110 Elections to Watch This August
We are watching ballot measures that may upend election law, high-profile Senate primaries, battles for school boards, legislative showdowns—and a lot else across 17 states.
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July 29, 2026
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A string of high-profile Senate and governor primaries will headline August and set the stage for November. They include the rushed special primary to replace the late Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, heated Democratic contests between the party’s left and moderate wings in Michigan and Wisconsin, and statewide battles between factions of the GOP, especially in Florida, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.
But plenty of other, lesser-known contests could shake up local and state politics, from major statewide referendums to school board elections in counties known for book bans.
Enter Bolts’ guide of the 110 elections to watch in August.
Missourians will decide the fate of a constitutional amendment that would all but shut the door on direct democracy, Kansans may overhaul their supreme court, and Alaskans may impose new campaign finance rules.
Also on the menu? The far right wants to grow its clout in GOP-run legislatures, including in Missouri and Wyoming. Charlie Crist, the former Florida governor, is looking for a comeback. Washington voters face a crowd of decisions for their supreme court. Wisconsin’s Socialist Caucus hopes to defend its seats while new socialist candidates are running in Connecticut and Michigan. Minneapolis residents will weigh in on who should replace their progressive prosecutor. Liberals have openings to flip several conservative school boards, such as Jacksonville’s. And civilians are running for sheriff in unusual primaries.
It all starts with a very busy Aug. 4: Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia, and Washington all hold primaries that day. Tennessee votes two days later, on Thursday, Aug. 6, and Hawaii on Saturday, Aug. 8. Then, on Aug. 11, Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin hold primaries and South Carolina Republicans hold a special primary election. The following Tuesday, on Aug. 18, watch primaries in Alaska, Florida, and Wyoming and a special election in Pennsylvania. Finally, Aug. 25 hosts elections in Oklahoma and a possible runoff in South Carolina.
Return on and after each Election Day; we’ll update this page as the results are known.
As always, this guide is just our selection of races to monitor, those with striking stakes, and not an exhaustive list of all elections in August.
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August 4: Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia, and Washington
FEderal Government
U.S. Senate
| Kansas Dem primary Democrats have not won a Senate race in Kansas since 1932, but a surprisingly crowded field of candidates are vying to face GOP incumbent Roger Marshall. Adam Hamilton, pastor of a large Methodist congregation, has drawn a lot of attention since he jumped into the Democratic primary in April, saying a listening tour had convinced him not to run as an independent. His competitors include Patrick Schmidt, a state senator who alleges Hamilton mishandled a child abuse scandal. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Michigan Dem primary This primary between public health official Abdul El-Sayed and U.S. Representative Haley Stevens is arguably the highest-profile primary of August, and the one drawing the most national scrutiny for testing the intraparty balance between left and center. The left has largely rallied behind El-Sayed, who has put criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza at the forefront of his campaign, while Stevens is a moderate with the support of national Democratic leaders. (The winner is very likely to face Republican Mike Rogers in November.) | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
U.S. House
| Michigan’s 12th and 13th districts Dem primaries Two of Michigan’s incumbent Democrats are facing primaries. In the 12th District, Squad member Rashida Tlaib faces two challengers who have struggled to gain traction, former state Representative Shanelle Jackson, who received 5 percent of the vote in a first challenge to Tlaib in 2022, and Inkster Mayor Byron Nolen. In the 13th District, state Representative Donavan McKinney is carrying a lot of progressive support, including endorsements from Tlaib and Bernie Sanders; in his bid to oust incumbent Shri Thanedar, a multimillionaire who has spent heavily from his own fortune to fend off opponents in the past. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Michigan’s 7th and 11th districts Dem primaries Michigan Democrats’ ideological rifts are also playing out in two open House seats. In the 7th District primary to take on vulnerable GOP incumbent Tom Barrett, the party’s left wing—including Tlaib, El-Sayed, and Bernie Sanders—is pushing William Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement. Lawrence faces pushback from moderates in a tight three-way primary against Bridget Brink, a career diplomat who was named Ambassador to Slovakia by Trump in 2019 and Ambassador to Ukraine by Biden in 2022, and Matt Maasdam, a former Navy Seal backed by U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin. In the 11th District primary to replace Democrat Haley Stevens, the field includes Jeremy Moss, a state senator, who has the backing of Michigan’s Democratic leadership, including Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and attorney Aisha Farooqi, who is endorsed by some left-leaning figures and groups such as the state’s Progressive Caucus. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Missouri’s 1st District Dem primary Cori Bush, one of the most left-wing members of the House, was ousted in 2024 by Wesley Bell, then St. Louis County’s chief prosecutor. Bush is making a comeback against Bell and she is running into a familiar foe: AIPAC. The pro-Israel organization spent heavily in 2024 to defeat Bush, who has been very vocal on behalf of Palestine, and they’ve made her a chief target again. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Missouri’s 5th and 6th Districts GOP primaries Republicans adopted a new gerrymander to transform this Kansas City-based district, held by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, into a reliably red seat. And then they stalled reviewing signatures for a veto referendum to buy themselves time to use the new congressional map this fall. Courts in coming weeks may still block the new map, which could force a redo of this primary under drastically different boundaries. But otherwise, whoever wins this GOP primary will be favored to oust Cleaver in November. State Senator Rick Brattin and former Boone County Clerk Taylor Burks have emerged as frontrunners in a six-person field. The open GOP primary in the red 6th District is also poised to decide a new member of Congress, as the winner will be heavily favored to replace the retiring Sam Graves. The frontrunners, Kansas City Councilmembers Nathan Willett and radio host Chris Stigall, are both running as conservatives and fighting over who is more aligned with Trump. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Virginia’s 1st District Dem primary Democrats redrew this district to advantage themselves and got voters to approve their gerrymander in April, but the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the new map. Still, this district in its old form remains competitive; in fact, it’s a key battleground for control of the House. Democrats are choosing who will face GOP incumbent Rob Whitman. Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor has huge establishment support, including endorsements from the state’s governor and two senators. She still faces six opponents, including Salaam Bhatti, a progressive lawyer at the Virginia Poverty Law Center. