June 2 primaries: 6 races to watch as Democrats, Republicans vie for House, Senate nods
Eight states and Washington, D.C., will hold primary elections Tuesday, several of which were rescheduled as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the campaign cycle.
Of those states, several like Indiana and Rhode Island, also significantly expanded their vote-by-mail options amid safety concerns about voting in person.
The elections also come as protests have engulfed the nation following the death of George Floyd. Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter after bystander video showed him kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes.
Although the results of the presidential primary have been settled, races for offices down the ballot could help determine the battle for the House and Senate in November.
Here are some of the key races to watch:
Scrambles to take on incumbents in Iowa
Can Steve King retain his seat?
The primary in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District will determine whether Republican voters in this largely rural district spanning northwest Iowa return Rep. Steve King to office. King has represented the district since 2013, but has drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle for a raft of controversial statements about race.
After seeming to ask why phrases like “white supremacist” were offensive in a 2019 New York Times interview, King was stripped of his committee assignments, including that on the House Agriculture Committee.
More:‘Battle against the swamp’: Steve King fighting for his political life in competitive primary
King faces a strong primary challenge from state Sen. Randy Feenstra, who has argued that King has lost his ability to advocate for residents of the district by losing his committee placements. Feenstra’s campaign emphasizes “Randy’s Results” he can bring for the district and has drawn support from national groups like National Right to Life and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
One possible outcome is that the five Republicans running will split the vote, and under Iowa’s primary rules, if no candidate gets more than 35% of the vote, the nomination will be decided at the party convention.
Former baseball player J.D. Scholten is running uncontested on the Democratic side of the ballot. Scholten ran against King in 2018 and lost by only three percentage points, King’s smallest margin of victory thus far. The district skews heavily Republican.
Who will face Sen. Joni Ernst?
Iowa has a competitive Democratic primary for the nomination to take on Republican incumbent Sen. Joni Ernst. Real estate executive Theresa Greenfield has the backing of several national organizations, but former Navy Admiral Mike Franken won the endorsement of the state’s largest newspaper, The Des Moines Register, which is part of the USA TODAY Network.
Ernst’s seat is seen by some analysts as a pick-up opportunity for Democrats looking to take back the Senate.
Greenfield has significantly outraised the other Democratic candidates but has not taken a commanding lead in the race. At the end of the last quarter, she had $4.7 million cash on hand as compared to Franken’s $49,570.
Greenfield has picked up support from the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm the democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Emily’s List, and Reps. Dave Loebsack and Abby Finkenauer.
Iowa did not move the date of its primary, but Secretary of State Paul Pete said his office would send absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. Iowans will not vote for president on Tuesday; their first-in-the-nation caucus was held in February.
A Republican brawl and a former spy in New Mexico
Republican primary has sparked war of words
New Mexico’s Second Congressional District sprawls across the southern half of the state and is represented by Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small.
Republicans eye the district as a potential pickup opportunity given its general Republican lean. Trump won the district by a large margin in 2016, and Torres Small only won her seat by 1.8 percentage points in 2018.
Three Republicans are running for the chance to take on Torres Small in November: businesswoman Claire Chase, businessman Chris Mathys, and entrepreneur Yvette Herrell, who narrowly lost to Torres Small in 2018.
The race between Chase and Herrell has turned to mudslinging between the two and outside groups. Both Chase and Harrell have accused each other of being “never Trump” Republicans.
Chase has accused Herrell of using taxpayer money to attend “a California piñata party where they hung President Trump in effigy.” And in a Tea Party-backed Super PAC ad, a woman in an exaggerated voice read Chase’s old Facebook posts attacking Trump during the 2016 GOP presidential primary campaign. The commercial has been called sexist by some for its depiction of Chase, who is blonde.
The two candidates have released dueling ads in which they both assert their closeness to Trump. Herrell touts herself as a “Trump conservative” backed by Trump allies, and Chase’s ad calls her a “pro-Trump conservative.”
Additionally, according to an Associated Press report, Chase also called for Herrell to drop out of the race over claims Herrell was spreading rumors about Chase’s infidelity.
A Democratic super PAC has also gotten involved in the Republican primary. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign spending, liberal PAC Patriot Majority spent about a quarter-million dollars on ads calling Chase “opposed” to Trump and Herrell “100% loyal” to Trump in an effort to boost Herrell as the general election nominee.
New Mexico’s Third Congressional District
The Third Congressional District has attracted a crowded field of Democratic candidates to succeed Rep. Ben Ray Luján, who is running for Senate. The contest has drawn national attention because of the high profile of one of its candidates, former CIA officer Valerie Plame, who was the subject of a major espionage scandal during President George W. Bush’s administration. Plame became a hero to some liberals after her cover was leaked allegedly by the Bush administration.
Attorney and activist Teresa Leger Fernandez, however, has won the backing of powerful national progressive groups like Emily’s List, the Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ BOLD PAC.
The heavily Democratic district, which straddles the northern half of New Mexico and was won by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by a large margin, is unlikely to be competitive in November.
Maryland Democratic primaries
Maryland, which rescheduled its primaries from April 28, will vote in several congressional primaries on Tuesday.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer faces a primary challenge from the left in McKayla Wilkes. Wilkes has significantly trailed Hoyer in fundraising, but has run a campaign emphasizing the need for new leadership in the district.
And in one unusual race, after just voting in a February primary and April general election to fill the seat vacated after the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings, voters in Maryland’s Seventh Congressional District will go back to the polls again to decide whether to re-elect Rep. Kweisi Mfune.
Mfune held the congressional seat before Cummings, from 1987 to 1996, before resigning from Congress to run the NAACP.
Mfune won the special primary election in February with 43% of the vote, with Cummings’ wife Maya Rockeymoore Cummings coming in second. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings and former Elijah Cummings aide Harry Spikes are among the 19 total Democrats vying again for the seat.
Contributing: The Associated Press