected to prevail in the primary election. Despite being one of the former president’s most steadfast and outspoken supporters in Congress, he only managed to obtain Trump’s support at the very last minute.
In New York and Florida, the polls close at 9 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, Eastern Time.
The important races for tonight are listed below:
Longtime pals compete bitterly in the 12th District of New York
Tuesday night’s election for the newly redistricted 12th District pits longstanding Judiciary Chair Rep. Jerrold Nadler against Oversight Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney, ensuring that House Democrats would lose at least one committee chairwoman.
Weeks of polling had the two candidates tied, but Nadler recently eked out a substantial lead thanks to support from the New York Times and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow New Yorker.
Suraj Patel, a progressive lawyer, is also opposing them. With his appeals for a new generation of leaders, he almost missed defeating Maloney in the 2020 primary.
According to a recent Emerson College Polling-Pix11-The Hill poll, Nadler has 43 percent of the vote, compared to Maloney’s 29 percent and Patel’s 14 percent.
A warming of Nadler and Maloney’s almost three-decade-long friendship as House colleagues—both entered Congress in 1993—came with this year’s election.
Maloney has been criticised by Nadler for her earlier support of the Patriot Act and the Afghanistan War, while she has encouraged concerns that Nadler may be becoming old.
The heir of Levi Strauss outspends competitors in New York’s 10th District
A crowded primary is taking place to fill an open seat in the new 10th Congressional District, which includes parts of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, just below and across the river from Nadler and Maloney’s race.
According to polls, Dan Goldman, the chief attorney for House Democrats’ first impeachment attempt against Donald Trump, is leading the race. Goldman has significantly outspent his competitors by investing $2 million of his family’s Levi Strauss wealth in the contest.
Rep. Mondaire Jones, who left his Westchester County seat to compete in the vacant seat, is also fighting for the tenth.
Additionally running for the position are state assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, former house representative Liz Holtzman, and NYC councilwoman Carlina Rivera.
Earlier this month, Jones and Niou banded together to oppose Goldman’s candidacy.
Bill de Blasio, a former mayor of New York City, also conducted a brief campaign for the position but withdrew after receiving less than five percent of the vote.
The 17th Congressional District of New York is the scene of a proxy fight between AOC and Nancy Pelosi.
Senator Alessandra Biaggi, a progressive from New York, is vying to succeed Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, also referred to as SPM.
SPM is a major influence in the New York delegation as the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which raises money for House Democrats (DCCC).
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, has also endorsed him.
However, after forcing out rookie Rep. Mondaire Jones, his choice to run inside the revised borders of New York’s 17th Congressional District drew criticism from those on the left. SPM was charged of unjustly using his position as DCCC chairman to advance his personal political ambitions.
Additionally, he has lately been under fire for the DCCC’s new tactic of funding far-right Republican primary candidates in an effort to make the general election field simpler to defeat in November.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the “Squad,” a youthful progressive force who supported Biaggi in the contest, was one of his detractors.
The economics and abortion in New York’s 19th
Both Republicans and Democrats are keeping an eye on a special election in New York on Tuesday to replace the rest of outgoing House Representative Antonio Delgado’s term as a possible indicator for the November midterm elections.
The Ulster County executive and Democrat Pat Ryan has ran a campaign fueled by voters’ fury over the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
While everything is going on, his Republican opponent, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, has mostly focused his campaign on how Americans feel about how Democrats have handled the economy.
After Molinaro had a double-digit advantage for many weeks, a new survey showed the two contenders in a close race.
It comes at a time when Democrats all throughout the country are feeling a sense of renewed optimism in an election year when a “red tsunami” was widely anticipated to sweep Congress.
How it translates into choosing a congressional representative will be tested on Tuesday.
Ron DeSantis’ opponent is chosen by Florida Democrats
In the Republican primary, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the only candidate. His popularity is rising not just in the Sunshine State but among Republicans globally.
Democrats there, though, are casting ballots to determine whether state Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried or House Representative Charlie Crist will challenge him in the fall.
Before losing to Rick Scott, who has since left the position and moved on to the US Senate, Crist was a Republican who spent one term as governor of Florida. In order to compete as a Democrat for Florida’s 13th Congressional District, which he has represented since 2017, he switched parties.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has backed his campaign, which has mainly adhered to President Joe Biden’s 2020 approach of concentrating on unity and kitchen table issues.
Fried, who represents the opposite extreme of the Democratic spectrum, momentarily gained popularity among progressives when she was elected as Florida’s only statewide official as a Democrat in 2018.
By adopting strong positions on topics like legalising marijuana and abortion, Fried has set herself apart from Crist. She claims that her fiery demeanour is the ideal counterbalance to a bombastic and cultural war-focused DeSantis campaign.
However, an unexpected victory would guarantee a contentious November race between two candidates who have already been known to trade jabs on social media. Crist has been shown to be ahead of Fried in a number of polls leading up to Tuesday, but an upset victory would ensure.
In Florida’s 10th Congressional District, Gen Z is up for election.
The first member of Generation Z to serve in Congress is anticipated to be elected to fill an open seat in Florida’s deep-blue district bordering Orlando.
Maxwell Alejandro Frost, 25, is in the lead in a competitive nine-way primary to succeed outgoing Rep. Val Demings, who is leaving her post to challenge Republican incumbent Marco Rubio for the Senate.
In a new survey by Data For Progress, the progressive activist is double digits ahead of his nearest rival.
He has also received high-profile support from organisations including the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Gabby Giffords Anti-Gun Violence Organization.
Races in Florida’s 7th and 13th districts are fueled by Trump’s falsehoods about election fraud.
On Tuesday night, two significant Florida races will be decided by Republicans who are enthusiastically supporting Donald Trump’s allegations that the 2020 presidential election has been rigged.
The 7th Congressional District, which was redesigned this year to accommodate more Republican districts in a plan recommended by Governor Ron DeSantis, is being vacated by moderate Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy.
Cory Mills, a businessman, and Anthony Sabatini, a state senator from Florida, are the two leading candidates in the Republican primary, and whichever one prevails has a good chance of retaking Murphy’s seat in November.
Both have invested a lot of work in spreading the myths of rampant voting fraud.
In the 13th District, where Charlie Crist is vacating his seat, Republicans have also gained ground in the recently redrew boundaries.
There, Air Force veteran Anna Paulina Luna is the leading GOP candidate. She has won Trump’s support twice in a row.
Special elections in Oklahoma to replace Rep. Markwayne Mullin
In a runoff election in Oklahoma, voters will decide who will represent the state’s 2nd Congressional District as the party’s nominee.
The retiring Sen. Jim Inhofe’s seat is being filled by pro-Trump GOP Rep. Markwayne Mullin, who is predicted to prevail in tonight’s Senate GOP primary.
Although Donald Trump has not commented on the campaign, the two contestants, former state senator Josh Brecheen and current state representative Avery Frix, have positioned themselves as the front-runner for the MAGA party.