>
The final primary election day of August is seeing voters head to the polls in New York, Florida and Oklahoma on Tuesday.
The election cycle has so far largely been watched as a test of Donald Trump’s enduring influence on the GOP.
But this Tuesday evening, all eyes will be on key races in New York and Florida that will have potentially seismic effects on the Democratic Party.
The Empire State is losing one seat in the House of Representatives next year thanks to newly-redrawn district lines based on the latest census.
One special election to fill an empty seat in the House, taking place several hours north of New York City, is being watched as a potential bellwether for the November midterms.
At least one member of the Big Apple’s Congressional delegation is likely seeing their political career end tonight.
And in Florida, Democrats are choosing how progressive of a candidate they’ll want to put up against the state’s popular Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, later this year.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is under a federal investigation into sex trafficking an underaged girl, is likely to win his primary race in Florida’s 1st Congressional District. He secured Donald Trump’s endorsement in the 11th hour despite being one of the ex-president’s most consistent and vocal allies in Congress.
Polls in New York and Florida close at 9pm and 7pm Eastern Time, respectively.
Below is a round-up of tonight’s significant races:
Longtime allies clash in bitter race for New York’s 12th District
House Democrats are guaranteed to lose at least one committee chairperson on Tuesday night, with the race for the newly redrawn 12th District pitting longtime Judiciary Chair Rep. Jerrold Nadler against Oversight Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney.
Polls showed the two locked in a close race, but Nadler eked out a sizable lead recently after clinching key endorsements from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow New Yorker, and the New York Times.
House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jerry Nadler is the favorite to win New York’s 12th Congressional District Democratic primary, though it’s still a close and contentious race
He’s up against former ally and House Oversight Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who has been endorsed by several women’s groups
They’re also being challenged by progressive attorney Suraj Patel, whose calls for a new generation of leaders saw him come within a few thousand votes of unseating Maloney in the 2020 primary.
Nadler heads into the race with 43 percent support, compared to Maloney at 29 percent and Patel with a 14-percent share, according to a recent Emerson College Polling-Pix11-The Hill survey.
With this year’s race came a thawing of Nadler and Maloney’s nearly three-decade relationship as House colleagues, having both taken office in 1993.
Maloney has promoted rumors that Nadler may be senile in recent days, while Nadler hammered her over her past support for the Patriot Act and Afghanistan war.
Levi Strauss heir outspends rivals in New York’s 10th District
Just below and across the river from Nadler and Maloney’s race is a crowded primary to fill an empty seat in the new 10th Congressional District – spanning lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.
Polls show the race being led by Dan Goldman, House Democrats’ lead counsel for Donald Trump’s first impeachment. An heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, Goldman has poured $2 million of his own funds into the race, far outspending his rivals.
Also vying for the tenth is Rep. Mondaire Jones, who moved from his Westchester County seat to run in the open race.
State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, former House Rep. Liz Holtzman and NYC council member Carlina Rivera are also vying for the seat.
Jones and Niou joined forces earlier this month to speak out against Goldman’s candidacy.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also ran a short-lived campaign for the seat, but dropped out after polling at less than five percent.
Attorney Dan Goldman is joined by his children, from left, Noa, 15, Aidan, 5, Everly, 7, Alessia, 4, and his wife Corinne Goldman while talking to reporters after voting early in the Democratic primary election, Wednesday, August 17. The Levi Strauss heir is the favorite to win NY-10
Rep. Mondaire Jones and New York state Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou are also competing in the contentious race (pictured before a joint news conference to speak out against Goldman’s candidacy)
New York’s 17th Congressional District sees proxy battle between AOC and Nancy Pelosi
Progressive New York state Senator Alessandra Biaggi is running to unseat Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, known as SPM.
SPM is a power player in New York’s delegation as chair of House Democrats’ election funding arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
He’s also got the endorsement of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But his decision to run in the new boundaries of New York’s 17th was criticized by some on the left after it forced out freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones. SPM was accused of unfairly exercising his power as head of the DCCC to further his own political career.
He was also recently attacked for the DCCC’s new strategy of funneling money into fringe-right Republican primary candidates in a bid to make the general election field easier to win in November.
Among his critics was ‘Squad’ member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young progressive powerhouse who threw her influence behind Biaggi in the race.
Abortion versus the economy in New York’s 19th
A special election in New York to fill the remainder of former House Rep. Antonio Delgado’s term on Tuesday is being eyed by both Republicans and Democrats as a potential bellwether for the November midterms.
