In addition to a high-profile U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin and gubernatorial contests in the four states holding primary elections Tuesday (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Connecticut and Vermont), there are a number of House primaries of the United States to watch as Democrats struggle to defend their four-seat majority and Republicans look to widen the playing field with a majority in sight.
The elections, minus a special general election in Minnesota’s 1st District, are being held under new congressional lines introduced after redistricting after the 2020 Census. None of the four states voting Tuesday saw any change in the count seats in the Chamber.
Here’s a look at the key House primaries to watch:
Wisconsin
Despite Wisconsin’s swing state status, the partisan makeup of the state’s U.S. House delegation has remained inelastic over the past decade, with five Republicans and three Democrats. But the withdrawal of Democratic Rep. Ron Kind from the 3rd District has boosted GOP hopes of flipping a seat.
Four Democrats are running to succeed Kind in the largely rural district that covers parts of western and central Wisconsin: state Sen. Brad Pfaff, retired CIA officer and Army veteran Deb McGrath, the owner of small business owner Rebecca Cooke and La Crosse City Council member Mark Neumann. Retired Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden, who narrowly lost to Kind in 2020, is unopposed in the Republican primary for a seat that former President Donald Trump would have carried by 5 points in 2020.
Minnesota
Minnesota’s 1st District is hosting a special general election for the remaining term of former Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died in February. Republican candidate Brad Finstad, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture official in the Trump administration, is the favorite against Democrat Jeff Ettinger, the former CEO of Hormel Foods, in a seat that Trump won by 10 points in 2020. Both Finstad and Ettinger also compete on Tuesday. in the regular primary election for the full two-year term for the southern Minnesota seat.
Two Democratic congresswomen in deep-blue Twin Cities seats face primary challenges. In the Minneapolis-anchored 5th District, Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the House’s progressive “squad,” is being challenged by former Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels, among others. In the 4th District, which includes St. Paul, 11-term Rep. Betty McCollum’s main challenger is community organizer Amane Badhasso, a refugee from Ethiopia who has he asked for the generational relief.
Republicans are targeting the 2nd and 3rd Districts, both suburban Twin Cities-area seats that Democrats flipped during the Trump era. Major party candidates are running unopposed in the primaries in both districts.
Vermont
Vermont is poised to make history this November by sending a woman to Congress for the first time; it is currently the only state that has not already done so.
With Rep. Peter Welch running to succeed retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy, a fellow Democrat, the at-large state House seat is up for grabs. The leading contenders for the Democratic nomination are state Sen. Becca Balint and Lt. Gov. Molly Gray. Balint has the endorsement of prominent progressives, including the state’s junior senator, independent Bernie Sanders, and Massachusetts senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey. Gray has Leahy’s support in the race. The winner would be heavily favored in November, given that Biden won the state by 35 points in 2020.
Connecticut
Although the Nutmeg State hasn’t elected a Republican to Congress since 2006, the GOP is targeting two U.S. House seats this fall: the 2nd District in eastern Connecticut and the 5th District in the western part of the state.
The general election matchups are set: In the 2nd District, Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney will face Republican state Rep. Mike France, a Navy veteran. On the 5th, Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes will meet with former Republican state Sen. George Logan. Courtney and Hayes are in the DCCC’s Frontline program for vulnerable incumbents. Biden would have carried both the 2nd and 5th districts by about 11 points.
Continue reading.
CNN’s Renée Rigdon contributed reporting to this post.