Primary voting is scheduled to take place in four states, further solidifying the front lines ahead of the US midterm elections in November.
On Tuesday, residents in Maine, South Carolina, North Dakota and Nevada will vote in party primaries to choose Democratic and Republican candidates who will advance to the final ballot.
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But Maine has emerged as one of the most heated key battlegrounds. Democrats are desperate to flip four seats in the U.S. Senate, with all eyes on Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ re-election campaign.
Democrats hope to defeat her in November, but the party is divided over controversy related to leading candidate Graham Platner. This race became one of the most watched races of the primary season.
At stake in November is control of Congress, with each party plotting to field its strongest candidate.
Republicans currently hold slim majorities in both the House and Senate, but Democrats hope to take back power in a major rebuke to President Donald Trump.
Tuesday’s primary will also include state-level races. Some key battleground states, such as Nevada, could have significant influence over election administration in the coming years.
Here are some of the major races to watch.
Key Maine Senate race set for decision
Democrats’ long-term hopes of taking back the Senate rest largely on the lush, forested northeastern state of Maine, which borders Canada and the Atlantic Ocean.
As a result of Tuesday’s primary vote, Mr. Platner is widely expected to emerge as the Democratic nominee for the November midterm elections. If he does, he will face longtime incumbent Republican Sen. Collins, who is seen as an easy loser.
Polls consistently show the 41-year-old progressive narrowly defeating Collins in November’s midterm elections.
Mr. Platner has appealed to left-wing voters with his support for universal health care and ending U.S. aid to Israel. But a series of recent reports about his past relationships threaten to dampen enthusiasm for his campaign.
Platner, an oyster farmer and former US Marine, has been accused of “disturbing” behavior toward women, including an incident in which he allegedly twisted the arm of his girlfriend. Mr. Platner denies the allegations.
He also permanently removed a skull and bones tattoo that critics likened to a Nazi symbol, saying its origin was unknown.
Still, Mr. Platner is expected to handily defeat his closest Democratic rivals, environmental consultant David Costello, and Gov. Janet Mills, who remains on the ballot despite announcing she is withdrawing from the race, in Tuesday’s primary.
Contests for Maine House and Governor’s seats
But there are other nationally important races in Maine. This includes the race for the House seat vacated after Democratic Rep. Jared Golden announced he would not run for re-election.
Golden has represented Maine’s 2nd Congressional District since 2019 and has proven adept at maintaining support despite the coastal district’s conservative leanings.
If Republicans win his seat, it would be a boon to the party’s efforts to maintain its House majority. Former Republican Gov. Paul LePage is running as an independent in the party’s primary to replace Golden.
Meanwhile, four Democratic Party members are competing against him in party primaries.
They include state Sen. Joe Baldacci, state Auditor Matthew Dunlap, social worker Paige Loud, and legislative staffer Jordan Wood. All four are charting a line more to the left than the outgoing lawmaker.
The Maine gubernatorial race is also underway, and Mills, a Democrat, will step down from his post at the end of the year due to term limits.
The primaries of both parties are drawing large numbers of participants for a chance to win the governor’s mansion in November. Each race has a descendant of a prominent politician.
On the left are Angus King III, whose father is currently the state’s representative in the U.S. Senate, and Hannah Pingree, the daughter of the current senator. Running on the right is Jonathan Bush, a healthcare executive and cousin of former President George W. Bush.
Election administration is a major issue in Nevada.
Nevada has remained deep purple in recent years, neither leaning to the right or left.
Democratic presidential candidates won by narrow margins in the state from 2008 to 2020, but President Donald Trump broke that streak in 2024 by winning more than 50% of the vote.
A whopping 45 percent of Nevada voters are registered as independents. That means they will have significant influence in November’s midterm voting, but will not be able to vote in Tuesday’s closed primary, which is limited to party members.
The vast Western Province is home to approximately 3.2 million people. In the middle of a desert landscape lies Las Vegas, a global gambling and entertainment destination.
