Latest developments:<\/p>\n
In Vermont,<\/strong> State Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint has won the Democratic primary for the state\u2019s lone House seat, making her the favorite to become the state’s first woman to serve in Congress.In Wisconsin,<\/strong> Democrat Mandel Barnes won resoundingly and will face incumbent GOP Sen. Ron Johnson in November in a race that could determine which party will control the upper chamber next year.In Minnesota,<\/strong>\u00a0the biggest upset of the night was Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who won by a razor-thin margin of under 3,000 against a centrist\u00a0pro-cop challenger. In 2020, Omar won the district by 35,000 votes.In Connecticut,\u00a0<\/strong>Republican Dominic Rapini won the primary contest to be the secretary of state. He is a former leader of Fight Voter Fraud, a group that has promoted false claims about the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, whose refusal to help Donald Trump overturn the state’s 2020 election results earned him a Republican\u00a0primary challenge, narrowly won his race on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Vos edged Trump-backed candidate Adam Steen after a hard-fought primary.<\/p>\n During the campaign, Vos said Trump called him to lobby for a bill that would still overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n Vos said he told Trump that decertifying the election would violate the state’s Constitution.<\/p>\n Trump \u201chas a different opinion,\u201d he told WISN-TV of Milwaukee, which reported the phone call.<\/p>\n \u2013 David Jackson<\/p>\n In one of the only competitive primaries of the night in Connecticut, Leora Levy won the Republican Senate primary with 50.5% of the vote, accordng to the Associated Press called at 11 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n Levy, a Cuban-American businesswoman, defeated former state Representative Themis Klarides, who had 40% of the vote and had won the party convention\u2019s endorsement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Levy will face incumbent Senator Richard Blumenthal in the general election. He\u00a0has held the seat since 2011 and remains favored in November, but his approval rating has declined below 50%,\u00a0the Hartford Courant reported.<\/p>\n \u2013\u00a0Katherine Swartz<\/p>\n A bellwether race in Minnesota has been decided.<\/p>\n Brad Finstad, a former director in the U.S. Department of Agriculture won a special election to serve the remainder of Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn\u2019s term. Hagedorn died from cancer in February.<\/p>\n The race was seen as a litmus test for November in a district that leans Republican and former President Donald Trump won by about 10 points in 2020. Democrats have been counting on abortion rights to rally voters to polls and win competitive races like this one.<\/p>\n -Candy Woodall<\/p>\n Rep. Ilhan Omar, a progressive House member, won a squeaker in Minnesota, where George Floyd was murdered by police, against a candidate who ran on a pro-law enforcement platform.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Omar\u2019s challenger Don Samuels, a centrist and former Minneapolis City Council member, earned a late endorsement from the city\u2019s mayor which gave him a boost. Additionally, his pro-police platform set him apart from Omar who previously called to \u201cdefund the police.\u201d<\/p>\n The incumbent was locked in a tight race two years ago and won by 35,000 votes. This year less than 3,000.<\/p>\n -Candy Woodall<\/p>\n Scott Jensen, a physician and former Minnesota state senator, easily won the state\u2019s Republican primary for governor Tuesday.<\/p>\n Jensen has said he will work to make most abortions illegal in the state \u2013 a top issue in the competitive state.<\/p>\n He will face Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in November.<\/p>\n -Candy Woodall<\/p>\n Sen. Ron Johnson easily won the Republican nomination in Wisconsin on Tuesday and will face a challenge from Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in the fall \u2013 a November contest that could determine which party controls the Senate. \u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson has been slipping in the polls, with independent voters moving away from him on his COVID response, and positions on abortion and election conspiracies.<\/p>\n However, some analysts have noted Johnson has been down in the polls before, only to mount a comeback and win in the general election.<\/p>\n -Candy Woodall<\/p>\n The Connecticut race for secretary of state did grab many headlines but it does underscore a theme of the 2022 election cycle.