Election 2024: Tuesday’s primaries in five states see key Senate, House races

Voters in five states are headed to the polls today as U.S. Senate and House races are top of mind after both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump each crossed the threshold of delegates needed to capture their parties’ nominations.

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With Biden and Trump having secured their parties’ nominations last week, Tuesday’s primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio will feature key races down-ballot from the presidential contests.

In Ohio, Republicans will select a Senate candidate to take on Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown.

Car salesman Bernie Moreno is running with Trump’s endorsement against state Sen. Matt Dolan and Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

Moreno saw the race turn more personal when the Associated Press reported that an email account associated with Moreno’s business set up an account on a website that connects men seeking a sexual relationship with other men.

Moreno’s campaign has said that he didn’t have access to the email associated with the account, and a former intern said he set it up as a “prank,” ABC News is reporting.

The winner will face Brown in November in one of the most competitive Senate races this year.

In the battle for the U.S. House, Tuesday will see special election primaries to fill two vacant seats — those of the ousted speaker of the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, who retired from the House to become president of Youngstown State University.

In addition to those two races, Republicans will choose a nominee to face three key Democratic incumbents — Rep. Eric Sorensen of Illinois, Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Rep. Emilia Sykes, also of Ohio.

Kaptur is the longest-serving representative in Congress. She is running for her 22nd term in office.

In Ohio’s 13th District, former state Sen. Kevin Coughlin and Hudson City Councilman Chris Banweg are vying for the Republican nomination. The winner will take on freshman Democratic Sykes in November.

In Illinois, Sorensen, a longtime meteorologist in the area, won the seat by just 4 points in the midterm election, NBC reported.

What about the presidential primary?

Since both Biden and Trump have exceeded the number of delegates needed to secure their respective nominations, the battle for delegates going forward is more of a formality.

On Tuesday, those voting in the Florida presidential primary will see a change. This year, only registered Republican voters are eligible to vote in Tuesday’s Presidential Preference Primary Election.

Those voters will see a GOP contest in which five of the six candidates on the ballot have withdrawn from the race.

There will be no opportunity for Democrats to vote in the primary election since the Florida Democratic Party only provided the name of Joseph R. Biden Jr. as their preferred candidate.

In Arizona, only registered Democrats and Republicans can vote in the presidential primary.

There are three candidates on the Democratic ballot: Biden, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and Marianne Williamson, an author and activist.

There are nine candidates on the Republican ballot, including Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. All but Trump have left the race.

In Kansas, for only the third time in the state’s history, a primary will be held Tuesday. Kansas usually holds caucuses to choose presidential nominees.

The Republican-controlled legislature a year ago authorized a primary for the 2024 election cycle. Now that Biden and Trump have the delegate count needed to win the nomination, some in Kansas are complaining that the estimated $4-5 million cost for the primary is wasted money.

“We’re going to be spending taxpayer money on primary elections that basically have no meaning,” Rep. Jerry Stogsdill, a Prairie Village Democrat, told The Kansas City Star.

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