Live Coverage: 2022 Primaries

Former Trump press staffer Karoline Leavitt has won the Republican primary in New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

Leavitt, 25, is only the second member of Generation Z to win a House primary and the first Republican. The 2022 midterm season is the first time the eldest Gen Zers are eligible to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, where 25 is the minimum age to serve.

Leavitt will now face off against incumbent Democrat Chris Pappas, 42, to represent the district — a toss-up seat Republicans hope to flip as part of their goal of winning back the majority of seats in the House.

"They said I was too young, we could never raise the money to compete, and that we could never beat a former Republican nominee," Leavitt said in her victory speech Tuesday night.

"Over the last year we were outspent but we were not outworked," she exclaimed. "No way!"

Leavitt defeated former Trump State Department official Matt Mowers, 33, who ran for the seat in 2020 and lost to Pappas by 5 percentage points.

Mowers released a statement in which he pledged to "never stop fighting" for middle class families.

Though Mowers narrowly led in polls against Leavitt ahead of the primary, the most recent University of New Hampshire survey added uncertainty, finding that nearly a fourth of respondents were still undecided just two weeks from the election.

The two candidates also ran with similar platforms, branding themselves as staunch conservatives and political outsiders — while simultaneously promoting their time working in the Trump administration.

Where they differ is on the result of the 2020 election — Leavitt openly trumpeted the former president's lie that he won, while Mowers has not directly addressed it.

Trump did not endorse a candidate in the primary race, but the matchup divided support among Republican leaders in Congress.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the two highest-ranking House Republicans, threw their support behind Mowers. While New York Rep. Elise Stefanik — ranking third — backed Leavitt, who previously served as her spokeswoman in Congress.

Leavitt's connection to Stefanik partially links back to her historic start in Congress, when the New York Congresswoman made history in 2014 as the youngest woman ever elected to the House when she took office.

"[Stefanik] was one of the few people, frankly, in Washington that believed in me to do this," Leavitt told NPR in an interview earlier this summer.

"I know Elise received that same condemnation when she wanted to run, so she really believed in me and believed that I had what it took," she added.

Throughout her campaign, Leavitt framed her youth as an asset rather than a deterrent — arguing that younger voters need to hear from more conservative voices — even though a majority of those voters lean towards Democratic candidates.

"It's a very one-sided culture that we live in," Leavitt told NPR, "How do we break through that mold? It's by electing young people to office that can resonate with these voters, have a platform at the national stage, that can show them ideas, policies, values that they're not hearing elsewhere."

But for Mowers, who's 33 years old and would easily be considered a younger member of Congress, in this race, Leavitt is nearly a decade younger, putting generational differences in the political spotlight.

Leavitt's win comes less than a month after Democratic candidate Maxwell Frost made history as the first member of Gen Z to win a congressional primary.

The 2022 primary season comes to a close Tuesday. While nominees in other states have hit the campaign trail gearing up for November, voters in Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island will decide on their picks with fewer than two months to go until the general election.

Perhaps the most-watched state is New Hampshire, where the stakes are high in the five-way Republican Senate primary. The winner of that race will take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan in a race that's among a handful that could decide party control over the U.S. Senate.

New Hampshire Senate

Former President Donald Trump has, so far, stayed out of these races but has loomed large as candidates have fought to play up their fealty to him. The sprawling field includes Chuck Morse, who is the president of New Hampshire's state Senate, and Don Bolduc, a former Army general who has backed Trump's false claims about the 2020 election being stolen.

Bolduc has been dismissed as a "conspiracy theorist-type" by New Hampshire's Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who is backing Morse. Morse also has the support of an outside group run by a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. It's spent $4 million to boost Morse and attack Bolduc, but Bolduc, who also ran for Senate in 2020, has campaigned doggedly, stoking conservative anger over COVID-19 lockdowns and promising to hold leaders in both parties accountable.

The field also includes Lincoln, N.H., businessman Vikram Mansharamani.

New Hampshire congressional primaries

New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District — which includes Manchester, the state's seacoast and vote-rich commuter towns along the Massachusetts border — is seen as a true swing district. There are five Republicans fighting to take on two-term incumbent Democrat Chris Pappas. Prime among them is Matt Mowers, a former Trump administration State Department staffer, who got his political start in New Jersey as an aide to then-Gov. Chris Christie.

Mowers was the GOP's 2020 nominee for the seat, losing to Pappas by 5 points. Mowers, 33, entered this race as the frontrunner and has been endorsed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, but Mowers' victory is far from assured. Karoline Leavitt — a 25-year-old former Trump administration assistant press secretary who has derided Mowers as the establishment's "handpicked puppet" — has gained ground in polling.

The race for New Hampshire's 2nd District, which runs along the border with Vermont and tilts more liberal, features Bob Burns, a serial candidate well-known in GOP activist circles. Burns bills himself as "pro-life, pro-Trump, America first." He faces George Hansel, the Republican mayor of the liberal city of Keene, N.H. Hansel supports some abortion rights and has the support of Gov. Sununu. Hansel has accused Burns of repeatedly lying about his record but has tacked right over the course of this race. The winner of that primary faces five-term incumbent Democrat Annie Kuster, a prolific fundraiser.

Rhode Island governor

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee remains the favorite in a five-way Democratic primary, although two rivals — Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and former CVS Health executive Helena Buonanno Foulkes — could pull off an upset.