<\/p>\n Republican Dominic Rapini won the primary contest to be the state\u2019s chief election officer. He is a former leader of Fight Voter Fraud, a group that has promoted false claims about the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n Rapini will face Democrat Stephanie Thomas, a state legislator, in November.<\/p>\n \u2014 Phillip M. Bailey<\/p>\n Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes coasted to victory in what was once a crowded Democratic field to challenge Republican Sen. Ron Johnson this fall.<\/p>\n In the final stretch of the race Barnes\u2019s chief opponents dropped out to endorse him, consolidating his nomination and giving him a head start on November ahead of Tuesday\u2019s election.<\/p>\n Barnes, 35, is the state\u2019s first Black lieutenant governor. He is looking to be its first Black senator if elected,<\/p>\n \u2014 Phillip M. Bailey<\/p>\n The polls have closed in Wisconsin, site of nationally watched races for governor and U.S. Senator.<\/p>\n In the Republican gubernatorial primary, former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch faces a field that includes Donald Trump-backed businessman Tim Michels.<\/p>\n The winner will face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in the fall.<\/p>\n In the Democratic primary, current Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes is favored to win over a field of unknowns.<\/p>\n Barnes is planning to run against incumbent U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., a race that could decide national control of the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n \u2013 David Jackson<\/p>\n Polls closed at 9 p.m. Tuesday in Minnesota, where a new U.S. representative will be elected in a southern portion of the state that leans toward Republicans.<\/p>\n The special election comes after GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn died of kidney cancer in February. Republican Brad Finstad, former department head at the U.S. Department of Agriculture is running against Democrat Jeffrey Ettinger, former CEO of Hormel Foods.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other races to watch include primary contests where Democratic Reps. Betty McCollum and Ilhan Omar are trying to hold onto their seats.<\/p>\n A well-known progressive and visible supporter of the \u201cdefund the police movement,\u201d Omar is facing off against pro-police challenger Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Council member.\u00a0<\/p>\n -Candy Woodall<\/p>\n Vermont State Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint has won the Democratic primary for the state\u2019s lone house seat, the Associated Press is reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Balint is expected to win in the November general election against the Republican candidate, likely to be Liam Madden. If elected, Balint would be the first woman to serve Vermont in Congress \u2013 the only state to have not elected a woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n Balint coasted to a primary win by mobilizing the progressive branch of the Democratic party in Vermont.\u00a0<\/p>\n The at-large House seat opened up when current Rep. Peter Welch announced he would run to replace Leahy in the Senate. Welch had a smooth primary, being named the Democratic candidate an hour after polls closed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2013\u00a0Katherine Swartz<\/p>\n Perennial GOP candidate H. Brooke Paige ran unopposed and won the Republican primary for four state offices: attorney general, auditor, secretary of state, and treasurer.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time Paige accomplished the feat. In 2018, he also ran unopposed for treasurer, secretary of state, auditor and attorney general and won GOP primaries for the U.S. House and Senate races.<\/p>\n \u2013 Dylan Wells<\/p>\n Vermont\u2019s sole congressman Rep. Peter Welch won the Democratic Senate primary and is expected to replace retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n Leahy serves as\u00a0the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. His retirement opened up the seat for the first time since his election in 1974, and Welch entered the race as the frontrunner with the backing of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.\u00a0<\/p>\n Welch has been the only member to represent the state in the House since he was elected in 2006.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2013 Dylan Wells<\/p>\n Polls have now closed in Connecticut, but it may be awhile before official results come in, as counting is handled on a town by town basis. And, it\u2019s up to local officials whether to count mail ballots before or after polls close.