The 100 Elections to Watch This May
Bolts is watching primaries and special elections in 14 states this month, including heated U.S. Senate races, contests for five supreme court seats, and Trump’s bid for revenge against state and federal lawmakers.
The midterms are suddenly accelerating, with 12 states holding their primaries or primary runoffs and several more hosting important local races or special elections.
The calendar was thrown into uncertainty Wednesday when the U.S. Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act. Louisiana Republicans are signaling they may cancel House primaries already underway, and officials elsewhere are pushing similar moves. Still, all sorts of contests are sure to proceed.
In fact, five state supreme court seats will be decided in May, their stakes magnified by the erosion of civil rights litigation federally. Notably, Georgians are voting on unusually heated races for their high court.
Plus, President Donald Trump is looking to exact revenge on Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, on Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and on the many Indiana state senators who defied his demands that they redraw the state’s congressional map last year.
These are all part of Bolts’ guide to the 100 elections to watch in May.
Also on the menu? Voters will shape Senate races across the South, including resolving the showdown between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton in Texas, and picking the GOP nominee in the races to replace the retiring Mitch McConnell. They’ll decide the lineup of some of the year’s most important statewide races, such as the Georgia governor’s race.
Local collaboration with ICE is rocking sheriff’s races in Alabama and Tennessee. Billions of dollars in school funding are also at stake in Texas. Democratic socialists hope to make inroads in Georgia. GOP factions continue their civil war in Idaho. And Republicans hope to flip one of Michigan’s most competitive legislative districts.
As is often the case, many elections happening this month are defined by what’s not on the ballot—Bolts previously reported how all of Oregon’s DA races taking place in May are uncontested, closing the door for debate around a critical local office.
The guide starts with local races in Texas on May 2, followed by statewide primaries in Indiana and Ohio and local elections in Michigan and Tennessee on May 5. Then, on May 12, Nebraska and West Virginia are holding their primaries, followed by Louisiana on May 16. The busiest Election Day of the month is May 19, with Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, and Pennsylvania heading to the polls. The spotlight returns to Texas on May 26 when the state holds its primary runoffs.
Return on and after each Election Day; we’ll update this page as the results are known. (Bolts may add a key race if its stakes become more apparent close to election day.)
As always, this guide is just our selection of the key races to monitor, those with striking stakes, and not an exhaustive list of all elections in May. All congressional districts across a dozen states are holding their primary races, after all, as are hundreds of legislative districts.
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FEderal Government
U.S. Senate: Democrats
| Nebraska May 12 In this primary, both candidates seem to be playing three-dimensional chess. Republican Senator Pete Ricketts faces independent challenger Dan Osborn in November, and many Democrats think that Osborn is their best shot to oust Ricketts and don’t want an additional candidate to split the anti-Rickett vote. Candidate Cindy Burbank is likely to drop out to help Osborn if she wins. She and the Nebraska Democratic Party have called her primary opponent, an anti-abortion pastor named William Forbes, a Ricketts “plant” who is likely to stay in the race if he wins. Forbes recently said he voted for Trump in 2024. (The GOP Secretary of State tried to remove Burbank from the ballot in March, but the state supreme court reversed that decision.) | ||
| Result: Burbank wins. | ||
| Kentucky May 19 Democrats are choosing their nominee in the race to replace Mitch McConnell, though Kentucky is a difficult state for them at the federal level. Candidates include Amy McGrath and Charles Booker, whose past Senate bids drew an unusual amount of national coverage in 2020 and 2022 (they each lost by roughly 20 points), and Pamela Stevenson, a state lawmaker who lost the 2023 attorney general race by 16 points. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. |
U.S. Senate: Republicans
| Louisiana May 16 Trump wants to get rid of Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict him during the Senate trial over Jan. 6, and he has endorsed U.S. Representative Julia Letlow. Another politician who casts himself as a MAGA loyalist, state Treasurer John Fleming, is running as well; that, combined with doubts about Letlow’s strength as a campaigner, could send the primary to a June runoff. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 16. | ||