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Washington’s 3rd District All-party primary Come November, this will be one of the most important House races in the country; it’s a tightly divided district that Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez barely won in 2022 and 2024. The moderate incumbent faces intraparty frustration, in part over her positions on immigration; some progressives are backing challenger Brent Hennrich. GOP leaders largely support state Senator John Braun to flip the seat. All candidates are running on one primary ballot regardless of party, with the top two moving on to the general, so many election analysts will closely watch the results to gauge the two major parties’ relative strength. In 2024, as the only Democrat on the ballot, Gluesenkamp Perez only received 46 percent of the vote but prevailed in November with 52 percent as two-time candidate Joe Kent failed to consolidate GOP support. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Washington’s 5th District All-party primary This is a staunchly red district that Republican Michael Baumgartner won by 20 points in 2024, so you wouldn’t expect it to be a hotspot this year. But in this all-party primary, several outside groups aligned with Democrats are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to boost independent Nate Powell, a firefighter, so he secures a ‘top two’ spot alongside Baumgartner; they appear to think Powell would be more competitive in November than Carmela Conroy, the Democrat who lost to Baumgartner two years ago. The GOP incumbent seemingly agrees; he is running ads to help Conroy get through the primary. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Washington’s 9th District All-party primary Kshama Sawant, the former Seattle city councilor, for years was the highest-profile socialist in public office in the country. Now she is challenging Democratic incumbent Adam Smith and hopes to secure one of the top two spots. Also on the ballot: Melissa Chaudhry, a progressive Democrat who already ran against Smith in 2024 as a staunch critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
State Governments
Statewide ballot measures
| Kansas On the election of justices Conservatives have long been frustrated that the Kansas Supreme Court is more liberal than they’d wish, most notably on abortion rights. So they’ve advanced this constitutional amendment to change how justices are selected. Currently, a governor picks a new justice among a list prepared by an independent commission; justices then must stand in an up-or-down retention election. If this measure passes, Kansas would instead hold regular elections in which different candidates would face off, a system that may yield a more conservative bench given Kansas’ overall politics. Proponents of abortion rights are mobilized against it. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | |||
| Missouri Amendment 1 Access to state parks is free in Missouri thanks to a sales tax approved in the 1980s, but the tax needs to be renewed every ten years. This referendum would extend it until 2036. Similar measures have easily passed in the past but the Missouri Independent reports that proponents are worried that the far-heated campaign around Amendment 5 (see below) could spill over to hurt this renewal. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | |||
| Missouri Amendment 4 Frustrated at a string of citizen-initiated measures that have protected abortion rights, increased the minimum wage, and legalized marijuana, Missouri Republicans are looking to crack down on direct democracy. Amendment 4, if it passes, would drastically raise the bar for approving ballot measures. Learn more in Bolts’ preview. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | |||
| Missouri Amendment 5 This amendment would provide for the eventual elimination of the state’s income tax and would compel municipalities to cut property taxes when local revenues rise. The campaign has been marked by intense litigation over the exact ballot language. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | |||
Governors
| Kansas Dem and GOP primaries Democratic Governor Laura Kelly cannot run for a third term, and the GOP hopes to regain this red state’s governorship. Trump has endorsed Senate President Ty Masterson, who has championed the Kansas GOP’s ultraconservative agenda in recent years. But Masterson faces Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt and Secretary of State Scott Schwab. As Kansas’ elections chief, Schwab has rebuffed some conservatives’ baseless claims of voter fraud and defended practices such as ballot drop boxes that are under heavy fire from Trump and his right-wing allies. On the Democratic side, state Senator Ethan Corson has Kelly’s endorsement as he runs against state Senator Cindy Holscher and Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | |||
| Michigan Dem and GOP primaries To replace Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who is term-limited, the Democratic primary pits Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson against Chris Swanson, the sheriff of Genesee County (Flint). Swanson’s office has faced criticism for poor conditions in the county jail and it faces a lawsuit for blocking family visits; but the Flint jail is also unusual for encouraging civic participation by people detained there. On the GOP side, U.S. Representative John James is the frontrunner thanks to Trump’s endorsement, but he faces an onslaught of spending from Perry Johnson, a businessman pouring in tens of millions of dollars of his own fortune to run. One of Johnson’s ads calls James, who is Black, the “DEI candidate.” (A third prominent candidate, Attorney General Mike Cox, dropped out in July but his name will remain on the ballot.) | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | |||
State supreme court
| Washington Nonpartisan primaries for four seats Five of the nine seats on Washington’s supreme court are on the ballot this year. It’s the only state in the country where the majority of a high court is up at once, so voters really face a lot of choices. The primaries matter in the four races that drew three or more contenders; they’ll reduce the field to a top two, who’ll then duke it out in November. Each primary features a candidate endorsed by the state Republican Party, which is seeking to push this liberal court to the right, as well as more progressive candidates. Learn more in Bolts’ preview of supreme court elections, where we break down each of the contests. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | |||
State legislatures
| Five Michigan legislative districts Dem primaries Some of Michigan’s legislative primaries are mirroring Democrats’ major ideological showdown in the state’s U.S. Senate race. In the state House’s 8th District, for one, DSA and other local left-leaning groups are supporting democratic socialist Chris Gilmer-Hill’s challenge to incumbent Helena Scott. Over in the state Senate, four open seats are also testing whether Democrats will go for the candidate most aligned with the left; the progressive organization Detroit Action is backing candidates in the 1st, 2nd, and 10th districts; Bernie Sanders endorsed another in the 3rd. Of these primaries, the Dearborn-based 2nd District may be the most notable. It includes Abbas Alawieh, who co-launched the Uncommitted movement in 2024 to protest President Joe Biden’s support for Israel; Alawieh now faces state Representative Erin Byrnes for a retiring Democratic senator’s seat. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Missouri’s 149th and 150th House districts, and 8th Senate District GOP primaries Three Republican lawmakers are facing primary challengers after voting against the new GOP gerrymander, which eliminated one the state’s two Democratic-leaning districts. The first two are state Representatives Tony Harbison and Bryant Wolfin, who are each running for reelection. The third is state Speaker Jon Patterson, who is seeking a seat in the state Senate but faces an opponent to his right in Scott Sattler, a former lawmaker. Wolfin’s reelection bid is notable because the lawmaker is known for constantly opposing legislation, and in many instances being the only legislator to do so, and he often angers his own party’s leadership. The Ste. Genevieve Herald reports that no representative from either party cast as many ‘no’ votes in the most recent session. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
