Primaries

WASHINGTON — Midterm battle lines have been drawn across the Western states, as attention turns to general election campaigning with three months until November’s election day.

Washington state completed its primary Tuesday, the last mainland state west of the Rocky Mountains to do so. A national spotlight is on the state’s 3rd District, just over the border from Portland, Ore., where Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is now set to face state Senate Minority Leader John Braun, a Republican.

Democrats see defending that vulnerable seat as key to the party’s attempt to win a House majority. It is one of a handful of competitive races across the West that will help decide which party controls the House during the second half of President Trump’s term.

Attention and money is set to pour into those races over the coming months, along with some key statewide races. Here are ones to watch in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada and beyond.

Washington’s big race

Washington’s battleground 3rd District is a high priority for both parties. The district went for President Trump in 2024 while reelecting Gluesenkamp Perez.

Gluesenkamp Perez, a centrist who was first elected narrowly in 2022 and has made a name for herself by sometimes breaking with her party, successfully fended off primary challengers on Tuesday to advance to the November ballot. Braun, a retired Navy captain, won the other spot on the ballot.

The race with Braun will test Gluesenkamp Perez against a more moderate opponent than she had in conservative former CIA officer Joe Kent, who ran against her in both her previous elections. It will also test loyalty from her progressive base, some members of which were unhappy after Gluesenkamp Perez voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security in January, one of seven Democrats who helped it pass.

A competitive primary also unfolded Tuesday in the conservative central Washington district held by longtime Rep. Dan Newhouse, who is retiring. Republican Amanda McKinney, a county commissioner who was endorsed by Trump, and Democrat John Duresky, a retired Air Force major, advanced to the general election.

Newhouse was one of the last two House Republicans remaining in Congress who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), who is seeking reelection in what is shaping up to be California’s most competitive House race, is the other.

The West’s other battlegrounds

The Western states hold four of the nation’s 18 toss-up races as rated by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

Two are for Republican-held seats in Arizona, both in districts that Trump carried narrowly in 2024, and both top targets of Democrats.

In an open Phoenix-area district, Democrat Amish Shah, a physician and former state lawmaker, faces Republican Jay Feely, a Trump-endorsed former NFL player.

In a suburban Tucson district, Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani is seeking reelection, challenged by Democrat JoAnna Mendoza, a former Marine.

California has one toss-up race: in the 22nd District, where Valadao hopes to fend off Democratic newcomer Randy Villegas for his Central Valley swing seat.

The region’s fourth toss-up is Colorado’s 8th District, which extends north from the Denver suburbs and has the largest Latino population of the state’s congressional districts. Republican Rep. Gabe Evans is defending his seat against Democrat Manny Rutinel, a state lawmaker.

In Nevada, Republicans are seeking to flip a southern Clark County district that covers part of Las Vegas. Democratic Rep. Susie Lee, who won reelection in 2024 as Trump carried the district, faces Republican Marty O’Donnell, who won Trump’s backing.

The race is rated as competitive by Cook, with a “lean Democratic” rating that very slightly favors Lee; Republicans hope strong turnout in support of Nevada GOP Gov. Joe Lombardo, who is up for reelection, could help them carry the district, Cook noted.

In California, two lean-Democratic seats are ranked as competitive: the 13th District in the Central Valley seat held by Democrat Adam Gray and the 48th District seat being vacated by retiring Republican Darrell Issa in the San Diego area.

New Mexico also has one competitive seat that Republicans hope to flip. Utah has one new seat that will likely give Democrats a chance for congressional representation in the state’s otherwise reliably red delegation. Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming have five congressional seats between them, all of which are Republican strongholds.

Key statewide offices up for grabs

Consequential statewide races are also on the ballot across the West.

In Arizona, election denialism is in the spotlight as voters face choosing a new governor, secretary of state and attorney general. The Republican candidates for all three positions have played roles in President Trump’s effort to dispute Arizona’s 2020 presidential election results. Analysts are watching how the broader electorate will react to candidates chosen by Republican primary voters, and how intensely the contests could inflame ongoing tensions in the state over the 2020 election.

In Nevada, a tight gubernatorial race is unfolding between Lombardo and the state attorney general, Democrat Aaron Ford. Oregon’s governor, Democrat Tina Kotek, is also up for reelection, facing Republican Christine Drazan, a state senator, in a race that Republicans hope will be more competitive than expected in the blue state.

Colorado has an open gubernatorial seat, where state attorney general Phil Weiser, a Democrat, faces Republican Victor Marx, a Christian ministry leader and former Marine. The seat is currently held by Democrat Jared Polis, who was term-limited from seeking reelection.

Marx has drawn attention to the race with sensational claims, including that he was forced to kill a man as a child, and his refusal in an interview to directly answer whether he had killed people as an adult.

Senate races

Oregon is the only West Coast state with a U.S. senator up for reelection this year, Democrat Jeff Merkley, who is seeking a fourth term. He faces Republican state Sen. David Brock Smith in a sleepy blue-state race that Merkley is favored to win.

Senate races are also on the ballot in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, where Republican incumbents are defending their seats, and in Colorado and New Mexico, where Democrats hold the incumbency.

In Idaho, the Democratic nominee dropped out of the race last week, effectively clearing a path for the independent candidate, Todd Achilles, a former Democratic state lawmaker who has denounced both parties, to compete seriously with Republican incumbent Sen. Jim Risch.