In March 2021, McKee, then the lieutenant governor, moved up to governor when Gina Raimondo left office to become the U.S. commerce secretary. McKee touts his leadership in guiding Rhode Island through the pandemic since then.

Gorbea and Foulkes did not rush to criticize McKee's record. When they did, they targeted a potential soccer stadium in Pawtucket with $60 million in public investment and an ongoing FBI probe of an educational consulting contract awarded by McKee's administration. The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican businesswoman Ashley Kalus, a Rhode Island newcomer. Republicans held the governor's office from 2003 until 2011, but have been locked out since then.

New Hampshire governor

Three-term incumbent Chris Sununu, the most successful Republican in the Granite State in a generation, is almost certain to win the primary for governor. He faces three challengers, all staunch conservatives who are taking particular aim at the Sununu's handling of COVID-19.

New Hampshire was less restrictive in terms of pandemic policies than any of its New England neighbors, but conservative activists were still galvanized by school closures, business closings and mask mandates.

If Sununu wins Tuesday, he'll face Democratic challenger Dr. Tom Sherman, who now serves in the state Senate.

Josh Rogers is the senior political editor and reporter for New Hampshire Public Radio. Ian Donnis is a political reporter for The Public's Radio in Rhode Island.

Voting concludes Tuesday in New Hampshire primary elections, including for governor, Senate and U.S. House seats. Polls must open at 11 a.m. or earlier and cannot close before 7 p.m. ET.

See results for Rhode Island, which also holds primary elections on Tuesday.

Voting concludes Tuesday in Rhode Island's primary elections, including for governor and a U.S. House seat. Polls in Rhode Island close at 8 p.m. ET.

See results for New Hampshire, which also holds primary elections on Tuesday.

Voting concludes Tuesday in Massachusetts' primary elections, including for governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Polls there close at 8 p.m. ET.

Note: Sonia Chang-Díaz has dropped out of the Democratic primary race.

Note: Quentin Palfrey has dropped out of the Democratic primary race.

Former President Donald Trump has remained a constant presence in this year's statewide primaries, endorsing more than 200 Republican candidates running for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and top state executive offices across the country.

So with the end of the primary calendar nearing, how have his endorsees fared?

An NPR tally of Trump's endorsements finds the vast majority won their GOP primaries, but about three-fourths of his picks are incumbents who were already expected to win, with many running unopposed in their primary contests.

In fact, only one Trump-endorsed incumbent — North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn — was ousted in a primary.

The former president's endorsees performed somewhat worse in open races, without an incumbent, or when he backed a challenger to a Republican incumbent.

Overall, 91% of Trump's candidates won their open primaries, and 4 of 10 challengers topped incumbents. His picks fared particularly poorly in Georgia, as he sought to oust sitting GOP officials from state executive offices.

Looking at who Trump endorsed, most candidates said they support his false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent. And among just Trump-endorsed House incumbents, the vast majority objected to certifying the 2020 election.

Up and down the ballot, Trump made a concerted effort to endorse and actively campaign for Republicans challenging GOP incumbents who disagreed with his election lies.

Notably, of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him following the Jan. 6 insurrection, five of six who ran for reelection faced Trump-backed primary challengers, and just two of those incumbents prevailed.

Many Republicans endorsed by Trump face competitive general election matchups against Democratic candidates, so it's unclear how they'll fare in November.

The full list is below. Did we miss something? Email nprpolitics@npr.org.

Abortion rights once again appeared to be a key motivator for Democratic voters, and the party establishment showed it still has an advantage, with election results in New York and Florida Tuesday night.

A win in a key special election in New York State is giving Democrats hope of doing relatively well in these midterm elections. They clearly have momentum, though they should probably temper expectations.

Plus, key races in Florida are now set, with Democrats hoping to stop Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis from winning reelection and a platform to perhaps bigger things — and the first Gen Z candidate won with a likely path to Congress, signaling where things may be headed for Democrats.

Here are four takeaways from Tuesday's elections:

1. More evidence that abortion rights has changed the landscape

How many examples does it take to make a trend? Democrat Pat Ryan won a special election in an evenly divided Upstate New York House district that is one of the swingiest in the country. Former President Obama won it in 2012, former President Trump won it in 2016 and President Biden won it in 2020.

Ryan won it by about 2 points Tuesday, and following on abortion-rights supporters' win on a ballot measure in Kansas earlier this month, he made abortion rights the key issue in his election. Republican Marc Molinaro, on the other hand, made his race about inflation and crime.

It can be tempting to overread the results of special elections. They are generally low-turnout affairs that draw the most engaged voters. In recent years, however, they have been indicators of which party has the most enthusiasm, and the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade is a pretty clear line of demarcation.

In midterms, history is usually on the party out of power's side, and Republicans had success early on in Biden's presidency, overperforming in races in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as special elections earlier this cycle.

But as the Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman lays out, that changed post-Dobbs:

The big question is whether that enthusiasm holds into November when there will be far higher turnout. What's more, political momentum has shifted quickly in this election cycle.

And before rank-and-file Democrats get their hopes up too high, while there may now be an outside shot at the party retaining the House, it's still considered a longshot. At the moment, Republicans need to net just five seats to take back the House, and they have redistricting and history on their side.