Local Governments
City and county leaders
| Wayne County, Michigan County commission | Dem primary Angelique Peterson-Mayberry, who has been on the Wayne County (Detroit) Commission since 2025, drew scrutiny earlier this year for taking a part-time job with the Detroit Police Department as a “community liaison specialist.” Critics say this poses a conflict of interest. This year, she is running for a full term against Jenell Mansfield, a challenger who works for a teacher’s union and has earned endorsements from the AFL-CIO as well as progressive organizations like Detroit Action. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Ann Arbor, Michigan Mayor | Dem primary The democratic socialist push for more local power has reached progressive Ann Arbor. Mayor Christopher Taylor faces a challenge from Yousef Rabhi, a Washtenaw County commissioner who is a member of the local chapter of DSA. Housing policy is a major issue; Rabhi argues that the incumbent is too favorable to new market-rate housing developments that don’t prioritize affordable units and Taylor makes the case that the overall increase in housing units has lowered rents. Ann Arbor is also hosting several city council races with candidates aligned with either camp, races that will also determine the balance of power in the city. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| St. Charles County, Missouri County executive | GOP primary As a Republican state senator for eight years, Bill Eigel joined the far-right Freedom Caucus and he was so confrontational toward GOP leaders that he was stripped of his role as a committee chair. He tried to translate that ultraconservative profile into the 2024 governor’s race but he came in second in the GOP primary, behind now-Governor Mike Kehoe. Eigel is now mounting a comeback: He is challenging St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann, a longtime incumbent, in the GOP primary. He is running on the drastic proposal of eliminating personal property taxes in this suburban county that is Missouri’s third most populous—a reform that would throw local revenue into upheaval. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
Prosecutor
| St. Louis County, Missouri Dem primary Missouri’s then-Governor Mike Parson appointed Melissa Price Smith in 2024 as prosecuting attorney of St. Louis County, to replace Wesley Bell after his election to Congress. Smith is now running for a full term and faces primary challenger David Bryant, a private defense attorney. St. Louis County was one of the earliest counties that saw a reform-aligned candidate win during the Black Lives Matter movement; Bell ousted incumbent Bob McCulloch in 2018, in the county’s first contested election after police killed Michael Brown in Ferguson. But this year’s primary is largely not being fought along those lines. Price Smith is stressing that she has stepped up prison sentences; Bryant is centering his campaign on his “hands-on” experience in courtrooms and how that would help him push the office to take more cases to trial. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
Local ballot measures
| Augusta Township, Michigan Opposition to data centers has rocked municipal politics nationwide, including in June where voters in a California city permanently banned data centers. This local measure in Michigan doesn’t go quite as far. Still, residents of Augusta, a township just south of Ann Arbor, have organized this vote to block the proposed rezoning of 522 acres of land; a large company hopes to develop a data center there but needs the area to be rezoned to move forward. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Kansas City, Missouri Voters in Kansas City will weigh in on a package of bond measures that, overall, would unlock roughly $1.7 billion for infrastructure and development, including affordable housing programs and the maintenance of parks, The Star reports. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Spokane County, Washington Voters in Spokane County are being asked to renew a 0.2 percent sales tax that would fund the operations of the Spokane Transit Authority for the next twenty years. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Seattle, Washington One third of the budget of Seattle’s public libraries is covered by a tax levy created in 2012; the levy needs to be renewed this year. This ballot measure, Prop 1, would extend it through 2033. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
August 6 and 8: Tennessee (6th) and Hawaii (8th)
FEderal Government
U.S. House
| Hawaii’s 1st District Dem primary U.S. Representative Ed Case has long been a figure of the Democratic Party’s right flank, and in his latest tenure in Congress he has broken with his party with some frequency; he was one of just four Democratic representatives to back the SAVE Act, an aggressive overhaul of voter registration rules and voter ID requirements that Trump has championed. Case faces a challenger to his left in state Senator Jarrett Keohokalole, who has faulted the incumbent for his position on the SAVE Act and for his support for Israel’s actions in Gaza. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 8. | ||
| Tennessee’s 5th District GOP primary U.S. Representative Andy Ogles, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, draws constant media attention for inflammatory statements like calling for the denaturalization and deportation of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and saying that Muslims “don’t belong” in the country. He faces a primary from former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, who says he too is staunchly conservative but criticizes Ogles as a “show horse.” Also keep an eye on the open 6th District, where two prominent Republicans are running on the ultraconservative lane. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 6. | ||
| Tennessee’s 9th District Dem and GOP primaries After the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the VRA in April, Tennessee Republicans rushed to redraw their state’s congressional map and turn the majority-Black district anchored around Memphis into a staunchly Republican seat. (Read more in Bolts about how Black voters in Tennessee braced for the VRA’s demise.) Incumbent Democrat Steve Cohen dropped his reelection race and endorsed state Senator London Lamar, who will face state Representative Justin Pearson in this primary. But the Democratic nominee will face an uphill fight against whoever wins the GOP primary, with state Senator Brent Taylor and state Representative Todd Warner as the frontrunners. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 6. | ||
State Governments
Governor
| Tennessee GOP primary Senator Marsha Blackburn looked like she might coast to the open GOP nomination for governor, but Representative Jack Rose narrowed the gap in some public polls. She released a xenophobic ad in July purporting to take a strong stance against China while smashing fortune cookies. The winner of this GOP primary will likely be favored to replace Governor Bill Lee, who is barred from seeking a third term, though Democrats have a crowded primary of their own. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 6. | ||
State supreme court
| Tennessee Retention election The most recent addition to Tennessee’s supreme court, Mary Wagner, is a conservative jurist who has worked for the Tennessee Republican Party and was appointed by Governor Bill Lee. She faces an up-or-down retention election; in this state, as in many others, these tend to be a formality. Learn more about all supreme court races happening this year in Bolts’ guide. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 6. | |||
Local Governments
