Five states hold primaries Tuesday, with competitive House and Senate races that could ultimately decide control of Congress next year.Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia and Washington are all holding contests.A number of Democratic primaries are pitting congressional incumbents against progressive challengers.Redistricting efforts will also influence the races.
Missouri Republicans redrew their map to squeeze Democrats, while Virginia moved its primary from June to August for a Democratic redistricting push that courts ultimately threw out.Democrats choose between moderates and progressivesThe open U.S.Senate seat in Michigan, a swing state, has two Democratic candidates lodged in a tight race to win their party's nomination.Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate supported by other far left leaning Democrats will be up against Rep.
Haley Stevens, a more moderate candidate, supported by Democratic party leaders.El-Sayed is a former Detroit public health official who ran an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2018.Stevens is running for a fifth term and has been boosted by millions in outside spending.
She has outspent El-Sayed on the airwaves by at least eight times, according to AdImpact – including groups aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, whose involvement El-Sayed has criticized.El-Sayed is leading the polls for the primary contest.Yet Haley supporters argue that she has a better chance of winning in a purple state in November's general election.
Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will face Mike Rogers, a former congressman who is unopposed for the Republican nomination and narrowly lost the state's other U.S.Senate seat to Sen.
Elissa Slotkin in 2024.If the Democrats want to win back the Senate, they have to hold on to the seat in Michigan.The race has also garnered national attention because it's become a referendum on the Democratic Party's identity and the kind of candidate it should be nominat...