Democrats have had problems with setting expectations that they can lasso the moon and then disappoint their base when they only make it to space — even though that's a pretty good accomplishment. (See: Biden's original Build Back Better plan.)

What abortion rights has done is likely given Democrats a real shot at keeping Republicans' margins down in the House and maybe help them retain the Senate, both of which would be major wins.

2. There's no time like the present for establishment Democrats who still (mostly) have the advantage

For as much as Republicans want to stereotype Democrats as extreme progressives, once again the perceived-to-be more moderate or establishment candidates won — in a key Florida race and even in one of the most Democratic-leaning places in the country: Manhattan, Brooklyn and the areas just north of the city.

— Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee head Sean Patrick Maloney defeated progressive Alessandra Biaggi, 67%-33%. Biaggi had the backing of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

— Dan Goldman, who prosecuted the first impeachment case against Trump, defeated a splintered field of more progressive candidates.

In fairness, had progressives consolidated and not split the vote, one of them may well have won. Rep. Mondaire Jones, who was essentially forced into this district because of redistricting and Maloney's decision to run in the 17th District, and Yuh-Line Niou held a news conference before the election encouraging voters not to cast ballots for "conservative Democrat" Goldman. (Only in Manhattan or Oakland could Goldman be considered "conservative.")

Yet, they and several others, remained on the ballot and divided up votes, giving Goldman a path to a narrow victory, which he got, by about 2 points over Niou.

— And in Florida, in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Rep. Charlie Crist handily defeated Nikki Fried, the state's agriculture commissioner, by more than 20 points.

This race highlighted a generational divide within the party — and an old school-new school divide over how to do politics. Crist, a former Republican governor-turned-Democrat, cashed in on contacts and worked political power broker networks, and for now, that old-school style won out again.

New school is coming, though. In the Orlando area, the likely first Gen Z member of Congress won his primary — and it may signal the future for Democratic politics.

"Today's election is proof that Central Florida's working families want representation that has the courage to ask for more," Maxwell Frost, 25, said in a statement. Frost is favored to win election to Congress this fall because of the liberal bent of the district.

3. The results highlight ideological differences within the parties

If more moderate Democratic establishment candidates are winning in many places, the opposite has been true mostly for Republicans this cycle, who are being pulled more to their polarized extreme.

Though candidates Trump endorsed had mixed results Tuesday night, overall, people pushing his election lies are winning or being boosted, though several of them lack political experience.

That's led to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell questioning his party's "candidate quality." The Trump and MAGA brands are going to be tested in purple states and swing districts. And while a wave can push even flawed candidates over the finish line, that's less true with a lazy river current, which is what this election is looking more like.

What's more, even Tuesday, candidates who only a couple cycles ago would have been seen as far off on the fringe lost, but got better than 40% of the vote.

That was the case in Western New York with Carl Paladino, a political gadfly with a history of making offensive comments, and Laura Loomer in Florida. Loomer has regularly posted conspiracy theories, including about COVID-19 vaccines, and calls herself a "proud Islamophobe" and "pro-white nationalism." She won a GOP primary in 2020 before losing by 20 points in the general election.

This time, she lost her GOP primary, but still received 44% of the vote and added a new wrinkle — some Trump-style baseless griping.

"I'm not conceding, because I'm a winner and the reality is our Republican Party is broken to its core," Loomer said in a non-concession speech Tuesday night.

With tears streaming down her face, Loomer, who has been banned from social media platforms, added, "We are losing our country to big-tech election interference."

4. Key Florida statewide races now set

Incumbent Republican Sen. Marco Rubio against Rep. Val Demings is now official. And this race so far has had a heavy dose of Trump. Rubio has criticized the FBI search of Trump's Florida home, while Demings was a Trump impeachment manager.

But there's another issue that is notable to watch — how a Democrat who positions themselves as pro-law enforcement does in a state that's been tipping toward the GOP.

Demings, a former Orlando police chief, hasn't been shying away from that record. She ran an ad, for example, denouncing the idea of "defund the police."

"In the Senate, I'll protect Florida from bad ideas, like 'defund the police,'" Demings says in the ad. "That's. Just. Crazy."

Rubio still has the advantage and this is seen as a bit of a stretch for Democrats to be able to win in this environment, but Demings has outraised Rubio and has done well in some early polling.

The main event, though, very well may be the gubernatorial showdown between Crist and DeSantis.

DeSantis has landed in repeated controversy over his stances on education, women's rights, redistricting and voting, but he's seen as a rising star in Republican circles. Many conservatives see him as a more disciplined version of Trump, someone who can carry the culture-war mantle forward without the chaos.

There's been plenty of DeSantis 2024 talk, but he has to win reelection as governor first.

Democrats went with Crist over Fried, in some measure because of Crist's perceived strength of electability. That's going to be tested. Crist knows the stakes.

"This guy wants to be president of the United States of America, and everybody knows it," Crist said in his victory speech Tuesday night, of DeSantis, without using his name. "However, when we defeat them on Nov. 8 that show is over. Enough."

In a battle of Manhattan, Rep. Jerry Nadler has beaten fellow Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a closely watched primary, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

The two incumbents, who both chair powerful committees for the House Democratic caucus, were placed in the same district after redistricting. (Nadler has represented the Upper West Side for years, with Maloney representing the Upper East Side.)