County leaders
| Shelby County, Tennessee Mayor | General election Over the last year, Republicans have cracked down on Shelby County, Tennessee’s bluest county and home to Memphis. They redrew the state’s congressional map to eliminate the region’s majority-Black district and split Shelby County into three districts, and they set up a task force that gives state and federal authorities a substantial role in local law enforcement, to the alarm of civil rights advocates. The task force has helped make Memphis an epicenter of Trump’s deportation agenda. Against that backdrop, Shelby County residents are voting to elect their new mayor—the local equivalent of a county executive. Democratic nominee Mickell Lowery, a county commissioner who has said Trump’s task force feels like an “occupation,” faces Republican John DeBerry. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 6. | ||
| Shelby County, Tennessee General election Democratic Shelby County is one of the bluest counties in the nation where the sheriff’s office has joined ICE’s 287(g) program, angering local activists. In the open Democratic primary for sheriff in May, Chief Deputy Anthony Buckner prevailed; he has only said he’d keep evaluating the program once in office, unlike other candidates who said they would leave it entirely. Buckner is favored in this general election against Republican Brad Less, who defends the contract with ICE and vows to uphold it even more directly. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 6. | ||
| Maui and Kauai counties, Hawaii Mayors | Nonpartisan primaries In Maui, local elections are dominated by a debate over whether the county should have phased out thousands of short-term vacation rental units; the reform was championed by Mayor Richard Bissen to boost the housing stock that took a hit during the wildfires that devastated Maui. Now as he seeks reelection, his challenger Yuki Lei Sugimura, vice-chair of the county council, strongly opposes the law and says the county should be aiming “to build houses, not to take houses.” Other candidates in the crowded primary are also pledging to repeal the legislation if elected. The election will be resolved in November, when the top two vote-getters in the primary will face off. The same is true in less populous Kauai, which has an open mayor’s race. Mel Rapozo, chair of the county council, and Bernardo Carvalho, a former mayor from 2008 to 2018, have a similar profile—the Honolulu Civil Beat calls them part of the island’s “more conservative old guard;” they face Councilmember Felicia Cowden in this primary. Both elections are nonpartisan. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 8. | ||
School boards
| Knox and Hamilton counties, Tennessee General elections Republicans have a narrow, 5-4 majority on the school board of populous Knox County. The board has made major decisions in recent years regarding banning books from libraries and approving controversial charter schools. This year, Democrats are defending two seats and Republicans are defending three, so the board could flip. Also keep an eye on Hamilton County’s school board, another of Tennessee’s largest, and another rocked by conservative demands to scale back diversity policies. The GOP has a 7-4 majority with four seats to be decided in August; Democrats could at least narrow the gap. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 6. | |||
August 11: Connecticut, Minnesota, South Carolina, Vermont, and Wisconsin
FEderal Government
U.S. Senate
| Minnesota Dem and GOP primaries Both parties are choosing nominees to replace retiring Democratic Senator Tina Smith. In the Democratic primary, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan has support from the party’s progressive wing as she faces U.S. Representative Angie Craig, a moderate who has walked back some of her positions such as supporting tougher immigration enforcement. The winner of their showdown will be favored in November but the GOP has a competitive primary that includes Royce White, a former NBA player who already won the party’s nomination in 2024 and who is running on a hardcore MAGA message with the support of My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| South Carolina GOP special primary Senator Lindsey Graham’s sudden death on July 11 has sparked an exceptionally rushed special primary to replace him as the GOP nominee on the November ballot. (Graham was running for reelection and had already secured his party’s nomination in June.) Candidates include Darlene Graham, the late senator’s sister who was appointed to his vacant seat by the governor in July at Trump’s urging, Ralph Norman, a congressmember who is in the far-right Freedom Caucus, and Russell Fry, another congressmember who first joined the U.S. House in 2022 by challenging and ousting a GOP incumbent who voted to impeach Trump. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
U.S. House
| Connecticut’s 1st District Dem primary John Larson, a 78-year old incumbent who first won this office in 1998, faces younger Democrats. State Representative Jillian Gilchrest is touting the endorsement of some national progressive groups looking to push Congress to the left; former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin won the Democratic Party’s endorsement in May at a party convention while stressing voters’ “hunger for change.” (That was Larson’s first convention loss in his nearly-three decades in Congress.) | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Minnesota’s 2nd District Dem primary With Democratic incumbent Angie Craig running for the Senate, three former or current state lawmakers—Kaela Berg, Matt Klein, and Matt Little—are running to replace her in the House. The primary has become a showdown between the Democratic Party’s wings, The Star Tribune reports. Klein calls himself a “centrist Democrat” and says he will follow in the centrist Craig’s footsteps; Berg and Little are stressing their progressive credentials and have split endorsements from left-leaning groups. In April, Klein was suspended from a predictions website for betting on the outcome of the race. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Minnesota’s 5th District Dem primary Julie Le, an attorney who worked for ICE until she told a judge in February that she was overworked and quit, drawing national headlines, is now challenging U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, a Squad member and an outspoken critic of Trump’s deportation agenda. Another challenger is Latonya Reeves, a labor lawyer who says she wants to “tone down the rhetoric” and suggests Omar is too focused on her national profile. Omar has survived several challenges from primary opponents to her right in past cycles. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Wisconsin’s 3rd District Dem primary Democrats are choosing their nominee against GOP incumbent Derrick Van Orden, one of their chief targets this fall to control the House. National Democrats have rallied around Rebecca Cooke, who lost to Van Orden by three percentage points in 2024, but first she faces Emily Berge, the former president of the Eau Claire city council. Berge has some local left-wing support, but some progressive figures like Bernie Sanders are backing Cooke. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Wisconsin’s 7th District GOP primary In this open race for a red congressional seat, Trump threw his support behind Michael Alfonso, a 26-year old who happens to be the son-in-law of his Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Some local Republicans have criticized Duffy and Trump for pushing someone based on personal connections, with the chair of the Iron County Republican Party saying, “I think what they’re doing is wrong morally.” Alonso faces several opponents who are touting their own loyalty to Trump, including Jessi Ebben, who is endorsed by the ultraconservative Club for Growth, and Kevin Hermening, a hostage during the Iran hostage crisis who first ran for Congress in the 1980s. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