Pressure to force similar dropouts in Montana and South Dakota has been mounting by Democrats who fear having both Democratic and independent candidates on the ballot will split the left-leaning vote and hand the races to Republican incumbents. The Democratic nominees in both states told Politico last week they did not plan to drop out.

June 23 (UPI) — Mamdani-backed progressives scored big wins Tuesday night in New York state’s Democratic primary, as voters cast ballots across the Empire State, Maryland, Utah and South Carolina.

New York State

Of the four states holding primaries, New York state’s was being closely watched to gauge the influence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had endorsed three progressive candidates in competitive Democratic races — all of whom appeared poised late Tuesday to win their races.

Brad Lander, a former city comptroller, was running against Goldman in New York District 10 with the endorsements of other big-name progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Lander said he was drawn to challenge Goldman because Goldman had called for increasing U.S. support for Israel. Their differing views on support for Israel have been a key issue in the race. Goldman and Lander are both Jewish.

Preliminary results showed Lander with an overwhelming 65.3% vote share, compared to Goldman’s 33.7%, with all 417 districts reporting.

Lander claimed victory Tuesday night.

After being introduced by Mamdani, Lander told supporters that he believes he and Goldman have more in common than they have differences. And to Goldman’s supporters, he said he knows that they want to “rescue our country back from Trumpism,” renew U.S. democracy and find a humane path for the country on the world stage.

“Solidarity is the force that we need to vanquish Trump’s fascism, to abolish ICE and to stand up to the billionaires who are rigging our economy against us,” he said.

“This campaign here was born out of solidarity.”

In New York District 7, Mamdani-endorsed Claire Valdez appeared poised to succeed outgoing Rep. Nydia Velazquez, who backed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

With all 393 election districts reporting, preliminary election results showed Valdez had secured 55.5% of the vote to Reynoso’s 35.4%.

And in New York District 13, Mamdani endorsed Darializa Avila Chevalier, who late Tuesday appeared to be edging out incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat.

Chevalier, who was a field organizer for Mamdani, had secured 48.59% of the vote to Espaillat’s 45.2%, according to preliminary results.

Mamdani did not endorse a candidate in District 12 in a stacked field that consisted of state lawmakers Alex Bores and Micah Lasher, Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway, President John F. Kennedy‘s grandson Jack Schlossberg, attorney Laura Dunn and health researcher Nina Schwalbe.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had endorsed Schlossberg and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had endorsed Lasher.

Artificial intelligence has been a central topic in the District 12 race. The Leading the Future super PAC, funded by the heads of OpenAI and venture capital firms supporting the AI industry, funneled more than $10 million to a super PAC opposing Bores’ campaign. Bores has been supportive of establishing regulations on AI.

With all 410 precincts reporting, Lasher had secured nearly 39% of the vote, followed by Bores with 34.82% and Schlossberg with 10.7%.

South Carolina

The big race in South Carolina was the GOP gubernatorial runoff between notable candidates, South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Preliminary results indicate Wilson stormed his way to the nomination and likely the South Carolina governor’s mansion.

With all counties reporting, Wilson netted 68.5% of the vote to Evette’s 31.44%.

Wilson has claimed victory, and Evette has conceded defeat.

The runoff followed a dramatic turnaround by President Donald Trump, who had initially endorsed Evette, before rescinding his support.

Trump gave his “Complete and Total Endorsement” to Evette ahead of the state’s primary earlier this month. But after it was determined to be a runoff between Evette and Wilson, Trump, rather than continue his support for Evette, told voters that they “can’t go wrong” with either candidate.

Evette finished less than two percentage points ahead of Wilson in the Republican primary but neither candidate cracked 30% of the vote, let alone 50%. While Trump endorsed Evette, the other candidates who ran in the primary — Reps. Ralph Norman and Nancy Mace — have endorsed Wilson. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., also gave Wilson his endorsement on Friday.

“I’ve proudly stood with President Trump from the very beginning, defended him when others would not, and fought alongside him against the radical left,” Wilson said in a news release after Trump posted his support on social media. “I am deeply honored to have his support because he understands I am focused on making South Carolina more affordable for families and profitable for businesses.”

Evette’s campaign had highlighted her receiving Trump’s endorsement.

Wilson will face Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson in November.

Maryland

In Maryland, Adrian Boafo was poised to succeed Rep. Steny Hoyer in the Democratic primary for District 5.

From among the two dozen candidates in the running, Boafo, Hoyer’s former field director, had nearly 32% of the vote, according to preliminary results, far exceeding healthcare CEO Quincy Bareebe, who was sitting second with 18% and former police officer Harry Dunn in third with 13.4%.

Dunn was among those defending the U.S. Capitol from attacks by pro-Trump rioters on Jan. 6, 2021. He is also a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to stop the Trump administration from establishing an “anti-weaponization fund” to pay rioters for being “targeted” by the Department of Justice.

Boafo had received Hoyer’s endorsement.

Utah

Former Rep. Ben McAdams appeared poised Tuesday night to win the Democratic nomination for Utah’s new District 1, created under Utah’s new congressional map.

Largely made up of Salt Lake City, the district went to Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

Preliminary results show McAdams with 60.2% of the vote, state Sen. Nate Blouin with 24.04% and Utah Democratic convention winner Liban Mohamed with nearly 12%.