The Six Elections to Watch This July
This month, voters will decide control of San Diego County government—along with other intriguing races we’re following in Arizona, D.C., Georgia, Missouri, and Rhode Island.
We’re only days removed from the political earthquake in New York City’s mayoral race, but the election calendar matches on: There are many fewer contests on the ballot in July than the busy stretch of May and June, but these elections are no less important in deciding critical local offices.
It all starts on Tuesday, July 1, with a battle in Southern California with a huge prize: partisan control of the nation’s fifth most populous county, San Diego.
Then, watch the special elections in Arizona and Rhode Island to replace two towering Democratic politicians who passed away this year. Plus, St. Louis and Washington, D.C., host council races with some tense dynamics, and Georgia is holding an election three years late.
Below, Bolts guides you through six elections to keep track of in July.
As always, this guide is not an exhaustive list of all elections in July, but our selection of key races to monitor. There are also some municipal races in Rhode Island and South Carolina, for instance.
And return on and after each Election Day as we will update this page as the results are known.
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July 1: California
San Diego County Board of Supervisors
Runoff election
| The chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, Nora Vargas, unexpectedly resigned in January, which cost Democrats their governing majority in the nation’s fifth largest county. Her departure left the board equally divided, stymying Democratic members’ efforts to ramp up local protections for immigrants in the face of the Trump administration’s crackdown, and the sheriff’s reluctance to abide by existing local protections. Bolts reported this spring on volunteer patrols that have stepped in to inform residents of ICE activity. |
| Now, control of the five-member board is coming down to the election to replace Vargas in the county’s first district, located in the South Bay region. Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, a Democrat, and Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, a Republican, are facing off after they grabbed the top two spots in the first round in April. The district leans Democratic (Kamala Harris received 67 percent here in November), which should favor Aguirre; but the results were tight in the April primary, turnout is expected to be low, and the ballot will not list which candidate belongs to which party. |
| Result: Stay tuned after the July 1 election. |
July 1: Missouri
St. Louis city council
General election
| This city council race to replace Cara Spencer, who became mayor in April, is unfolding against the backdrop of state Republicans’ heavy crackdown against St. Louis. “Voters are well aware of the removal of agency from voters of the city, and I think it’s important that the municipal government stand strong against that,” candidate Alecia Hoyt, a Democrat, told Bolts. But the election has also become a showcase of the intricacies of election rules shaping how easily local parties can control results. The local Democratic party endorsed Shedrick Kelley but other Democrats have filed to run as well, triggering recriminations and a lawsuit. |
| St. Louis Magazine reported last month that the party is denying access to its voter database to candidates other than Kelley, breaking with a precedent that has allowed others to purchase the data. Hoyt and fellow candidate Jami Antwi, who is also a Democrat, told Bolts in mid-June they still have no access. Democratic leaders say they’re aggrieved as well: When election officials designed a ballot that does not name candidates’ parties, the party filed a lawsuit demanding that they list Kelley as their nominee, which would have given him a huge boost. Antwi says the pair of decisions are “detrimental to the fairness of the election” and that the party should be focusing instead on how to “encourage voter participation.” |
| Result: Stay tuned after the July 1 election. |
July 8: Rhode Island
Rhode Island Senate’s fourth district
Dem primary
| Dominick Ruggerio, the president of the Rhode Island Senate, died in April. A powerful figure in state politics, he frequently upset progressives who challenged him in repeat primaries, especially over his opposition to codifying abortion rights. These clashes came in the context of broad tensions within the state’s Democratic Party over the last decade, with the leadership repeatedly backing anti-abortion candidates, including over Democratic incumbents, while the left tried to oust party leaders. |
| One of the more prominent progressive figures who took part in those fights is now coming out of retirement to attempt a comeback by running for Ruggerio’s seat: Marcia Ranglin-Vassell is a former lawmaker who ousted the House Majority Leader in 2016, a result that is reported to have inspired more progressives to run for office. She then faced and defeated a party-endorsed anti-abortion challenger in 2018, and eventually retired in 2022. In the July primary, she’ll face Lenny Cioe, a nurse who unsuccessfully ran against Ruggerio three times; Stefano Famiglietti, a North Providence councilmember endorsed by the local party committee in June; and Manny Taveras, brother of a former Providence mayor. |
| Result: Stay tuned after the July 8 election. |
July 15: Arizona
U.S. House seat from Arizona’s seventh district
Dem primary
| Raúl Grijalva, who died in March, was a longtime chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The election to replace him will decide if the left can keep a strong presence in Arizona’s delegation—and in this blue district, the stakes are largely confined to the Democratic primary. Most party endorsements have gone to two Democrats: Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, Raúl’s daughter, has the support of Arizona’s two U.S. senators plus left figures like Bernie Sanders; and Daniel Hernandez, a former lawmaker who survived a mass shooting in 2011. |
| Hernandez has staked a more moderate lane overall, and he’s also pitching himself as a pro-Israel voice. Also running: Deja Foxx, a 25-year old activist making a case for generational change; José Malvido, an advocate for indigenous rights; and retired businessman Patrick Harris. A proposal to build new mines on land that’s sacred to Apache people has sparked one of the clearest policy fault lines in the race: Hernandez stands alone in supporting the mines, which Grijalva has said would bring “environmental devastation.” In this border district, which covers nearly the entire border between Arizona and Mexico, the candidates largely agree on denouncing Trump and his immigration crackdown. |
| Result: Stay tuned after the July 15 election. |
July 15: Georgia
Georgia’s Public Service Commission
Dem primary Runoff
| Georgia is holding this election three years late. Back in 2022, a group of Atlanta-area Black voters sued Georgia for how it elects members to its utility commission; they argued that the election system violated the Voting Rights Act and diluted the power of Black voters. A federal judge agreed, but as the state appealed the ruling, the two elections that were already scheduled for that year were outright canceled. Since then, Republican Commissioners Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson have gotten to stay in their seats—even though their terms expired years ago. |
| An appeals court ended up overturning the decision and keeping Georgia’s system in place. So elections are back on the calendar, and Echols and Johnson are finally up this year. The June primary decided that Echols will face Democrat Alicia Johnson in November. But Fitz Johnson’s Democratic opponent will be decided in this July runoff. With no other statewide election on the ballot, turnout is expected to be dismal; that’s sparked a new round of recriminations about Georgia’s choice to use runoffs—a design that, in the South, traces back to an effort to stop Black candidates. |
| Result: Stay tuned after the July 15 election. |
July 15: Washington, D.C.
D.C. Council
Special election
| The D.C. Council expelled Trayon White in February, six months after the FBI arrested him for allegedly taking $156,000 in bribes from a contractor. White’s expulsion triggered a special election to fill his seat. Except the winner of the special election may well be… Trayon White. |
| With his trial still at least a year away, White is running to regain his Southeast D.C. seat, and he seems favored to succeed. White faces three opponents, all Democrats and all with some experience in local government—Salim Adofo, Mike Austin, and Sheila Bunn—but Hillrag reported in June that White has largely avoided campaign forums. City voters last fall approved switching to ranked-choice voting, but the reform faces implementation delays and skeptical local leaders, so this election is still held under traditional first-past-the-post rules. |
| Result: Stay tuned after the July 15 election. |