State Governments
Governors
| Connecticut Dem primary Once a liberal darling when he challenged Senator Joe Lieberman in 2006, Ned Lamont has often frustrated progressives during his tenure as governor since 2019, including when he sided with Republicans to make it more difficult for prisoners to receive clemency. Lamont now faces a challenge from Josh Elliott, a progressive state representative running to his left. Elliott has experience challenging powerful incumbents; he won his current seat in 2016 after launching a longshot bid against the state’s Speaker, who ended up retiring. Still, Lamont easily secured the Democratic Party’s endorsement at a May convention. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | |||
| Minnesota GOP primary Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow, has spent tens of millions of dollars in recent years to support a national network of election deniers who are spreading false conspiracy theories. Now, he is a frontrunner to win the GOP nomination for Minnesota governor—even though, as The Star Tribune reported mid-July, he is not registered to vote in the state. He is running with Trump’s endorsement in a crowded field that also includes tech executive Kendall Qualls and state Speaker Lisa Demuth. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is highly favored in the Democratic primary. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | |||
| Vermont Democratic primary Vermont may vote Democratic in federal elections, but Republican Governor Phil Scott has won reelection by more than 40 percentage points in each of his last three reelection bids. Still, two Democrats are vying to take him on this year: Amanda Janoo founded a Vermont organization focused on economic development, and Aly Richards led an organization that successfully lobbied to increase revenue for childcare over Scott’s veto. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | |||
| Wisconsin Dem primary State Representative Francesca Hong hopes to continue the string of victories for democratic socialist candidates by securing the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor. She faces strong competition from former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, who narrowly lost the 2022 Senate race, plus from state Senator Kelda Roys and Joel Brennan, former secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Administration. The field was transformed mid-July when Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, who was perceived as an early frontrunner and had consolidated support from moderate Democrats, dropped out amid revelations that her campaign finances were in disarray. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a former candidate who had dropped out, then rejoined the field. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | |||
State legislatures
| Connecticut’s House District 92 and Senate District 2 Dem primaries Patricia Dillon has served in the Connecticut House since 1984—that’s 21 terms—and she has only ever faced a primary opponent in this safely blue district once before, according to CT Insider. In a test of Democrats’ desire for generational change, she faces two challengers at once this summer: Eli Sabin, a former New Haven alder, and Justin Farmer, who was endorsed by the local chapter of DSA. DSA’s involvement reflects socialists’ desire to expand their clout in Connecticut, riding their success in New York earlier this summer. DSA has also endorsed state Representative Maryam Khan’s challenge to state Senator Douglas McCrory. The incumbent is under federal investigation for potential financial fraud, and faces blowback from Democratic leaders. Khan and McCrory are also running against Ayana Taylor, chair of Windsor’s school board. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Minnesota’s 5th Senate District GOP primary Over the last year, state Representative Mike Wiener has co-founded a Minnesota-version of the far-right Freedom Caucus and filed articles of impeachment against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Now, he is seeking to move to the state Senate by challenging incumbent Paul Utke, and he showed off his strength with the GOP base by securing the party’s endorsement at a March convention. The primary is one of several in Minnesota that’s testing how far to the right Minnesota Republicans want to go; see above for the governor’s race, for instance. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Minnesota’s 62nd Senate District Dem primary State Senator Omar Fateh, a democratic socialist, narrowly lost his bid for Minneapolis mayor last year against Mayor Jacob Frey. Now it’s his turn to fight to keep his job. He faces two challengers, Brenda Short (who also ran for mayor last year and received less than 1 percent of the vote) and Jeanelle Austin, who leads Rise & Remember, a nonprofit organization dedicated to maintaining the legacy of George Floyd Square; Austin has said she is running on a progressive vision for Minneapolis but that she has no specific criticism of Fateh. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Washington’s 43rd and 46th legislative districts All-party primaries In late June, just days after challengers championed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ousted members of Congress in New York, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson tried a similar move: She endorsed progressive challengers to two Democratic lawmakers, a test of her own ability to shift local politics to the left. In the 43rd District, she endorsed activist Hannah Sabio-Howell, who faces tSenate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, a powerful politician in Washington politics who has progressive support as well. Wilson is also supporting Ron Davis, a former Seattle city council member, as he challenges state Representative Gerry Pollet in the 46th District. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Washington’s 11th legislative district All-party primary Another Democratic lawmaker who is facing a challenge from his left is state Representative David Hackney, a Democrat who has sponsored legislation to toughen criminal penalties and tampered calls for police reform with demands for increased police funding, faces a more progressive challenger, Ashley Fedan, plus Republican Christian Rombough. As is typical in Seattle-area politics, the more moderate Hackney is backed by the Seattle Times and Fedan by The Stranger. Bolts is watching these blue Washington districts to see which wing of the Democratic Party will end up winning the seat, but that question may not be resolved until November. Washington holds all-party primaries in which the top two contenders move forward, so it is possible that two Democrats move forward in one or more of these districts. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Wisconsin’s 8th House District Dem primary Assemblymember Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, a Democrat, has sided with the GOP on high-profile votes and she has a very acrimonious relationship with the rest of her party; she left the Democratic caucus last year after fellow lawmakers alleged she threatened to use assault rifles against them. (Investigators later said comments she made were non-threatening.) Ortiz-Velez is running for reelection against Ismael Luna, a community advocate who works at a homeless shelter and is backed by local progressive organizations. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Wisconsin’s 19th and 76th House districts Dem primaries Four members of the Wisconsin Assembly created the Socialist Caucus, a left-flank to the Democratic Caucus. Two of them are running unopposed this summer in their Democratic primaries (Christian Phelps and Darrin Madison), but the caucus will have to battle to keep its other two seats. In the Milwaukee-based 19th District, incumbent Ryan Clancy faces two challengers; in the Madison-based 76th district, incumbent Francesca Hong’s decision to run for governor has sparked a crowded primary, with DSA endorsing Juliana Bennett. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