But the state has become a political football, due in part to narrow partisan divides.
President Trump and his allies have targeted the state by spreading false claims of election fraud following the defeat of Republican leaders in the 2020 election. Those claims put him at odds with state Attorney General Aaron Ford, who has vowed to protect the integrity of the state’s elections.
Now, Mr. Ford is currently leading a crowded field of Democratic candidates heading into a showdown with Republican incumbent Joe Lambardo in the governor’s mansion. Polls show Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill as the front-runner in the Democratic primary.
Lombardo, who broke a state record for veto votes, also faces a bench full of Republican challengers, but is expected to win easily on Tuesday.
Another key state post is up for grabs this November. That’s the Nevada Secretary of State.
Like Ford, the incumbent, Francisco Aguilar, has been a vocal critic of President Trump’s efforts to increase federal control over election administration.
Since he is running as an independent candidate on the Democratic side, he will automatically advance to the November general election.
Four Republicans are running to challenge Aguilar, including former state Rep. Jim Merchant, who supported President Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Another front-runner is lawyer Shirley Falkins Roberts, who has the backing of the state’s Republican governor.
At the national level, Nevada has a total of four seats in the House of Representatives. There are currently three Democrats and one Republican.
On Tuesday, Republicans will select a challenger aiming to unseat the Democratic incumbent who is running for re-election.
Meanwhile, the retirement of Republican Rep. Mark Amodei is raising hopes that Democrats may win the state’s 2nd Congressional District for the first time in history.
Eight Democrats are vying to be the party’s champion, while 13 candidates are running on the Republican side.
Democrats focus on longshot reversal in South Carolina
The Trump administration has led a controversial redistricting effort since last year, urging Republican-led states to redraw their congressional districts to favor Republicans.
But last month, South Carolina lawmakers opted not to move forward with the redistricting plan, at least for now. Part of the reason was Tuesday’s primary election.
Thousands of voters cast their ballots last month as part of an early voting campaign encouraged by Democrats. Last-minute redistricting would have required those votes to be thrown out.
For now, this protects the majority-black district of Rep. Jim Clyburn, the only Democrat representing South Carolina in the House.
South Carolina is a southern coastal state with a population of 5.5 million people that is considered right-leaning. But Democrats are looking to defend their House seats and possibly pick up two seats in the November midterm elections.
Mr. Clyburn, 85, is expected to emerge victorious against a strong Democratic challenger in Tuesday’s primary. Given his district’s reputation as a Democratic stronghold, he is almost certain to win in November.
Democrats are also targeting a flip in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, where Republican Nancy Mace vacated her seat to run for governor. Seven candidates are running in the coastal Democratic primary, and 10 Republicans will compete in the party’s primary.
One Senate seat will also be on the ballot Tuesday, a seat held by Republican Lindsey Graham. Despite multiple challengers, opinion polls show the incumbent holding a commanding lead.
Graham is a close ally of President Trump, a prominent war hawk, and one of the most vocal supporters in Congress of a U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
Governor Henry McMaster cannot run for re-election this year due to term limits. Given that South Carolina is an overall red state, whoever wins Tuesday’s Republican primary is expected to win comfortably in November.
Recent opinion polls show a close race. President Trump supports Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evett, but research shows she is consistent with Attorney General Alan Wilson and Congressman Mace, who has broken with Trump on issues such as the Iran war.
North Dakota’s only congressional district
The reserve day in the Great Plains state of North Dakota is expected to cause little ripple nationally.
Neither the governor nor the state’s two senators are running for re-election.
Political observers expect few surprises. North Dakota has been a Republican stronghold since the late 1960s.
The 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are distributed to states based on population size. However, since North Dakota only has a population of about 800,000 people, it only has one congressional district.
In Tuesday’s Republican primary, incumbent Rep. Julie Fedorchak will try to fend off a challenge from former State Department project manager Alex Balazs.
Meanwhile, Democratic Party candidate Trygv Hamer is running unopposed in the party’s primary.