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Republican primary for governor was canceled, as Republican business executive Bob Stefanowski is running uncontested against Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont in November, teeing up a rematch of their close 2018 race.\u00a0<\/p>\n One competitive primary race is the Republican challenge to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Three candidates \u2013 Cuban-American businesswoman Leora Levy, former state Representative Themis Klarides and attorney Peter Lumaj are vying to face Blumenthal in November, but he\u2019s expected to defend his seat.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2013 Katherine Swartz<\/p>\n The first polls of primary Tuesday have closed at 7 p.m. in Vermont, where the state has an open congressional seat for the first time in 16 years.<\/p>\n With Vermont\u2019s senior Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, retiring after 48 years in office and the state\u2019s only House member, Rep. Peter Welch, running to take his place, Vermont has an open seat in the lower chamber of Congress.<\/p>\n As far as Welch\u2019s seat goes, State Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint and Lt. Gov. Molly Gray are both vying to become the first woman the voters send to Congress in the state\u2019s history.\u00a0Balint has the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders, while Gray has the support of retiring Leahy. And, there are several other statewide races up for grabs.<\/p>\n \u2013 Candy Woodall and Katherine Swartz<\/p>\n Tim Michels and his top two opponents in the Wisconsin Republican primary for governor\u00a0distanced themselves from Trump during an Aug. 1 town hall candidate forum\u00a0when asked by a Republican voter whether they would support another Trump candidacy\u00a0in light of his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Now,\u00a02024 \u2014 I’m focused on this election right now,” Michels said.\u00a0“I have made no commitments to any candidates in 2024. What I’m focusing on is beating Tony Evers.”<\/p>\n \u2014\u00a0Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Ella Lee<\/p>\n The winner of Wisconsin’s governor’s race could decide the fate of abortion rights in the state.<\/p>\n Wisconsin’s pre-Roe abortion ban dates back to an 1849 law<\/a> that bans the procedure except to protect the life of a mother and makes it a felony for anyone other than the mother to “destroy the life of an unborn child.”<\/p>\n While Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has vowed to fight back against restrictive measures, the two frontrunners in the state’s\u00a0Republican primary are against abortion rights, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2014 Ella Lee<\/p>\n The Wisconsin Democratic primary for Senate was one of the more competitive elections this year until about a month ago, when Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes\u2019s rivals exited suddenly.<\/p>\n As a result Barnes,\u00a0an unabashed progressive<\/a>, has seen a surge in fundraising for a historic bid to be the state’s first Black senator.<\/p>\n Political forecasts rank Wisconsin’s Senate race as “leans Republican”<\/a>\u00a0in the midterms, but Democrats believe GOP incumbent Ron Johnson is weakening.<\/p>\n A\u00a0June survey conducted by Marquette Law School<\/a>, for instance,\u00a0showed Barnes leading Republican incumbent Ron Johnson\u00a0by two percentage points.<\/p>\n \u2014 Phillip M. Bailey<\/p>\n One of the seats Republicans are likely to flip in their quest to retake Congress\u00a0is Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District.<\/p>\n Retiring Democratic Rep. Ron Kind\u00a0narrowly beat\u00a0back Republican Derrick Van Orden two years ago, and it’s a district Trump won in 2020.<\/p>\n Kind isn’t a standard liberal either, and is known for an independent to conservative streak. He was the\u00a0only House Democrat who voted\u00a0against\u00a0creating\u00a0a national alert system that would warn people about a nearby\u00a0active shooter, for instance.<\/p>\n Yet four Democrats are running in Tuesday’s primary to succeed Kind in the hopes of at least keeping the race competitive against Van Orden, who\u00a0is the presumptive GOP nominee and who has been criticized\u00a0for attending the “Stop the Steal” rally ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot and using campaign cash to fund the trip.