Local Governments
Prosecutors
| Hennepin County, Minnesota Nonpartisan primary Mary Moriarty’s victory in Minneapolis four years ago was one of the defining wins for the progressive prosecutor movement; since then, the career public defender has worked to dial back harsh sentencing practices, and this year she has taken a highly-visible role in efforts to prosecute ICE agents for violent acts. But Moriarty also announced that she would not run for a second term this year, sparking a wide-open contest. This primary will decide which two candidates move to the November general election. Among the candidates, state lawmaker Cedrick Frazier is most aligned with Moriarty’s legacy and has progressive endorsements, including that of Philadelphia’s reform prosecutor Larry Krasner. Anders Folk, a longtime prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office, has support from Minneapolis’ centrist mayor and he has taken the opposite approach, saying, “Day one, for me, the Mary Moriarty era ends.” Also running is Hao Nguyen, who is working as a prosecutor in a neighboring county, and Diane Krenz, a prosecutor who has worked in this office for decades and is also sharply critical of Moriarty’s tenure. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Chittenden County, Vermont Dem primary Four years ago, Burlington’s progressive prosecutor Sarah George survived a challenge backed by police unions and business groups. The same fault lines are in play this year as she faces Bram Kranichfeld, a former staff prosecutor in her office who is making the case that her policies are too lenient to deter crime, as Seven Days reports. (Kranichfeld currently works as the chief prosecutor of Franklin County but wants to return to Chittenden.) A defining disagreement in the race is that George does not request that judges set cash bail, while Kranichfeld wants to bring back that practice as a way to keep some people accused of repeat offenses behind bars pretrial. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
City leaders
| Seattle, Washington City council | Nonpartisan primary The left-leaning faction of Seattle politics lost most of its seats on the city council earlier this decade, but it began rebuilding its local bench with a strong cycle in 2025. In Seattle’s only city council race this year, can they keep that up with this special election? The North Seattle-based District 5 has been held by the city’s centrist faction since 2023, but that could shift this year. The Stranger, which tends to support progressives, is backing advocate Nilu Jenks; the Seattle Times, which tends to support moderates, endorsed Julie Kang, a former bank chair who works to train teachers. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
Sheriffs
| Chittenden County, Vermont Dem primary There’s an unusual contest for sheriff in Vermont’s most populous county, home to Burlington: Kevin Bloom, a musician, is challenging Sheriff Daniel Gamelin. VTDigger reports that Bloom says he wants the office to no longer enforce all evictions—a primary responsibility of the office—and says offering more housing services would avoid most evictions. He also takes issue with Gamelin’s lucrative practice of hiring out his department’s services for private business security. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
| Dane County, Vermont Dem primary A civilian is also running for sheriff in Wisconsin’s capital county, home to Madison: Jack Ordman, who took part in an animal rights’ protest in April that led to a massive raid and rescue of beagles at Ridglan Farms, which saw dozens of people arrested and prosecuted. Ordman told Wort News he decided to run when he realized that Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett would otherwise not face opposition. Barrett’s office was among the agencies that used tear gas against the protesters, a decision Ordman is critical of. This spring, Bolts also covered the aftermath of Barrett’s unilateral decision to contract with Flock Safety, a controversial tech surveillance company; the county board ordered Barrett to end the contract. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 11. | ||
August 18: Alaska, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming
FEderal Government
U.S. Senate
| Florida Dem primary Republican Ashley Moody, who was appointed to the Senate as Marco Rubio’s replacement, is now running for a full term and Democrats are choosing her opponent. Their choices are Alex Vindman, the whistleblower who testified in 2019 that Trump was pressuring Ukraine to target the Biden family and triggered the president’s impeachment, and Angie Nixon, a state representative running to Vindman’s left and criticizing Democratic leaders. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
| Alaska All-party primary Four candidates regardless of party will move forward from this primary to the general election. You’d expect that to rob this first round of its stakes since the frontrunners, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, and former U.S. Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat, are all but certain to snatch two of those spots. But the campaign was rocked this spring by the entry of another Dan Sullivan, a teacher from the island community of Petersburg. Election officials tried to kick him off from the ballot after the GOP complained but state courts ordered that he remain on the ballot. Still, election officials have chosen to not include Sullivan’s party registration (he wanted to be listed as a Republican) as one way to differentiate him from the incumbent. There are 13 other candidates running, including two Democrats and five Republicans, so it’s unclear whether the second Sullivan will make it through November’s ranked-choice voting contest, and who else might. The top four’s exact make-up could marginally affect the final result; it may make one party’s base more likely to exhaust their ballot. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
U.S. House
| Florida’s 6th District GOP primary U.S. Representative Randy Fine, an incumbent known for virulently Islamophobic statements, has Trump’s endorsement as he runs for reelection. Still, he faces several challengers, including Charles Gambaro, a Palm Coast City Council member who has his own connections to Trump’s orbit and says Fine’s “outrageous” statements were a factor in his decision to run. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
| Florida’s 19th District GOP primary The crowded GOP primary to replace Byron Donalds, who is running for governor, features several comeback candidates who were well-known politicians—in other states. Madison Cawthorn was a congressmember from North Carolina earlier this decade, Chris Collins was a congressmember from New York from 2013 to 2019, when he resigned after pleading guilty of insider trading, and the wealthy businessman Jim Oberweis was long a major figure in Illinois Republican politics. Another candidate in this race is John Strand, who was sentenced to three years in prison for his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol before being pardoned by Trump last year. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
| Florida’s 2nd District GOP primary In the staunchly red 2nd District, where incumbent Neal Dunn is retiring, a super PAC is running an ad to inform voters that Republican candidate Keith Gross is openly gay, Politico is reporting. The PAC is backing Austin Rogers, a former staffer of Senator Rick Scott; another candidate in this crowded field is Evan Power, who became chair of the state’s Republican Party in 2024 with support from DeSantis. These contests in the 19th and 2nd districts are among seven GOP primaries for open districts that the GOP holds or is targeting. In the red 11th, where incumbent Daniel Webster is retiring, the GOP nominee are likely to join Congress. In addition, Republicans adopted a new congressional map this spring to make four Democratic-held districts (the 9th, 14th, 22nd, and 25th) a lot redder; now the party is choosing its nominees for all four seats, though none will be slam dunks for the party come November. As of publication, Trump has yet to back candidates in most of these races though Republicans expect endorsements in coming weeks. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 4. | ||
