Republican matchup in Wisconsin gubernatorial race Tuesday features competing candidates backed by former President Donald Trump and his former Vice President Mike Pence. Democrats are choosing candidates To face two-term GOP Sen. Ron Johnson for control of the closely divided chamber.
Meanwhile, voters in Vermont are selecting a replacement for U.S. Sen. Patrick Lehyo. The longest-serving members of the Chamber retire. In Minnesota, US Representative Ilhan Omaro faces a Democratic primary challenge that helped defeat a voter referendum to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new department of public safety.
What to look for in Tuesday’s primary elections in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont and Connecticut:
Wisconsin
Tim Michaels, co-owner of the construction company Trump has the backing of the gubernatorial race and is spending millions of his own money, using both the former president’s support and his years working at Wisconsin’s largest construction company to build his family business. Is. Mitchell presents himself as an outsider, although he previously lost a campaign to oust then-US Senator Russ Feingold in 2004 and has long been a major GOP donor.
Establishment Republicans, including Pence and former Gov. Scott Walker, have supported former Lieutenant-Government Rebecca Clayfish.Survived a 2012 recall attempt with Joe Walker, He argues that he has the experience and knowledge to advance conservative priorities, including dismantling the bipartisan commission that runs elections.
With control of the Senate at stake, Democrats will also make their choice to take on Johnson. Democratic support rallied around Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes late in the race after three of his top rivals dropped out. and gave them his support. If elected, he would become the state’s first black senator.
Several lesser-known candidates remain in the primary, but Johnson and Republicans have considered Barnes as the nominee, casting him as too liberal for Wisconsin, a state Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020.
There are also four Democrats running in Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District, a seat that opened with the retirement of veteran Democratic US Representative Ron Kind., The district is trending Republican, and Derrick van Orden — who lost to Kind in 2020 and has an endorsement of Trump — is running unopposed.
Minnesota
Democratic Gov. Tim Walzee faces a little-known opponent as he seeks a second term. His likely opponent is Republican Scott Jensen.A doctor and former state legislator, who has made vaccine skepticism the focus of his campaign and is facing symbolic protests.
The two men have been running a virtual campaign for months, with Jensen attacking Walz for his handling of the pandemic and the governor for rising crime around Minneapolis. Walz highlights his support of abortion rights and suggests that Jensen would be a threat to take away the legality of the procedure in Minnesota.
Crime has emerged as the biggest issue in Rep. Omar’s Democratic primary. He faces a challenge from Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Council member who opposes the police defamation movement and helped defeat efforts last year. To replace the city police department. Omar, who supported the referendum, has substantial funding gains and is expected to benefit from a strong grassroots action.
The most confusing part of Tuesday’s voting was for the first Congressional District seat held by US Representative Jim Hedgedorn, who died earlier this year. from cancer. Republican former state Representative Brad Finstead and Democrat Jeff Ettinger, a former Hormel CEO, are competing together in the primaries to determine the November matchup for the next two-year term representing the southern Minnesota district, as well as finishing last. There are also a special election to do. A few months after Hagedorn’s tenure.
Connecticut
It’s been nearly three decades since Connecticut was a Republican in the US Senate, but the party is not giving up.
To compete with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal in GOP primaryThe party has backed Themis Clarides, a former minority leader of the Rajya Sabha. She is a social liberal who supports abortion rights and some gun control measures and says she did not vote for Trump in 2020. Clarides argued his experience and position could persuade voters to oppose Blumenthal, a two-term senator who recorded 45% of the job in May. approval rating, his lowest in a Quinnipiac poll since taking office.
The Klarides are being challenged by conservative lawyer Peter Lumaj and Republican National Committee member Leora Levy, whom Trump backed last week. Both candidates oppose abortion rights and further gun restrictions, and they support Trump’s policies.
Vermont
Leahy’s upcoming retirement opens up two seats in Vermont’s small three-person congressional delegation—and an opportunity for the state to send a woman to Washington to represent it. for the first time.
Democratic U.S. Representative Peter Welch, the state’s tallest congressman, quickly began his Senate bid after Leahy appeared to step down. Leahy, who is the temporary president of the Senate, has been hospitalized several times over the past two years, including after breaking his hip this summer.
Welch is endorsed by Sanders and is the odds-on favorite to win the seat in November. He faces two other Democrats in the primary: Isaac Evans-Frantz, an activist, and Dr. Nikki Thran, an emergency doctor.
On the Republican side, former US attorney Christina Nolan, retired US Army officer Gerald Malloy and investment banker Myers Marmel are competing for the nomination.
The race to replace Welch has sparked Vermont’s first wide-open US House campaign since 2006.
Two women, including Lieutenant Gov. Molly Gray and State Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, are the top Democratic candidates in the race. Grey, elected in her first political bid in 2020, is a lawyer and a former assistant state attorney general.
The winner of the Democratic primary would be the overwhelming favorite to win the general election in the liberal state. In 2018, Vermont became the last state without female representation in Congress when Mississippi Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith was appointed to the Senate.
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Associated Press writer Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Doug Glass in Minneapolis; Susan High in Hartford, Connecticut; and Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vermont, contributed to this report.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached here http://twitter.com/MegKinnard Associated Press