Nadler and Maloney were both first elected in 1992, and have largely voted the same over the years, with some key exceptions.

Maloney had outraised her opponents, but Nadler received some key endorsements, including from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Another candidate, Suraj Patel, a former Obama aide, finished third.

Nadler is expected to take the House seat, since the district leans so heavily Democratic. His opponent in November is Republican Michael Zumbluskas.

Progressive activist Maxwell Frost, one of the first members of Generation Z to run for Congress, has won his Democratic primary, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

Frost's win nearly secures his path to Congress since the Orlando-based seat is considered a solidly Democratic district. Frost will face off against Republican Calvin Wimbish in November.

"Today's election is proof that Central Florida's working families want representation that has the courage to ask for more," Frost said in a statement. "I share this victory with the nurses, forklift drivers, teachers, caregivers, social workers, farmers, union organizers, cashiers, and other members of this vibrant community who supported this campaign."

At 25 years old, Frost just qualifies for the age requirement to serve in the U.S. House. The 2022 midterms mark the first election where members of Generation Z can run for congressional office. The Pew Research Center considers anyone born between 1997 and 2012 to be Gen Z.

Frost campaigned on key progressive issues, including Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, student debt cancelation and an end to gun violence. He first became involved in political organizing in 2012 while in high school following the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. He's also spoken publicly about surviving a separate incident of gun violence.

"Our generation has been born into a lot of trauma and a lot of civil unrest around people being frustrated with things. And I think because of that, our generation naturally thinks about things in a bit of a different way," Frost told NPR.

The former March for Our Lives national organizing director and ACLU activist beat out a crowded field of nine other competitors, including state Sen. Randolph Bracy and former Florida Reps. Corrine Brown and Alan Grayson.

Frost also topped his competitors in fundraising while racking up key national endorsements from progressive leaders, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

In an interview with NPR, Frost acknowledged that age plays a symbolic role in his campaign.

"Yes we march, yes we engage in mutual aid, yes we engage on social media, and now we're running for office because we believe that we are prepared to be in the rooms and to be the voice for our communities and we can do that and young people should be allowed," he said.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Democrat and longtime politician Charlie Crist has won the primary for governor in Florida and will face Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in November, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

Crist served as Florida's Republican governor more than a decade ago and is now a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The primary for governor has highlighted a split within the Democratic Party in the state. Crist's challenger, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, hammered him over his record as governor and for switching his stance on issues like abortion and criminal justice.

As Crist claimed victory Tuesday night, he thanked Fried for a spirited campaign, but it was clear his sights were firmly set on DeSantis: "The stakes could not be any higher for this election. Our fundamental freedoms are literally on the ballot, my friends. A woman's right to choose - on the ballot. Democracy - on the ballot. Your rights as minorities are on this ballot."

He called DeSantis a "bully" and "dangerous" and made sure to solidify his stance as a candidate who supports abortion rights.

"On day one of my administration, I will sign an executive order protecting a women's right to choose."

Crist outraised Fried and has run as a moderate by casting himself as the person most likely to beat DeSantis in November. He has tried to court unaffiliated voters and disaffected Republicans and has earned endorsements from top Democratic-leaning groups like the state's teachers' union.

When it comes to winning elections, Crist has a mixed record. He left the Republican party in 2010 to run as an independent against Marco Rubio for the U.S. Senate. He made another run for governor as a Democrat in 2014 but lost by about a percentage point to Republican Rick Scott — now a U.S. senator.

Eyes toward November

Now that the dust has settled on the Democratic primary, Crist will face DeSantis in November.

The powerful governor is rumored to be considering a presidential run in 2024. He's raised his national profile and has more than $100 million in the bank. DeSantis has become known for his battles over education, including how teachers talk to students about race, history and LGBTQ people. He's pushed new laws that restrict how conversations around those subjects take place in public school classrooms and even businesses.

If he's to win in November, Crist will have to sway some of the nearly 4 million unaffiliated Florida voters. Registered Republicans now outnumber registered Democrats in the state, but statewide races have often been close. DeSantis, himself, won by about a single percentage point in 2018.

WUSF's Steve Newborn contributed to this story.

Oklahoma holds runoff elections Tuesday following June primaries, led by the contest to replace retiring Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe.

See results for other states holding elections on Tuesday: Florida and New York.

The final primary day of August has some key election contests in Florida, New York and Oklahoma.

Florida and New York had their congressional maps scrambled by redistricting, boosting the number of notable races Tuesday.

But the biggest matchup in Florida is at the top of the ticket, where Democrats will pick a nominee to try to defeat Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential presidential contender in 2024. (Rep. Val Demings will also aim to lock up the Democratic nomination to take on GOP Sen. Marco Rubio.)

In New York, voters are finally casting ballots in congressional races, months after the state's top court scrapped the legislature's map, ruling it unfairly benefited Democrats. The newly drawn map led to intraparty battles, mostly within solidly blue districts, as incumbent House members had to run in new districts, compete against colleagues or face a handful of challengers. New York also has two special congressional elections.

And in the Republican stronghold of Oklahoma, runoff primary elections take place to fill a U.S. Senate term, and in the state's 2nd District.

Florida governor

Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary will likely come down to who voters believe has the best chance of defeating DeSantis in November.