| Florida’s 17th District Dem primary The Democratic primary in Florida’s 17th District pits a current congressmember looking to move into a new district against a former congressmember who stepped down in scandal earlier this year. The seat is currently vacant because Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from the House in April over allegations that she stole federal funds; nevertheless, she is seeking to win her old seat back. She faces Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee whose current seat was significantly redrawn by Republicans; her decision to run in this majority-Black district instead was criticized by local Black leaders who worry that it will contribute to diluting Black representation. Other candidates running include former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness and Elijah Manley, an activist with progressive support. The winner of the primary will be heavily favored in the fall. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
| Florida’s 24th District Dem primary Besides the 17th District, there is one other Democratic primary in South Florida that’s likely to decide a new member of Congress. The other, a race in the 24th District to replace the retiring Frederica Wilson, is a clash of local Miami politicians; the leading candidates are attacking each other for taking money from corporations and contractors tied to an immigration detention center set up by Governor Ron DeSantis. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
| Wyoming’s at-large district GOP primary Chuck Gray, an election denier who has fought to make voting more restrictive during his tenure as Wyoming’s secretary of state, is now running for Congress. He faces a crowded field that includes state Senate President Bo Biteman, who has occasionally clashed with the ultraconservative faction of the state GOP, and former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow. The race has also been defined by homophobic attacks against candidate Reid Rasner, a financial adviser who is openly gay; Gray’s campaign contacted voters as part of running a poll and informed them that Rasner had a “gay husband.” | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
State Governments
Ballot measure
| Alaska On campaign finance There are currently no limits to how much money people can donate to candidates in Alaska. The group Citizens Against Money in Politics gathered tens of thousands of signatures to put this measure on the ballot and impose new limits on campaign donations, including a ceiling of $2,000 for contributions to an individual candidate. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | |||
Governors
| Alaska All-party primary No fewer than 17 people are running for governor in Alaska—and all will share one ballot, with the top four advancing to November. So one question in this first round is how many make it through from each party. The leading candidates include two Democrats, former state Minority Leader Tom Begich and former state lawmaker Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins. Republicans include former state Senator Click Bishop, business owner Bernadette Wilson, Treg Taylor, who served as the state’s attorney general while that office ramped up the zealous prosecution of a community of American Samoans for voting, and Dave Bronson, whose tenure as Anchorage mayor saw a string of scandals. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | |||
| Florida Dem and GOP primaries Donald Trump’s early endorsement gave U.S. Representative Byron Donalds an edge in the GOP primary to replace Ron DeSantis, but it didn’t keep away other Republicans. Donalds faces a crowd of competitors, including Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, former state Speaker Paul Renner, and James Fishback, a businessman who has grabbed attention with racist statements—some of which are aimed at Donalds, who is Black. The Democratic primary transformed in early June when one of the chief candidates, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, suspended his campaign due a cancer diagnosis. His departure left David Jolly, a former GOP congressmember, as the clear frontrunner. But state Representative Dotie Joseph joined the race a week after Demings’ exit, saying she wanted to give Floridians a choice, plus some other contenders who take issue with Jolly’s background as a former Republican. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | |||
| Wyoming GOP primary The ideological rifts within the Wyoming Republican Party are showing up in this primary to replace Governor Mark Gordon, who cannot run for a third term. Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, who has Trump’s endorsement, and Brent Bien, a retired colonel who got 30 percent of the vote challenging Gordon in the 2022 primary, are aligned with the state’s ultraconservative wing; each has support from members of the far-right Freedom Caucus. They face state Senator Eric Barlow, who also stresses his conservatism but generally offers more cautious answers on matters like whether to retaliate against the state judiciary for striking down the state’s ban on abortion. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | |||
Secretary of state
| Wyoming GOP primary Secretary of State Chuck Gray, an election denier who has pushed to restrict ballot access, is running for Congress rather than seeking reelection. A leading candidate to replace him is Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, a state representative and chair of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, an ultraconservative organization that has supported Gray’s agenda and pushed for investigations into election administrators. Her opponent, Robert Short, a Converse County commissioner, is running a very different campaign, praising election workers and saying he disagrees with Gray’s push for new voting restrictions. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | |||
State legislature: general election
| Pennsylvania’s 12th House District Special election Stephenie Scialabba resigned from the state House in March, triggering this special election in Western Pennsylvania. This is a red district that voted for Trump by double-digits in 2024, but Democrats have managed to flip other legislative seats in staunchly GOP territory this year. On Aug. 18, Republican Scott Timko will face Democrat Brandon Dukes. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
State legislature: primaries
| Control of Wyoming’s Senate GOP primaries The GOP dominates Wyoming, that much is clear. But the party is divided between warring factions—and the battle between the far-right Freedom Caucus and mainstream conservatives is entirely waged within GOP primaries. In 2024, Freedom Caucus members secured an outright majority in the House but failed to do the same in the Senate, sparking fights between the chambers over the last two years. Now, control of both chambers is at stake in these summer primaries. The Senate stakes are clear: Will the Freedom Caucus oust enough senators with whom it has clashed to gain control of the upper chamber? Wyoming File identifies the races to watch as districts 1, 6, 19, 23, 25, which the Freedom Caucus could gain, as well as District 23, currently held by a senator affiliated with the Freedom Caucus. (The first district is especially intriguing since the far-right House Speaker is challenging an incumbent senator.) | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