| Alabama May 19 Over his eight years in office, Attorney General Steve Marshall has pushed to revive the death penalty and restrict parole, Bolts has reported. Now he hopes to replace Senator Tommy Tuberville. He faces Barry Moore, a House member endorsed by Trump and the Senate’s GOP leaders. A third candidate, former NAVY Seal and former law enforcement officer Jared Hudson, has support from some conservatives like Senator Tim Sheehy. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Georgia May 19 Republican Governor Brian Kemp’s decision not to run for Senate was a blow to GOP hopes to oust Democrat Jon Ossoff, and the party is now fretting as its candidates attack each other. Kemp endorsed Derek Dooley, a former football coach who faces two U.S. House members known for their loyalty to Trump and aggressive MAGA politics—Buddy Carter and Mike Collins. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Kentucky May 19 Mitch McConnell is retiring after 42 years. The GOP primary to replace him features U.S. Representative Andy Barr; former Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who lost a tight race for governor three years ago; and Nate Morris, a businessman getting massive financial support from Elon Musk. All of the candidates pledge support for Trump, but Morris has gone furthest in capitalizing on many MAGA Republicans’ hostility to McConnell. Plus, the conservative Club for Growth is attacking Barr for being insufficiently devoted to right-wing causes. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Texas (runoff) May 26 John Cornyn versus Ken Paxton, round 2: The longtime senator, disliked by Texas ultraconservatives, finished narrowly ahead in March. But a rumored Trump endorsement never came. A win for Paxton—an attorney general who had championed Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, spent years under criminal indictment for corruption, and survived impeachment proceedings—could boost Democrats’ chances in November. It may also produce one of the nation’s most far-right senators. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 26. |
U.S. House: Democrats
| Indiana’s 7th District May 5 André Carson has faced little opposition since he joined the House in 2008 but he drew several challengers this year. He has clashed especially with lawyer George Hornedo, who is making the case that Carson is not active enough in pushing back against Trump’s funding cuts and immigration crackdown. After Hornedo issued a press release challenging what he called Carson’s “lack of proactive leadership on ICE,” Carson accused Hornedo of “styling himself as a modern-day slave master.” | ||
| Result: Carson wins. | ||
| Nebraska’s 2nd District May 12 In this Omaha district that Democrats keep falling just short of flipping, is 2026 finally their year? They first have to pick their nominee in a crowded field. But the race has also drawn attention for its possibly broader implications: If one of the leading Democratic candidates, state Senator John Cavanaugh, prevails and then wins in November, he’d have to resign his legislative seat and let the governor appoint his successor; the Nebraska Examiner reported on how this may flip his seat to the GOP and give the party the filibuster-proof majority it needs to adopt restrictions on abortion and to change how the state allocates electoral votes. | ||
| Result: The race remains too close to call. | ||
| Georgia’s 13th District May 19 David Scott, an 80-year-old incumbent, was being challenged by state lawmakers Jasmine Clark and Emanuel Jones, who were questioning his fitness to stay in office. Scott died during the campaign mid-April, and his name will remain on the ballot but will not be counted in the final tally. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Oregon’s 4th District May 19 Social worker Melissa Bird is challenging incumbent Val Hoyle from her left in this Eugene-based district. Hoyle, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has faced pushback from local critics who say she is not sufficiently denouncing Israel’s war in Gaza. Bird, who used to lobby for Planned Parenthood in Utah, is endorsed by Oregon’s Working Families Party. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Pennsylvania’s 3rd District May 19 State Representative Chris Raab, state Senator Sharif Street, and surgeon Ala Stanford are facing off in this open Philadelphia-based district, and the winner will be heavily favored in November. Raab is endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus and other left-leaning groups and officials such as U.S. Representative Summer Lee and the Philadelphia council’s Working Families Party members. Street has long stood out in the legislature for championing legislation that would have abolished or at least restricted life without parole sentences. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Pennsylvania’s 7th and 10th districts May 19 Democrats are choosing their nominees in GOP-held districts they aim to target. In the 7th, Bob Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association, has an unusually broad coalition backing him, from Bernie Sanders and the Working Families Party on the left to moderate Governor Josh Shapiro. Other candidates include Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure and Carol Obando-Derstine, an electric utility leader. In the 10th District, their 2024 nominee Janelle Stelson, who lost to Scott Perry by just one point two years ago, is seeking a rematch. She faces Dauphin County Commissioner Josh Douglas, a pastor who scored an upset in 2023 to flip the county government while running a campaign focused on the crisis in jail deaths. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Pennsylvania’s 12th district May 19 Summer Lee, a left-wing incumbent, won a tight primary to join Congress in 2022 and then beat back a moderate challenger in 2024. This year, she is the only Democratic congressmember to face any primary opposition in Pennsylvania. But her main challenger, a mayor who was running to her right, dropped out mid-March, largely clearing Lee’s path to a third term. Lee still faces William Parker, an app developer and frequent candidate. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Texas’ 18th and 33rd districts May 26 The GOP’s new Texas gerrymander squeezed Democrats into fewer winnable districts. Two members of Congress are facing off in a runoff in the Houston-region’s 18th District: The newly-elected Christian Menefee is up against Al Green, a longtime representative whose district was just redrawn to be staunchly red. In the Dallas-region 33rd District, Julie Johnson, a congressmember trying to move into a To Reiner new seat after the gerrymander made her current seat very difficult for any Democrat, faces Collin Allred, a former congressmember attempting a comeback. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 26. |
U.S. House: Republicans
| Indiana’s 4th District May 5 This primary is mostly about generational contrasts: Incumbent Jim Baird is 80, and he faces a younger state lawmaker, Craig Haggard, who is running as a “fresh” voice and is unsubtly stressing that he has “energy.” | ||
| Result: Baird wins. | ||
| Ohio’s 9th District May 5 This is one of the reddest districts held by a Democrat, where the GOP has repeatedly stumbled due to the people they’ve selected to face incumbent Marcy Kaptur. The party is so determined to oust her this year that it made the district redder when it redrew Ohio’s congressional map last year. The Republican candidates include Derek Merrin, the 2024 nominee who lost by just 79 votes, state Representative Josh Williams, and Madison Sheahan, who left her position as ICE’s deputy director to run. | ||
| Result: Merrin wins. | ||
| Georgia’s 1st District May 19 The primary has become a test of how much control the GOP establishment retains over party primaries after a string of successes by outsider, populist candidates, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Party leaders have rallied around businessman Jim Kingston, the son of Jack Kingston, who represented the district for two decades, from 1993 to 2015. Kingston faces many opponents, most notably Chatham County Commissioner Pat Farrell, who say they want to go to Congress to champion Trump’s agenda. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Georgia’s 9th District May 19 Andrew Clyde is one of the most far-right members of Congress, and he faces a challenge from Gainesville Mayor Sam Couvillon who says he has been an ineffective representative for the district’s business interests. Trump has endorsed Clyde, though Couvillon is also pledging support for his agenda. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Kentucky’s 4th District May 19 Thomas Massie is a rare Trump antagonist within the GOP—never more so than when he was loudly demanding the release of the Epstein tapes—and Trump wants him gone. The president and his allies are spending heavily to help his challenger, former NAVY Seal Ed Gallrein. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Kentucky’s 6th District May 19 As he runs for a retiring Republican’s seat, state Representative Ryan Dotson says his work to ban trans girls from girls’ sports is one of his main accomplishments; he also highlights other MAGA-aligned positions like skepticism of vaccines. His opponent Ralph Alvarado, a doctor and former state senator, is also running on his conservative politics and allegiance to Trump, but there’s some daylight between the candidates—like Alvarado saying he recommends some vaccines to patients. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Texas’ 9th District May 26 Republicans redrew this Houston-based district to be staunchly red, and this GOP runoff will likely determine who replaces Democrat Al Green, who fled to another district. The runoff pits Briscoe Coe, who has led the Texas legislature’s far-right Freedom Caucus and sponsored new restrictions on voting after the 2020 election, which he tried to get overturned, against Alex Mealer, who is running with Trump’s endorsement. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 26. | ||
| Texas’ 35th District May 26 It’s a similar story in this San Antonio-area district currently held by Democrat Greg Casar, who is now running in another district centered around Austin after the GOP significantly redrew both districts. A redder 35th means that the winner of this GOP runoff will be favored in November; a Trump endorsee, Carlos De La Cruz, faces John Lujan, a lawmaker backed by Governor Greg Abbott. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 26. |
State Governments
Statewide ballot measures
| Louisiana | Amendment 1 May 16 If this measure passes, the state legislature would have more power to decide which public jobs are “classified,” meaning that they are subject to civil service protections as opposed to being treated as at-will employees or political appointments. As the Louisiana Illuminator reports, The measure was championed by a Republican senator who says it’d allow lawmakers to “unclassify” workers and make them easier to fire. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 16. | ||
| Louisiana | Amendment 5 May 16 This constitutional amendment would increase the mandatory retirement age for judges and justices in the state of Louisiana from 70 to 75. (A judge can serve past 70 but cannot seek anew term after that point.) Voters have repeatedly rejected past proposals to increase or eliminate the retirement age. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 16. | ||