Rep. Charlie Crist is running against state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat. Crist lost his last gubernatorial bid in 2014. But he was elected to serve as governor in 2006 as a Republican.

Many state Democratic lawmakers, including some of the party's more progressive members, have expressed support for Crist. He also has endorsements from the Sierra Club and several labor unions, including the statewide teachers union. Fried has received endorsements from a handful of Democratic state representatives and the Florida College Democrats.

Crist has also raised more money than Fried. Most polls have shown Crist leading Fried — and DeSantis leading both in hypothetical matchups.

3 notable Florida U.S. House races

- FL-07: Eight Republicans are campaigning for a chance to fill outgoing Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy's seat, which contains parts of the Orlando suburbs and now skews Republican following redistricting. Leading among the GOP candidates are state Rep. Anthony Sabatini and controversial businessman Cory Mills — both of whom promote Donald Trump's lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

- FL-10: Progressive activist Maxwell Alejandro Frost leads among a slew of Democrats in fundraising and national endorsements in the race to fill the solidly Democratic, Orlando-based seat left open by Demings' run for Senate. If elected, Frost, 25, would be the first member of Generation Z to serve in Congress. The Democratic field also includes state Sen. Randolph Bracy and former Rep. Alan Grayson.

- FL-13: Florida's latest round of redistricting has also turned Crist's once-toss-up Democratic district, containing Clearwater and parts of St. Petersburg, into a competitive Republican playing field. Leading among Republican candidates is Air Force veteran Anna Paulina Luna, who's been endorsed by Trump. The winner of the GOP primary will go on to face former Obama official Eric Lynn in November.

New York's 12th Congressional District

Redistricting has forced two high-ranking Democrats into a bitter fight over a single, Manhattan-based seat.

Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler are both from New York City and were both first elected in 1992. They have largely voted the same, with a handful of key exceptions.

Now, Maloney is making a pitch based on her work on women's rights — arguing that she is the best candidate to fight for reproductive health care in a post-Roe world. Nadler highlights his votes opposing the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, as well as his leading role in the Trump impeachment hearings.

They're challenged by a third candidate, Suraj Patel, a former Obama aide who came within 4 percentage points of beating Maloney in 2020.

Maloney has outraised her opponents, but Nadler has received some key endorsements, including from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Tuesday's winner is expected to take the House seat, since the district leans so heavily Democratic. But no matter the outcome, Democrats will lose at least one of their senior leaders in Congress.

New York's 10th Congressional District

As Nadler takes on Maloney, a newly redrawn 10th District is open for the first time in nearly a decade.

Daniel Goldman, the former legal counsel to House Democrats who spearheaded Trump's impeachment in 2019, is a leading candidate in the race, as are U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones and state Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou.

Out of a crowded field of about a dozen candidates, Goldman leads in recent polling, followed by Niou, Jones and Councilwoman Carlina Rivera — all three of whom are self-described progressives.

Goldman, a descendant of the family that owns Levi Strauss & Co., has been criticized for largely self-financing his campaign and vastly outspending his opponents.

Jones — a freshman congressman currently representing District 17, located in the suburbs outside New York City — has been endorsed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. But other progressive figures, such as fellow New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have stayed out of the fray.

Special elections in New York's 19th and 23rd Districts

- NY-19: In New York's Hudson Valley, two county executives, Democrat Pat Ryan and Republican Marc Molinaro, are locked in a close race to serve out the remaining four months of former Rep. Antonio Delgado's term. The Democrat Delgado resigned in May to serve as lieutenant governor.

The district is considered a toss-up by the Cook Political Report, and Ryan and Molinaro are ideologically divided along party lines, notably splitting on the issue of abortion, making the race a key contest to watch as November inches closer.

(A twist: Molinaro is running for a full term in the 19th District under the new congressional map, while Ryan is also running for a full term, but in the 18th District.)

- NY-23: Republican Joe Sempolinski will face off against Democrat Max Della Pia for the remaining months of former Rep. Tom Reed's term. But Sempoliski, a former aide to Reed, is not running in the primary for a full term, despite the district being solidly Republican and the term only lasting until January.

Instead, Della Pia, who is running in the primary unopposed, will go up against either state GOP Chair Nick Langworthy or controversial businessman Carl Paladino.

Oklahoma U.S. Senate runoff

In Oklahoma, voters are one step closer to knowing who will finish the term of retiring Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe. And in a deep red state like Oklahoma, winning the GOP contest effectively seals the deal.

Despite a first-place finish back in June, Rep. Markwayne Mullin failed to get over 50% of the primary vote, forcing a runoff against former state House Speaker T.W. Shannon. Mullin has the endorsement of Trump and has out-fundraised Shannon.

The winner of the runoff will face Democrat Kendra Horn in November. Both Mullin and Shannon have the potential to become the first Indigenous person to serve in the Senate since 2005.

Oklahoma 2nd District runoff

The contest to succeed Mullin in the 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses the eastern portion of the state, is also in a runoff on the GOP side.

Both former state Sen. Josh Brecheen and state Rep. Avery Frix tout their support for Trump — though the former president has not issued an endorsement. Frix marginally leads against Brecheen, according to recent polling, but 42% of Republican respondents polled remain undecided. The winner goes against Democrat Naomi Andrews.