| Control of Wyoming’s House GOP primaries The stakes in the state House are more complicated because they could go either direction. Will mainstream conservatives flip enough seats to push the Freedom Caucus back into the minority? If not—as in, if the Freedom Caucus keeps a majority—could it actually gain more ground and secure a supermajority that’d make it even easier for them to run the chamber? Wyofile identifies races to watch as eight Freedom Caucus incumbents who face primaries in districts 6, 8, 18, 31 35, 43, 58, 60, plus two seats that the Freedom Caucus hopes to gain in districts 40 and 57. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
Local Governments
City and county leaders
| Jacksonville, Florida Council | Nonpartisan primary There’s a vacant city council seat in Florida’s most populous city—Jacksonville—and the election is at-large, meaning the entire city can vote. That alone makes this special election worth watching as a political test since Jacksonville only narrowly voted for Trump in 2024. In this ostensibly nonpartisan race, three candidates are running to replace a Republican who resigned from the council: Democrat Moné Holder, Republican Deborah Wesley, and Libertarian Addison Jade Patrick. (The top two will advance if no one tops 50 percent.) All five at-large seats in Jacksonville are currently held by Republicans, and while Democrats cannot flip the city council this year, flipping this seat would improve their chances in the future. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
| Orange County, Florida Mayor | Nonpartisan primary One of Florida’s most populous counties is electing a new executive—here called a mayor—because Democratic incumbent Jerry Demings is barred from running again due to term limits. The local Republican Party is supporting Chris Messina (a businessman, not the actor) in a field that features several Democrats, including former U.S. Representative Stephanie Murphy and County Commissioner Mayra Uribe. Unless someone receives more than 50 percent of the vote, this ostensibly nonpartisan primary will decide which two candidates will make it to the runoff—and whether Messina makes it through as the lone Republican. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
| St. Petersburg, Florida Mayor | Nonpartisan primary Charlie Crist, the GOP governor turned Democratic congressmember, is now running to be the mayor of St. Petersburg, challenging Mayor Ken Welch and facing four other candidates. (The nonpartisan race will go to a November runoff if no one tops 50 percent of the vote.) While the race doesn’t feature major ideological fault lines, the two leading candidates are attacking each other for fiscally mismanaging the jurisdictions they’ve been in charge of. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
Local ballot measures
| Miami, Florida Miami is deciding whether to move municipal elections to even-numbered years, to coincide with higher-turnout elections. In recent years, voters in many cities have approved this change, including neighboring Coral Gables in April, in a bid to increase voter turnout for local contests. In Miami, this debate has been unusually controversial because local leaders chose to change the timing of local elections last summer in a way that would have extended their own terms. Courts blocked the move, ordering Miami to seek voter approval for the change. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
School boards
| Florida: Six boards Nonpartisan primaries In 2022 and 2024, Florida’s school boards saw heated elections as Governor Ron DeSantis and the conservative group Moms for Liberty endorsed candidates to try and take over education policy. The temperature has somewhat dropped this year, in part due to the declining local influence of Moms for Liberty. Still, the fault lines persist. Bolts is watching the balance of power in six counties. (Note there will be a winner in any race where someone crosses 50 percent; otherwise, there will be a November runoff.) | ||
| Duval County The highlight may be Duval County, a competitive county that’s home to Jacksonville. The board has a 5-2 conservative majority that has drawn headlines for aggressive book bans this year, but Jax Today reports that the board could swing to the left if conservatives lose all three seats that are on the ballot this year. | ||
| Pinellas County In this populous swing county, in central Florida, three conservative incumbents (Lisa Cane, Dawn Peters, and Nancy Bostock) are running for reelection; they face Democratic-backed candidates. | ||
| Orange County In neighboring Orange County (Orlando), the two parties have candidates for four seats on the board—including the position of board chair. | ||
| Broward County In Broward County, DeSantis claimed the authority in 2022 to oust four elected members of the local school board and appoint replacements; voters have also ousted several of DeSantis’ appointees, and the final one—Adam Cervera—now faces four challengers. | ||
| Sarasota County Bridget Ziegler, who co-founded Moms for Liberty in 2021 while a school board member in Sarasota County, has faced calls for resignation over rape allegations against her husband, but she chose to stay on the board. She is not running for reelection this year, however—leaving a highly symbolic open race to replace her. One Democrat, Jimmy Glover, is running to replace her against Republicans Heidi Brandt and Teresa DeWitt. | ||
| Brevard County In Brevard County, home to Moms for Liberty CEO Tina Descovich, the conservative group is backing incumbents Megan Wright and Gene Tent, and newcomer Tammy Dennis. | ||
| Results: Stay tuned after August 18. | ||
August 25: Oklahoma, plus a possible runoff in South Carolina
FEderal Government
U.S. Senate
| South Carolina GOP runoff (potential) If no candidate receives more than 50 percent in the Aug. 11 special primary to replace the late Lindsey Graham on the ballot (see above), the top two will compete in this runoff. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after Aug. 25. | ||
State Governments
Statewide ballot measures
| Oklahoma State Question 846 This measure would enshrine into the state constitution Oklahoma’s existing law that requires voters to show a photo ID when voting. The state’s current requirements were also approved by voters back in 2010, by an overwhelming margin, but that measure did not amend the constitution and therefore could be modified via an ordinary law. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after Aug. 25. | |||
Governor
| Oklahoma GOP runoff The GOP primary to replace Governor Kevin Stitt is down to a runoff between Attorney General Gentner Drummond and former state Senator Mike Mazzei. Mazzei landed Trump’s surprise endorsement late in the campaign, and he is running on his support for the president’s agenda. Drummond, meanwhile, has occasionally broken with the state’s far-right, such as when he resisted the creation of religious charter schools in Oklahoma, though he also drew scrutiny last year for his decision to retry Richard Glossip for murder after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Glossip’s conviction and death sentence. | ||
| Result: Stay tuned after Aug. 25. | ||
Other statewide official
| Oklahoma superintendent GOP runoff Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent for public instruction from 2023 to 2025, fought during his term to integrate Christianity into Oklahoma public schools, including requiring that public schools teach the Bible and setting up the nation’s first religious charter school, a high-profile push; both sets of policies were eventually blocked by courts. Walters resigned in late 2025 and was replaced by Lindel Fields who is not running for a full term this year. And so Republicans are choosing a new nominee for the job. This primary runoff pits Tulsa educator Robert Franklin against James Taylor, an Oklahoma City church pastor who was fired as a high school teacher during the COVID-19 pandemic for refusing to wear a mask. Taylor is running as a staunch proponent of Walters’ theocratic agenda; Franklin, by contrast, pushed back on the Catholic Church’s desire to create a charter school back when he served on the state’s virtual charter school board. | |||
| Result: Stay tuned after Aug. 25. | |||