<\/p>\n \u2014 Phillip M. Bailey<\/p>\n Another proxy war between former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence will play out Tuesday as Trump-endorsed Tim Michels and Pence-endorsed Rebecca Kleefisch compete for Wisconsin’s Republican nomination for governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Friday in Waukesha, the former president held a rally for Michels, a political newcomer and\u00a0wealthy pipeline construction executive. Two days prior, Pence swooped into Wisconsin to stump\u00a0for Kleefisch, who served as lieutenant governor under Scott Walker.<\/p>\n The primary’s winner will face off against Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.<\/p>\n \u2014 Ella Lee<\/p>\n Republican Bob Stefanowski lost to Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont by about three percentage points in 2018, and the 60-year-old business executive is vying for a rematch.<\/p>\n Stefanowski was going to have a primary opponent on Tuesday, but former House Republican leader Themis Klarides dropped out in January to run for Senate.<\/p>\n Klarides, who was endorsed by the Connecticut GOP, is one of three\u00a0Republicans battling to challenge Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal this fall.<\/p>\n \u2014\u00a0Phillip M. Bailey<\/p>\n With the\u00a0news that\u00a0Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy\u00a0would not seek reelection, the Democratic senator’s\u00a0seat is up for grabs for the first time in almost 50 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Three Democrats, three Republicans and one Vermont Progressive Party candidate are vying for the spot.<\/p>\n The Democrats are\u00a0Congressman Peter Welch, emergency room\u00a0physician Niki Thran and\u00a0activist Isaac Evans-Frantz. The Republicans are Army veteran Gerald Malloy, businessman Myers Mermel and Christina Nolan, a former U.S. Attorney for Vermont. And the\u00a0independent candidate is Vermont Progressive Party treasurer Martha Abbott.<\/p>\n Wisconsin legislative leader targeted by Trump wins primary<\/h2>\n
Leora Levy wins Connecticut Senate Republican primary\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Finstad wins special election in Minnesota<\/h2>\n
Omar wins close primary race in Minnesota by less than 3,000 votes<\/h2>\n
![\"Rep.](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/07\/20\/USAT\/9dde44a2-1d9c-4b16-81c6-dfe97f810cc9-GTY_1409758292.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\nJensen wins GOP nomination for Minnesota governor<\/h2>\n
Johnson wins GOP Senate primary in Wisconsin<\/h2>\n
![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/10\/07\/USAT\/a7cd9b90-460b-403f-9b15-20e553ff7724-13_Ron_Johnson.JPG?width=660&height=433&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\n\u200b\u200bAnother election denier wins a primary<\/h2>\n
Barnes wins easily in Wisconsin<\/h2>\n
Polls close in Wisconsin\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Yuna](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/08\/10\/USAT\/a5a60289-4838-480c-a457-9ace2a2c44e1-AP_Election_2022-Wisconsin.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\n Polls close in Minnesota<\/h2>\n
![\"Rep.](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/11\/03\/USAT\/83565ab2-a6e9-4743-8db4-4045c9576d0d-GTY_1218023528.jpg?width=660&height=450&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\nBalint wins Vermont House primary, sign of progressive mobilization\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Perennial candidate wins four statewide GOP primaries\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Peter Welch wins Democratic primary to replace Leahy\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n Polls close in Connecticut, where few primary shake ups are expected\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Polls close in Vermont\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Backed by Trump, Wisconsin gov candidate not looking back to 2020<\/h2>\n
Abortion rights on the line in Wisconsin governor’s race<\/h2>\n
![\"Rachel](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/08\/04\/USAT\/65b11c19-9eea-4c7d-b7ff-8e7b0ba04bf8-USP_News__Abortion-rights_rally_outside_the_Suprem.jpg?width=660&height=442&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\n Barnes seeks history in Wisconsin<\/h2>\n
![\"Mandela](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/08\/10\/USAT\/913b530d-2544-41a4-827b-72efc0c96636-AP_Election_2022-Wisconsin_1.jpg?width=660&height=354&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\n What Kind of Democrat in Wisconsin?<\/h2>\n
Trump versus\u00a0Pence… again<\/h2>\n
Connecticut rematch for governor<\/h2>\n
After nearly 50 years, Vermont Senate seat up for grabs<\/h2>\n
![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/03\/21\/USAT\/b10d358b-fb96-45b6-bcd9-0a380bac23cd-USP_News__Ketanji_Brown_Jackson_Confirmation_Heari_2.jpg?width=660&height=434&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\n