In Florida, Democrats have picked their nominees to take on Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP Sen. Marco Rubio. Several congressional seats are also open.

See results for other states holding elections on Tuesday: New York and Oklahoma.

After a redistricting scramble, New York on Tuesday holds primary elections for U.S. House seats, including a battle of longtime Democrats in the 12th District, in New York City. There's also a notable special election in the 19th District.

See results for other states holding elections on Tuesday: Florida and Oklahoma.

JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski advanced from her primary along with Kelly Tshibaka, her GOP rival endorsed by former President Donald Trump, while another Trump-backed candidate, Republican Sarah Palin, was among the candidates bound for the November general election in the race for Alaska's only House seat.

Murkowski had expressed confidence that she would advance and earlier in the day told reporters that "what matters is winning in November." Tshibaka called the results "the first step in breaking the Murkowski monarchy's grip on Alaska." Tshibaka also said she was thankful "for the strong and unwavering support President Trump has shown Alaska."

A Murkowski has held the Senate seat since 1981. Before Lisa Murkowski, who has been in the Senate since late 2002, it was her father, Frank Murkowski.

Under a voter-approved elections process being used for the first time in Alaska elections this year, party primaries have been scrapped and ranked choice voting is being used in general elections. The top four vote-getters in a primary race, regardless of party affiliation, are to advance to the general election.

The other two places in the Senate race were too early to call.

Murkowski voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Trump was acquitted. But he has had strong words for Murkowski, calling her "the worst" during a rally last month in Anchorage.

Murkowski said that if Tshibaka derives her sole strength from Trump's endorsement, "what does that really say about her as a candidate with what she has to offer Alaska? Is it just that she will be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump? I don't think that all Alaskans are really seeking that. Not the ones that I'm talking to."

Kevin Durling, a co-chair of Tshibaka's campaign, said Trump's endorsement of Tshibaka was an added bonus for him. He said Tshibaka's commitment to business and family and her values were important to him. He expressed frustration with Murkowski for the impeachment vote and for her support of the nomination of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

In the House primary, Democrat Mary Peltola, Palin and Republican Nick Begich advanced to the November election. It was too early to call the fourth spot. The winner of the November race will be elected to a two-year term.

Peltola, Begich and Palin were also competing in a special election to serve the remainder of the late-Rep. Don Young 's term, which ends early next year. Young died in March.

The special election was voters' first shot at ranked voting in a statewide race. The winner of the special election may not be known until at least Aug. 31. If successful, Peltola would be the first Alaska Native woman elected to the House.

There also were several write-in candidates in the special election, including Republican Tara Sweeney, who was also competing in the House primary. Sweeney was an assistant secretary for Indian Affairs in the U.S. Interior Department during the Trump administration.

The special election was on one side of the ballot; the other side contained primary races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor and lieutenant governor and legislative seats.

Palin, in a statement Tuesday evening, called this "the first test case of the crazy, convoluted, undesirable ranked-choice voting system."

Supporters of ranked voting have said it encourages positive campaigning but the House race has at times taken on harsh tones.

Begich, a businessman from a family of prominent Democrats, has come out hard against Palin, seeking to cast her as someone chasing fame and as a quitter; Palin resigned during her term as governor in 2009.

In one Begich ad, the narrator says Alaska has faced "years of disasters," including fires and COVID-19. "Sarah Palin is one disaster we can actually avoid," the narrator says.

A narrator in one of Palin's ads refers to Begich as "negative Nick" and says Palin wants to serve in Congress "to carry Don Young's torch."

Peltola, a former lawmaker who most recently worked at a commission whose goal is to rebuild salmon resources on the Kuskokwim River, has cast herself as a consensus builder.

She said one thing that would help her be a good representative is that she is "not a millionaire. I am just like every other regular Alaskan, and I understand the economic struggles that Alaskans face first-hand. My priorities are the priorities of everyday Alaskans."

In a statement early Wednesday, she said while the results of the special election won't be known for some time, "we are moving forward into the general election. We are going to build on this momentum and build a coalition of Alaskans that can win in November."

In the race for Alaska governor, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy advanced, as did former Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, and Democrat Les Gara. It was too early to call the fourth spot.

Dunleavy and his running mate, Nancy Dahlstrom, in a statement said this "is only the start of the race. We'll dig into all the numbers as they come in over the next few days to find out where we need to shore up our campaign, and we're looking forward to reaching every Alaskan and earning their vote between now and November."

Walker is running with Heidi Drygas and Gara with Jessica Cook.

Incumbent Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney was defeated Tuesday after she broke from her party to criticize former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 insurrection.

She lost the race for Wyoming's at-large congressional district to Harriet Hageman, an attorney who supported Cheney in her race for the House in 2016.

While there is not extensive official information on Hageman, this is what we know:

She has a background as an attorney

Hageman, a Wyoming native, received both her undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Wyoming.

She began her career as a law clerk for federal appeals Judge James Barrett, and went on to practice law privately in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska, according to Iowa State University.

Her specialty as an attorney was natural resources and water litigation. She also represented the federal government in many private property cases and eventually opened her own firm, according to Wyoming Public Media.

She first ran for public office in 2018

Hageman, whose father Jim Hageman was a Wyoming state representative for more than 20 years, first joined the political sphere when she unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018.