| Oregon: Measure 120 May 19 Oregon Democrats last year increased the gas tax, alongside other revenue streams, to fund transportation projects, but conservative opponents succeeded at placing a measure on the ballot to repeal the increase. The measure was originally meant to be on the ballot in November but Democrats moved it to the May primary, over Republican complaints. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. |
Governors
| Ohio: GOP primary May 5 Vivek Ramaswamy largely cleared the field for this open race on the strength of Trump’s endorsement, forcing several statewide officials to give up on their ambitions. He still has to get past two lesser-known opponents in this primary to join presumptive Democratic nominee Amy Acton in the general election. | ||
| Result: Ramaswamy wins. | ||
| Georgia: Dem and GOP primaries May 19 Governor Brian Kemp cannot run for reelection, and that has prompted a wide open race in both major parties. Three statewide officials are running for the GOP nomination, and they all responded very differently to Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential race. At the time, Burt Jones was a state lawmaker who tried to help Trump’s efforts; he is now a lieutenant governor running with Trump’s endorsement. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger rebuffed Trump’s request that he “find” the votes to change the results, and Attorney General Chris Carr denounced a Republican lawsuit seeking to reject Georgia’s results, though he has since courted the MAGA base. A fourth candidate, billionaire Rick Jackson, has spent tens of millions to gain an edge in the fractured field. On the Democratic side, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms faces Geoff Duncan, who was elected lieutenant governor as a Republican in 2018 but then clashed with Trump and the MAGA wing of his party, and Mike Thurmond, Georgia’s labor commissioner from 1999 to 2011. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Oregon: GOP primary May 19 Democrat Tina Kotek barely won in 2022 over Republican Christine Drazan, who is now a state senator, and Drazan wants a rematch. But she first faces a crowded primary; opponents include Ed Diehl, a state lawmaker who helped lead conservative opposition to a gas tax increase—an issue that has dominated Oregon politics this year—and wants to expand collaboration with immigration authorities, as well as David Medina, who faced federal charges for participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol until he was pardoned by Trump in January 2025. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. |
Supreme court justices
| West Virginia May 12 Two justices appointed by Republican Governor Pat Morrisey, Tom Ewing and Gerald Titus, face challengers on the May ballot. (The contests are nonpartisan.) Most candidates who are running have ties to GOP politics but they’ve shown differing levels of support for right-wing culture wars; the challengers include a Republican lawmaker who co-sponsored the state’s recent ban on gender-affirming care, and another Republican lawmaker who has criticized anti-trans legislation and warned it could drive up youth suicides. Read more in Bolts’ primer on state courts. | ||
| Result: Bill Flanigan and H.L. Kirkpatrick oust the two sitting justices. | ||
| Louisiana May 16 Two Republicans are running for an open seat on the Louisiana Supreme Court, and since there is no Democrat running, this GOP primary will decide the next justice. Read more in Bolts’ primer on state supreme court races. (Note that this race is not statewide; it only covers the first judicial district, which includes conservative St. Tammany Parish and its surroundings.) | ||
| Result: Come back after May 16. | ||
| Georgia May 19 Two justices, appointed by a former Republican governor, face challenges from liberal attorneys who say they’re worried about the erosion of civil rights in Georgia. Read more in Bolts. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. |
Secretaries of state
| Nebraska: GOP primary May 12 In the run-up to the 2024 presidential race, Secretary of State Bob Evnen abruptly decided to defy state law and block tens of thousands of Nebraskans with past felony convictions from voting; the state supreme court rebuffed him in the weeks before Election Day. Earlier this year, Evnen again drew scrutiny when he decided to kick a Democratic candidate who was running for Senate off the ballot; the state supreme court once again reversed his decision. Businessman Scott Petersen is challenging him from the right in this primary and echoing MAGA talking points as he suggests that elections are at risk of being stolen. | ||
| Result: Petersen ousts Evnen. | ||
| Alabama: GOP primary May 19 Incumbent Wes Allen, who has echoed election-denying conspiracies, is leaving his job after just one term to run for lieutenant governor. Attorney Caroleene Dobson, the frontrunner to replace him, has also spread the conservative messaging that voter fraud is a major threat and says she wants to create a centralized unit dedicated to investigating elections, like in Florida. She faces Christian Horn, a conservative activist who already ran in 2022 on positions like ensuring there are no mail ballot drop boxes in Alabama. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Georgia: Dem and GOP primaries May 19 In late 2020, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger rebuffed Trump’s request to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in the presidential contest. Six years later, the office could fall in the hands of a Republican more loyal to Trump. Raffensperger is not running for reelection. The candidate who has been most critical of Trump is Gabriel Sterling, who works in Raffensperger’s office. Other GOP contenders include state Representative Tim Fleming, a Trump supporter who has championed changes that would make it tougher to vote by mail, and Vernon Jones, a former Democratic lawmaker turned Trump loyalist who has long repeated the president’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Democrats are choosing their nominee as well; the field includes a Fulton County commissioner who has tried to push back against GOP efforts to overhaul election administration in the state. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. |