Voters make a line to cast their ballots in the 2022 Florida Primary in Hialeah, Florida, USA, August 23
Congressional and State Senate Primary Election Day in New York with polls opening everywhere from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm at Robert Wagner Middle School in Manhattan
Democrat Pat Ryan, the Ulster County executive, has run a campaign channeling voter outrage over the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Meanwhile his GOP rival, Dutchess County executive Marc Molinaro, has largely centered his campaign on Americans’ dissatisfaction with Democrats’ handling of the economy.
A recent poll shows the two candidates in a near-tie after weeks of Molinaro enjoying a double-digit lead.
It comes as Democrats nationwide are seeing a new hope in an election year that was widely expected to bring a ‘red tsunami’ to Congress.
Tuesday is a test-run of how that translates into picking a Congressional representative.
Florida Democrats choose Ron DeSantis’ opponent
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whose approval numbers are skyrocketing not just in the Sunshine State but among Republicans nationwide, is uncontested in the GOP primary.
But Democrats there are heading to the polls to decide who will run against him in the fall: House Rep. Charlie Crist or state Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried.
Crist was a Republican when he served one term as governor of Florida before losing to Rick Scott, whose since left that seat and gone on to the US Senate. He switched parties to run as a Democrat for Florida’s 13th Congressional District, a seat he’s held since 2017.
His campaign, which has largely followed President Joe Biden’s 2020 strategy of focusing on unity and kitchen table issues, has the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
On the other end of the Democratic spectrum is Fried, who was briefly seen as a darling of the progressive movement when she became Florida’s only statewide elected Democrat in 2018.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried made waves in 2018 when she became the only Democrat elected statewide
She’s up against Rep. Charlie Crist, the former Republican governor of Florida, in the state’s Democratic primary to see who will take on Ron DeSantis
Fried has contrasted herself from Crist by taking forceful stances on issues like abortion and legalizing marijuana, arguing that her fiery persona is the perfect match-up to defeat a bombastic and culture war-focused DeSantis campaign.
Crist has been shown to be leading Fried in a number of polls leading up to Tuesday, though an upset victory would ensure a heated November race between two candidates who have already been known to trade barbs on social media.
Gen Z is on the ballot in Florida’s 10th Congressional District
An empty seat in Florida’s deep-blue district surrounding Orlando is expected to pave the way for the first Gen Z member of Congress.
A 25-year-old named Maxwell Alejandro Frost is leading a crowded nine-way primary to replace current Rep. Val Demings, who is vacating her seat to run for Senate against incumbent Republican Marco Rubio.
The progressive activist is ahead of his next-closest opponent by double digits in a recent poll by Data For Progress.
He’s also secured marquee endorsements including the Congressional Progressive Caucus and former Rep. Gabby Giffords’ eponymous anti-gun violence group.
Trump’s election fraud lies fuel races in Florida’s 7th and 13th districts
Donald Trump has endorsed Anna Paulina Luna in Florida’ 13th Congressional district, which Crist is leaving to run for governor
Republicans who are enthusiastically promoting Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen 2020 presidential race are on the ballot in two notable Florida races on Tuesday night.
Moderate Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy is vacating the 7th Congressional District, which was redrawn this year to include more Republican areas in a map proposed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
The top two contenders in the Republican primary, the winner of whom has a decent shot at flipping Murphy’s seat in November, are businessman Cory Mills and Florida state lawmaker Anthony Sabatini.
Both have spent a significant amount of time on the campaign trail fueling widespread voter fraud claims.
Meanwhile in the 13th District, Republicans have also given themselves an edge in the newly-redrawn bounds that are being vacated by Charlie Crist.
There, the top GOP contender is Anna Paulina Luna, an Air Force Veteran who secured Trump’s endorsement for the second election cycle in a row.
Oklahoma special election to replace Rep. Markwayne Mullin
Voters in Oklahoma are casting ballots in a runoff race to see who will be the Republican candidate running for the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
The seat is being vacated by pro-Trump GOP Rep. Markwayne Mullin, who is expected to win tonight’s Senate GOP primary for retiring Sen. Jim Inhofe’s seat.
While Donald Trump has not weighed in on the race, the two contenders – former state Senator Josh Brecheen and current Oklahoma state Rep. Avery Frix – have touted themselves as the leading MAGA candidate.