Hageman said in a statement that she decided to run against Cheney in the House because Cheney "betrayed Wyoming, betrayed the country and she betrayed me."

Cheney was ostracized by senior members of the Republican Party for voting to impeach Trump and later criticizing him for his handling of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Roughly 70% of Wyoming voted for Trump and Cheney's repudiation of him became the red line for so many GOP voters who enthusiastically backed her not long ago.

Trump eventually officially endorsed Hageman, a former Republican National Committee member for the state of Wyoming.

Liz Cheney has cut a national profile, crossing former President Donald Trump because of his conduct on Jan. 6.

The Wyoming Republican is one of two Republicans on the House Jan. 6 committee, of which she is the vice chair — and her voice has been one of the clearest laying blame for the insurrection on Trump.

But on Tuesday, Cheney faces voters back home in Wyoming who will determine her fate and whether they want to send her back to Congress.

And she looks to be in significant trouble.

Cheney's broadsides against Trump put her job in serious jeopardy, having drawn his ire and prompting him to endorse primary challenger Harriet Hageman.

Polls show Cheney down by 20 points or more as her approval among Republicans in the state has nosedived.

In an effort to adjust for that, Cheney has been trying to appeal to Democrats, encouraging them to cross over and vote for her, even invoking the late Democratic President John F. Kennedy in a fundraising email.

That seems like a good idea on its face, but it's likely ill-fated. There simply aren't enough Democrats in Wyoming, the state that voted by a wider margin for Trump in the 2020 presidential election than any other state in the country.

It's been odd to see Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, lauded as something of a folk hero among Democrats. The numbers bear that out: In the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, Cheney had a 60% favorability rating with Democrats.

But among Republicans, her favorability sank to just 13%.

Looking at other surveys, it's a similar story. A Quinnipiac poll, for example, showed her approval with Republicans at 17%.

In Wyoming, a survey found Cheney's disapproval in Wyoming at 72%.

That's bad news for a candidate trying to win a competitive primary.

Let's look at the numbers. Broadly, even if every Democrat, every member of the Constitution Party, libertarian and every other otherwise unaffiliated registered voter in the state broke for Cheney, she'd still be more than 200,000 votes short in a state of just under 300,000 registered voters.

To put an even finer point on it, if Cheney wins every Wyoming voter who is not a Republican, she'd still lose by almost 50 points (73%-27%) if she won no Republican votes.

Cheney will obviously win some Republicans' votes, but that's quite the steep hill to start from.

It all points to a possibly rough night for Cheney, and if she does lose, just two of the 10 House Republicans who voted for Trump's impeachment as a result of his conduct on Jan. 6 will have won their primaries.

One of those, California's David Valadao, is one of the most endangered Republicans in the country, because he's in a district President Biden won in 2020 by double digits.

That means when the next Congress begins, it's possible just one Republican Trump impeacher, Washington's Dan Newhouse, will likely still be in office.

Two states hold primaries Tuesday: Alaska and Wyoming.

In Wyoming, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney was ousted in a Republican primary by Harriet Hagemen, who had the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

Two states hold primaries Tuesday: Alaska and Wyoming.

In Alaska, there are notable races for governor, U.S. Senate and the state's single U.S. House district.

There are actually two simultaneous elections for the House. Three candidates are competing in a ranked-choice special election to fill the late Rep. Don Young's seat until the end of the year. If no candidate has at least 50% of the vote on the first round, the candidate with the least number of votes will be eliminated and those votes will be redistributed to the second-choice candidate on the ballots.

Those same candidates are among nearly two dozen competing in a primary for the full U.S. House term beginning in 2023. The top four candidates in that race will advance to a ranked-choice general election in November.

This Tuesday brings another round of important primaries for Congress and statewide office and the likelihood that big-name candidates will go down to defeat.

But the news next week will not focus on those household-familiar names or what their losses mean for their states. It will focus on what those outcomes may mean for Donald Trump.

That is all the more remarkable considering that these could be the last bids for seats in Congress for two of the best-known women in American politics — Republican icons Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Sarah Palin of Alaska.

Cheney is vice chair of the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and has often been the sharp point of the spear for that probe. Until she voted to impeach Trump in January 2021, she was on track to someday be the first Republican woman to be speaker of the House. She may also be a candidate for president in 2024.

Cheney is, of course, also the daughter of former Vice President Richard B. Cheney, who served two terms in the White House (2001-2009) and was often described as the most powerful No. 2 executive in U.S. history. The former vice president has released an ad and a video in which he appears in a cowboy hat and growls out his support for his daughter and dismisses Trump's claims about the 2020 election. The tag line is: "Only a coward would lie to his own supporters."

Sarah Palin is, of course, Sarah Palin

Palin was the first woman since Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 to be on the national ticket of either of the two major parties, chosen for the vice-presidential slot by GOP nominee John McCain in 2008. She delivered one of the most memorable speeches in recent history at the party's St. Paul convention that summer and headlined packed rallies that autumn that in many ways anticipated Trump's own.

Before that she was the governor of Alaska and since then she has been a TV reality star, though far less successful in that career than Trump. She has also been a Fox News contributor prior to her current campaign and a contestant on "The Masked Singer."

She is running now for the seat held for 49 years by the late Rep. Don Young, the longest serving Republican member of Congress in history. If she wins the special election Tuesday, she will complete his term, and a primary vote on the same ballot would nominate her for a full term starting in 2023.