Attorneys general
| Alabama: GOP primary May 19 Jay Mitchell, the Alabama justice who wrote the majority opinion in the blockbuster 2024 ruling that held that embryos are people and threatened in vitro fertilization treatments, is running for attorney general. He faces Blount County DA Pamela Casey plus Katherine Robertson, chief counsel to outgoing Attorney General Steve Marshall, a conservative official now running for U.S. Senate (see above) who has endorsed her. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Georgia: Dem and GOP primaries May 19 Both parties are choosing their nominees in this open race. Senators Bill Cowsert and Brian Strickland are running for the Republican primary, each highlighting their conservative politics and courting Trump’s endorsement. Cowsert led the state Senate’s investigation into Atlanta DA Fani Willis over her efforts to prosecute Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election. Democrats are choosing between Tanya Miller, a sitting lawmaker, and Bob Trammell, a former lawmaker; they’ve both held leadership positions within the state House’s Democratic Caucus. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Texas: Dem and GOP runoffs May 26 Who will replace Ken Paxton, the Trump ally who has been attorney general for over a decade? The GOP runoff pits Chip Roy, a prominent figure of the far-right Freedom Caucus who has long frustrated GOP leadership, against state Senator Mayes Middleton, who is running on anti-trans legislation he sponsored last year. Democrats are choosing between state Senator Nathan Johnson and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 26. |
Legislative seat: Special election
| Michigan’s 35th Senate District May 5 Kristen McDonald Rivet, a Democrat, resigned from the Michigan Senate after winning a congressional seat in 2024. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a fellow Democrat, has faced considerable criticism and a lawsuit for waiting this long to schedule a special election to fill the one vacant seat in the state Senate—where Democrats have had the narrowest of edges, 19-18, since Rivet’s resignation.) The district is as competitive as can be and split nearly evenly between Harris and Trump in 2024. If GOP nominee Jason Turney wins over Democrat Chedrick Greene and flips the seat, Republicans and Democrats would have a tie the state Senate. | ||
| Result: Greene wins, so Democrats defend their majority. |
Legislative seats: Primaries
| Indiana: Nine districts May 5 GOP primaries Trump has vowed revenge on the GOP senators who killed his push to redraw Indiana’s congressional map in December. Eight senators who oppose the new map now face primary opponents as they seek reelection (in districts 1, 6, 11, 19, 21, 23, 38, and 41). Trump and Governor Mike Braun have both endorsed challengers in most of these districts, including against the Senate leader, and the White House is closely monitoring the campaigns. Trump is also hoping to flip District 39 to the pro-gerrymandering side. A senator who opposed the new map last December is retiring here rather than seek reelection, and Trump has endorsed candidate Jake Ellington. | ||
| Result: Of these eight Republican incumbents who sought reelection, one has won and six have lost, with one race remaining too close to call. In the open 39th district, the Trump-endorsed candidate prevails. | ||
| Indiana: Senate District 22 May 5 GOP primaries Senator Ron Alting, a Republican, voted for this gerrymander last fall. But he has taken other positions that have put him at odds with his party. In 2022, he opposed the state’s ban on abortion, calling it an “attack on all women,” and he also opposed a ban on trans girls in school sports (though he supported a revised version of the ban last year). Alting now faces a challenger to his right, Richard Bagsby, who is attacking him over these votes. | ||
| Result: Alting wins. | ||
| Georgia: 42nd, 51st, 57th, 58th, and 165th districts May 19 Dem primaries Democratic socialists are looking to make inroads in Georgia, and they landed their first state lawmaker in 2024 with Gabriel Sanchez’s election to the state House. This spring, Sanchez is facing a primary as he runs for reelection in the 42nd District. Meanwhile, more DSA members are looking to join him—Aaron Baker (51st), Jeremiah Olney (57th), Mathewos Samson (58th), and Kendra Clark (165th). The 51st is particularly intriguing because Baker, who would be the state’s first transgender lawmaker, is facing an incumbent, Esther Panitch, who is very vocal in her opposition to socialism has called for DSA to be expelled from the Democratic Party, comparing it to the MAGA movement. Panitch has also condemned fellow Democrats who have criticized Israel’s war in Gaza and accused U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff of “betrayal” for his statements on the issues. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Georgia: 7th Senate District May 19 Dem primary State Representative Ruwa Romman drew national attention in 2024 when she was denied a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention after the Uncommitted movement, which was denouncing U.S. policies toward Israel’s war in Gaza, put her forward as someone who could speak on their behalf. She is now running for a state Senate seat. In the Democratic primary, she faces civil rights attorney Rahul Garabadu and Astrid Ross, an educator and school principal. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Idaho: 12 districts May 19 GOP primaries The moderate and far-right factions of the Idaho Republican Party have been battling for years, resulting in many incumbents being ousted in past cycles, which helped push the state to the right. The factions are continuing to clash in the May 19 GOP primaries, with disagreements on matters like how much Idaho should slash taxes or restrict trans rights. All members of the “Gang of Eight,” a group of ultraconservative lawmakers, face challengers. Watch Senate districts 8, 24, and 25, and in House districts 8, 11A, 11B, 24A, and 25B. Plus, in the Senate District 1, former lawmaker Scott Herndon is mounting a comeback against the more moderate Jim Woodward who ousted him in 2024. Idaho Ed News also reports that ultraconservatives hope to oust state Senator Jim Guthrie in District 28 but they’re defending Senator Dan Foreman in District 6 and Representative Elaine Price in District 4B. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Kentucky: 2nd and 47th House districts May 19 GOP primaries Kentucky’s legislature is solidly conservative, but a far-right faction known as the GOP’s “liberty” wing has pushed for more influence. This year, Louisville Public Media flags two districts where far-right lawmakers aligned with that faction are facing challenges, House districts 2 and 47. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Kentucky: 30th House District May 19 Dem primary Democratic lawmaker Daniel Grossberg has faced calls to resign over accusations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior toward women, and he agreed to pay a fine earlier this year as part of an investigation of the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Committee. Grossberg still chose to run for reelection and faces three opponents in the May primary. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Pennsylvania: 46th and 48th Senate districts May 19 GOP primaries Two Republican senators who have criticized “skill games” (a type of slot machine that is a hot political issue in Pennsylvania) have faced attacks from a well-funded PAC with ties to a skill games developer, Spotlight PA reports. Both incumbents now have conservative primary challengers—Camera Bartolotta faces Albert Buchtan, and Chris Gebhard faces Clovis Crane—in the latest test of this industry’s ability to oust lawmakers who want to regulate it. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Pennsylvania: House District 195 May 19 Dem primary Pennsylvania does not hold primaries for a special election when a legislative seat is vacant; that means that Keith Harris never had to face a Democratic opponent in this blue Philadelphia district when he took over in a special in late 2024. As he seeks reelection, he faces social worker Sierra McNeil, who has the endorsement of the left-wing groups Reclaim Philadelphia and Working Families Party, which have worked in recent cycles to build progressive power in the legislature. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. |
Local Governments
Local ballot measures
| Texas: Dallas May 2 Voters all around Texas are voting on school bonds. Watch Dallas, where voters are deciding a package of measures that would unlock roughly $6.2 billion for their school district—the largest bond in Texas history; the funds would go to school operations and renovations. These measures are also calling attention to this widespread funding model under which the basic operations of school systems are at the mercy of local electorates’ mood on property taxes. In the Magnolia district (in the Houston area) and the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal district (in the San Antonio area), voters rejected bonds in 2025; local officials in May have proposed modified measures to unlock the funds they say they need for education. | ||
| Result: Dallas voters approve the measure. | ||
| Texas: Fort Worth May 2 Voters in the city of Fort Worth are deciding on a package of six bond measures meant to unlock over $800 million for infrastructure projects and other municipal spending, including for street repairs, park maintenance, and housing development. | ||
| Result: Voters approve the bond package. | ||
| Ohio: Richland County May 5 Local officials banned large wind and solar power projects last summer. Residents have organized to champion a ballot measure that would rescind the ban, Canary Media reports. | ||
| Result: Voters uphold the ban. | ||