Just over a year ago, the prospect of Cheney and Palin both serving in the same chamber of Congress at once would have been enough to draw media attention of all kinds at all levels of sophistication.

With first names that easily fit in headlines and last names sure to be click-bait, the two could have driven traffic for years. That would have been especially true had one or the other or both run for president in 2024 or thereafter. And even if neither did, either would be an automatic mention for vice president in 2024 or thereafter.

It is still possible, but developments in both their states and nationally have made it increasingly unlikely that either will be on the House floor next year.

A loss for Liz or a launch?

In another time — say one cycle ago — Cheney would be breezing to another GOP nod for the seat she first won in 2016 and has held since. In November she would expect to win with more than two-thirds of the vote, as she has three times.

But this time, she is expected to lose badly to state legislator Harriet Hageman, who has been leading in the polls – including a University of Wyoming poll published Aug. 12 showing Hageman ahead 30 points.

Trump endorsed Hageman the day she announced way back in September 2021, a swift move that helped to freeze out other Republican rivals who might have divided the anti-Cheney vote.

"We love President Trump here," Hageman says, thanking him for also coming to the state for her. Trump has made good on his vow to oppose the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him in January 2021 (two have survived their primaries, three have lost and four others did not seek re-election).

Hageman was a strong supporter of the presidential aspirations of Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in 2016, at the time dismissing Trump as "racist and xenophobic." She now says she was the victim of lies about Trump told by Democrats and Liz Cheney at that time, but now regards him "as the greatest president of my lifetime."

In interviews, Cheney has strongly suggested she has already accepted the verdict of the Wyoming voters but is not ready to end her career. After completing her current term, observers have suggested, she could be the anti-Trump campaigner in a 2024 field of pro-Trump Republicans – quite possibly including Trump himself.

While no data exist to suggest Cheney could still win on Tuesday, her candidacy has prompted an unprecedented outpouring of support from outside the state and from longtime adversaries as well. Led by former Gov. Mike Sullivan, many Wyoming Democrats are expected to switch their party registration (as state law permits on primary day) so as to vote for Cheney. But it's highly unlikely there would be enough of these to make the difference.

There may have been some erosion of Trump support in Wyoming, where he got 70% of the vote twice. But that slippage probably ended when the FBI searched his home at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8. Republicans in Wyoming, as elsewhere, closed ranks behind the former president this past week and denounced the search as politically motivated.

After that FBI search, the blood is up in Trump states.

Stymied by a voting system

But even this latest rallying around Trump might not be enough to save Palin.

She has his endorsement, and he dialed in for one of her rallies as recently as the day his home was searched. What's stopping Palin is not her relationship with the former president, it's a voting system.

Alaska has an open primary that lists all candidates together regardless of party. In the first round of the vote there this spring, there were 48 candidates on the ballot. Palin, no surprise, came in first with 27% of the total. She has often complained that she "got the most votes" and should not be subjected to a second round of voter assessment.

But under Alaska's system, Palin must face a second round of voting that includes the top four finishers from the first round. One of the top four in the June vote has dropped out, but Palin is still battling two second-round rivals on Tuesday, including another Republican. He is Nick Begich III, the grandson of the last person to hold this seat before Young. His grandfather was a Democrat who was lost in a plane crash in the Alaska wilderness in 1972; his uncle Mark, also a Democrat, was a one-term U.S. senator.

The third candidate this Tuesday is Mary Peltola, a former state legislator who is a daughter of a Yup'ik Eskimo. A Democrat who has emerged as a factor in her own right, she could even win a plurality of first-place votes on Tuesday. But that would not be the end of the story, because a first-place plurality is not enough.

Alaska has just installed a new ranked-choice system, like the one used in Maine and New York City and elsewhere. It allows each voter to vote for more than one candidate, ranking them by order of preference.

If no one gets over 50% on first count, the two with the most first-place votes proceed to an "instant runoff" — a tally of their respective second-place votes. If a candidate has enough of an advantage in the second tally it can overcome a deficit in the first.

Because third-place votes at this point may be the kiss of death, the contest becomes less a popularity contest than an unpopularity contest. The candidate liked best by some but liked least by too many others is not going to win.

Negatives can weigh heavily

One of the arguments for the ranked-choice system has been that it encourages candidates to be more congenial and supposedly discourages negative campaigning.

But Begich's ads have been tough on Palin. One says "she left Alaska to be a celebrity." A voice in another says "vote smart, not Sarah." It was widely noted that she missed a candidate debate this summer for a fundraiser in Minnesota.

And while she was a charismatic force in the 2008 presidential campaign, she has not faced any voters since quitting midway through her one term as governor in 2009. Some Republicans have still not forgotten how she won that term, challenging an incumbent Republican. A recent poll by Alaska Survey Research showed her to be viewed unfavorably by 60% of Alaskans, far more than either Begich or Peltola.

Surveys have shown voters in other places have found the system reasonably easy to use and like the chance to make more than one choice. Trump, for his part, has weighed in calling the system "crap."

He might be even less enamored of it if it frustrates Palin on Tuesday. She was among the first famous Republicans to support him in his presidential quest, and he was pleased to return the favor.

But he will likely console himself by thinking about Wyoming.