| Oregon: Lane County May 19 To fight pollution, environmental advocates have sponsored a ballot measure in this populous Oregon county, home to Eugene, to affirm that ecosystems and watersheds have “inalienable rights to naturally exist, flourish, regenerate and evolve.” The measure’s sponsors tell KLCC this would allow them to sue on nature’s behalf. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Oregon: Multnomah County May 19 Voters in Multnomah County, home to Portland, are deciding whether to fund the preservation of their state’s history: The Oregon Historical Society has been funded via a tax levy in this county since 2010; residents must renew it this year for the funding to continue, The Oregonian reports. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. |
Sheriffs
| Tennessee: Shelby County May 5 Dem primary While sheriffs all over the country have rushed to join ICE’s 287(g) program since Trump’s return to office, that phenomenon has been largely constrained to conservative areas. Shelby County, which is heavily Democratic and home to Memphis, is an exception, which has angered local activists. The open Democratic primary to replace the sitting sheriff will help decide the program’s fate. Of the five candidates running in this primary, three (Reginald Hubbard, Michael Pope, and Keisha Scott) told The Commercial Appeal in candidate questionnaires that they would leave the program. Two (Anthony Buckner and Ricky Pollard) said they’d review the matter while in office. All candidates currently work or have worked in the sheriff’s office. | ||
| Result: Buckner wins. | ||
| Alabama: Mobile County May 19 GOP primary Two controversial Republicans are running for sheriff in one of Alabama’s largest counties.Sheriff Paul Burch, who threatened immigrants’ rights protesters with “deadly force” last summer, recently drew scrutiny for a Halloween display on his home lawn that depicted an ICE raid. He faces a challenge from Paul Price, who was fired as Mobile’s chief of police in 2024, shortly after a city-commissioned report accused his department of brutal and demeaning treatment toward Black residents, which had led to several deaths in police custody that sparked anger in the community—including the killing of Jawan Dallas, who died after officers tased him. (Price ran for Mobile mayor last year, and performed poorly.) | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Alabama: Lee County sheriff May 19 GOP primary Jay Jones, who has been sheriff since 1998, faces a heated challenge from Cam Hunt, a former deputy Jones fired last fall after he announced he would run against the sheriff. Hunt is attacking the incumbent for not joining ICE’s 287(g) program. Hunt is also endorsed by groups that want to loosen restrictions on guns, which are angry at Jones for testifying in favor of permit requirements. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. |
Prosecutors
| Indiana: Monroe County May 5 Dem primary In this blue county, home to Bloomington, Democratic incumbent Erika Oliphant faces challenger Benjamin Arrington, who works for a firm that provides free services for low-income residents. Running to her left, Arrington says that he’d stop prosecuting marijuana possession, whereas Oliphant says it’s dangerous to make a non-prosecution pledge. He is also calling for an end to the county’s use of Flock surveillance cameras, which Oliphant has defended. | ||
| Result: Oliphant wins. | ||
| Oregon May 19 Oregon was meant to host 15 DA races, but each and every one of these races drew just one candidate. Bolts recently reported how these uncontested elections reflect potential challengers’ reluctance to step into the often toxic rhetoric around crime, and how the lack of choices for voters shuts down public debate around prosecutors’ policies and power over people’s lives. | ||
| Result: None to wait for. | ||
| Texas: Bexar County May 26 Dem runoff This populous county is replacing the retiring DA, Joe Gonzales. The candidates with the most outspoken reform platforms were eliminated in the March first round. This runoff pits Luz Elena Chapa, a local judge who said the incumbent DA has been too lenient on defendants, and Jane Davis, a longtime prosecutor who says she wants to largely stay the course. Gonzales and the more progressive candidates eliminated in the first round have endorsed Davis during the runoff campaign, while local police unions are backing Chapa. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 26. |
Mayors
| New Jersey: Belleville May 12 Mayor Mike Mehlman, an independent leading a blue town, drew attention fall when he endorsed the GOP nominee for governor. He now faces a 24-year old progressive councilmember Frank Vélez. Also in Essex County, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a progressive, is seeking reelection but does not face major opposition. | ||
| Result: Vélez wins. | ||
| Georgia: Athens May 19 Five people are running for mayor in Athens, and the May election is likely to decide the top two who will move to the June runoff. Candidates range from Tim Denson, a school board member who is part of the growing number of democratic socialists running for office in Georgia, to Mara Zúñiga, the former treasurer of the local Republican Party. Housing has been a fault line in the race. Candidates Dexter Fisher, a county commissioner, voted against a plan to pursue more rental units for low-income residents as opposed to single-family housing. Denson, meanwhile, has called for denser developments, including when he used to serve on the county commission. The candidates have also disagreed on Athens’ Flock cameras, which Denson has opposed and Fisher has defended. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Kentucky: Louisville May 19 Louisville is using a nonpartisan election system this year for the first time, so the May primary will decide which two candidates move on regardless of party. Democratic incumbent Craig Greenberg faces a crowded field that includes Shameka Parrish Wright, a progressive city council member who was active in local Black Lives Matter protests as leader of the Louisville Bail Project, and Republican Tina Burnell, known for her activism against new housing projects. (Kentucky’s second largest city, Lexington, has a mayoral race as well, though incumbent Linda Gorton appears heavily favored and should at least make it to the November Top 2 runoff.) | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Oregon: Salem May 19 In Oregon’s capital, Mayor Julie Hoy is running for reelection against City Councilor Vanessa Nordyke. The race is nonpartisan, though Hoy in the past has been associated with the city’s more business-friendly faction and Nordyke with its more liberal faction; and The Salem Reporter writes that Nordyke is sounding a more populist note in this mayoral campaign. But on policing matters, the candidates are running on a similar message and sparring over who is more supportive of law enforcement, with Nordyke stressing her support for increasing Salem’s police budget. Late last year, Hoy and Nordyke both sided with police unions in wanting a formerly incarcerated advocate removed from a police oversight board. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. |
County executives
| Tennessee: Shelby County mayor May 5 Dem primary To become Shelby County (Memphis)’s next mayor, the local equivalent of a county executive, the May Democratic primary will be critical and MLK50 surveys how the seven candidates are distinguishing themselves on key issues. A notable area of disagreement is their views on the Memphis Task Force, which is a program set up by the Trump administration for local, state, and federal authorities to collaborate in Memphis. Civil rights advocates have warned that this is promoting racial discrimination and Trump’s immigration crackdown, and some candidates echo that criticism (County Commissioner Mickell Lowery calls the task force an “occupation”) while others are broadly supportive. | ||
| Result: Lowery wins. | ||
| Oregon: Washington County Chair May 19 Nonpartisan race Oregon’s second largest county is electing a new chair. The field features two candidates who are splitting the support of Democratic leaders (County Commissioners Nafisai Fai and Pam Treece) and a more conservative outsider, Jenny Kamprath, who wants to cut public spending. The top two will head to a November runoff if no one receives 50 percent of the vote in May. Fai pushed back last year against a proposal to roll back the county’s equity ordinance so as to not lose federal funding given the Trump administration’s threats; she then unsuccessfully insisted that a revised ordinance reaffirm the county’s sanctuary policies, though she ended up voting to approve the new resolution, alongside Treece. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 19. | ||
| Texas: Fort Bend County judge May 26 Dem runoff Democrats won this race to lead Fort Bend County, only to see County Judge KP George switch parties to join the GOP last year, shortly after he was indicted for money laundering. But George already lost his reelection bid in the March GOP primary—and then he was convicted of money laundering just days later. Now it’s Democrats who’ll choose their nominee who’ll try to regain the office in November. Rachelle Carter, a local judge, faces Dexter McCoy, a county commissioner. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 26. | ||
| Texas: Harris County judge May 26 Dem and GOP runoffs Houston-area Democrats are deciding who they want to replace Lina Hidalgo, the progressive who has led their county for eight years. The more moderate former mayor, Annise Parker, faces former city councilor Letitia Plummer, who has support from left-leaning groups. The GOP is choosing its nominee as well between businessman Warren Howell and former county treasurer Orlando Sanchez, who is better connected to Republican Party figures. | ||
| Result: Come back after May 26. |
School boards
| Texas: Grapevine Colleyville School District May 2 This school district, located in Tarrant County, drew national attention after far-right candidates running on an explicitly Christian message took over the board, and adopted conservative policies such as restricting the rights of trans students. Three conservative incumbents are running for reelection this year. | ||
| Result: All three incumbents lost. | ||
| Texas: Lake Travis School District May 2 This school district in the Austin region has become a focal point for book bans, KUT reported in 2024. This May, two school board members who were supportive of that push, Robert Aird and Keely Cano, are running for reelection. | ||
| Result: Both incumbents lost. | ||
| Texas: Mansfield School District May 2 Bolts featured this school district, which has been on the frontlines of book ban debates, in our election guide last year: At the time, three conservative school board members were ousted. Will a fourth lose this spring? Incumbent Courtney Lackey Wilson, part of the conservative faction, is running against Michele Gooch. Note that, last year, Bolts also featured the Houston-region district of Katy in our election guide last year; at the time, the conservative board president who was a driving force behind book bans and anti-trans rules, lost his reelection, and conservatives lost their majority as a result. This year, all three of the board’s remaining conservatives are retiring. | ||
| Result: The Mansfield incumbent lost. |