Our live coverage has ended. Go here or scroll through the posts below to read about Tuesday’s key races.
In the Republican primary in the Kansas governor’s race, Trump-backed Secretary of State Kris Kobach and incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer were waiting on results from the highly populated Johnson County, in the Kansas City area.
Kobach and Colyer were locked in a tight race as ballots were counted.
The two each had about 40% of the vote, but most of Johnson County was left to be counted.
Why this matters: President Trump on Monday endorsed Kobach over incumbent Colyer. In doing so, he ignored the pleas of the Republican Governors Association to stay out of the race. Kobach is widely seen as uniquely vulnerable in a general election due to his controversial national profile.
Kansas is a deep-red state – Trump won there by 20 percentage points in 2016 – and any Republican would be favored in the gubernatorial election in November.
But Democrats believe momentum from this spring’s protests over education funding against Republicans who control the state government could make the state surprisingly competitive this fall. And Kobach – who publicly backed Trump’s false claim that millions of people voted illegally in 2016 and who advocates a hard-line approach to immigration – could alienate Republican voters in areas like the Kansas City and Wichita suburbs.
John James won the Republican Senate nomination in Michigan, CNN projects.
James is an African-American Iraq war veteran, who was endorsed by President Trump. He will face three-term Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Stabenow, a Democrat, is expected to win in the fall, but James could prove to be a formidable foe.
Earlier tonight, Trump took to Twitter to congratulate James:
Progressive outsider Abdul El-Sayed’s bid for governor in Michigan fell short tonight, CNN projects, as the establishment favorite, former state senate minority leader Gretchen Whitmer, nabbed the Democratic nomination and a November date with Republican attorney general Bill Schuette.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who defeated Hillary Clinton in the state back in 2016, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lined up to back El-Sayed, who ran on an innovative “Medicare for all” plan and proposals for public broadband and tuition-free college.
But Whitmer, a respected liberal legislator who painted El-Sayed’s platform as unrealistic in the purple state, kept the race close in areas El-Sayed needed to win big and ran up the score everywhere else.
Why this matters: The defeat is a setback for progressives, who are fighting the party establishment — and some long-held conventional wisdom — that says leftist politics won’t play in the Midwest.
Where they go next: Sanders-loyal Democrats will now turn their eyes to Kansas, where a pair of progressive candidates — James Thompson and Brent Welder — are also on the ballot tonight.
President Trump just tweeted that Republican Troy Balderson won “a great victory” in the special election for Ohio’s 12th Congressional District — and claimed credit for the victory.
Important note: CNN is reporting that the race is still too close to call.
The race in Ohio’s 12th District is too tight to project a winner. Republicans are claiming victory, but the Democrat has not conceded.
The CNN decision team will not make a projection in the Ohio 12th Congressional District special election tonight because the race is simply too close to call.
What the Democrat said: “We’re not stopping now,” Danny O’Connor said moments ago.
What the Republican said: “I’m honored… It’s time to get to work,” Troy Balderson said.
Where things stand: 100% of precincts have reported, but 100% of the votes have not been counted for the district. Currently, the Ohio Secretary of State reports there are 8,483 outstanding ballots that may be counted.
Here are the latest numbers from Ohio’s Secretary of State: (Note: These numbers can change)
As of 11:03 p.m. ET, the margin is .09%
Ohio law mandates that a recount must be performed in a district if the difference between two candidates is 0.5% or less.
The outstanding votes could push the difference either above or below the 0.5% mark. (If the margin is above 0.5%, candidates may still request recounts.)
Republican Troy Balderson is speaking to supporters in Ohio’s 12th Congressional District. He essentially declared victory — but the Ohio special election is still too close to call.
Balderson also thanked President Trump for his visit last weekend.
Trump visited Ohio on Saturday in what appeared to be an attempt to fire up the Republican base, but Democrats close to Democrat Danny O’Connor’s campaign hoped it would also spur Democratic excitement and turn off Republicans wary of Trump. The President’s approval in the district stands at 46%, with 49% saying they disapprove of his job performance.
Watch more from Balderson:
Polls just closed in Washington, where Democrats hope to win big tonight.
Democrats are facing off against perennial Republican candidate Dino Rossi for GOP Rep. David Reichert’s seat in the 8th District. Reichert announced his retirement last year.
In the 5th District, House GOP Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers will most likely face a tough fight against former WSU Chancellor Lisa Brown.
Danny O’Connor, the Democrat in Ohio’s special election, just took the stage at his campaign headquarters to rally his supporters and tell him that he would continue the fight. He notably did not concede.
He said:
Later, O’Connor tweeted this:
Democrats are not giving up on Ohio’s special election.
CNN’s Rebecca Berg, who is reporting from Democrat Danny O’Connor’s headquarters, said they want to see him lead the race — but Democrats also know the 12th Congressional District is Republican, and that it’s an uphill battle.
Berg noted:
The votes from Delaware County will be the deciding factor in this race, she said.
CNN’s Jason Carroll just heard huge cheers at Troy Balderson’s campaign headquarters in Newark, Ohio, as some of the most recent reporting just came in.
The room, he reports, is feeling really good while they’re waiting for the Republican candidate to make his appearance on stage.
Washington state could be fertile ground for Democrats to take the majority back in Congress.
The retirement of GOP Rep. David Reichert in the 8th District has given them hope in the Seattle suburbs and beyond for another seat in the House.
Democrats in the state openly admit that losing here to perennial Republican candidate Dino Rossi (assuming he advances as expected in the open primary) would be embarrassing for the party.
The real pièce de résistance in Washington (and for Democrats overall) could come in the 5th District, where House GOP Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers will most likely face a tough fight against former WSU Chancellor Lisa Brown.
Polls are tightening in the race, giving Democrats hope they can take out the number four Republican in the House.
The problem for Democrat Danny O’Connor as votes come in from Delaware County is that he’s doing significantly worse in the votes cast on election day than those cast early.
That means that even in the areas in Delaware County (where almost all of the vote is remaining) where O’Connor did well in the early vote he is still usually losing ground.
Trump will claim victory if Republican Troy Balderson holds on in Ohio, but it may not all be good news for the president tonight.
His chosen candidate in the Kansas gubernatorial Republican primary, Kris Kobach, is trailing by a few thousand votes in early returns. If that holds, it’ll be a rare primary loss for the president.
Interestingly, longtime Kansas Sen. Bob Dole was behind Kobach’s opponent.
We’re closely watching the special election in Ohio’s 12th Congressional District tonight, where Trump-backed Republican Troy Balderson is up against Democrat Danny O’Connor.
Republicans have held the seat for decades, and a win for Democrats tonight would signal further danger for Republicans in the fall.
At the moment, it’s very, very close.
Several of the counties in the district are 100% reporting, and we’re just waiting on two to finish tallying votes: Delaware and Franklin Counties — the two biggest parts of the district, CNN’s John King says.
Why that matters: Franklin County, where 94% of precincts are reporting, is home to about one third of the voters.
“The fact that this is so close is amazing,” King said. “This should be solid Republican country, but tonight, it is not.”
In Missouri, Republicans nominated Attorney General Josh Hawley, who will face Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in November, CNN projects.
Why this matters: The race represents one of the GOP’s best pick-up opportunities on the Senate battleground map this fall.
Trump won the state by 19 percentage points in 2016.
In determining how to translate tonight’s Ohio 12th Congressional District returns into what will occur in November, a lot of focus has been on the fact that President Trump won here by 11 percentage points.
But that statistic probably underestimates how Republican the district truly is. On the congressional level, it hasn’t elected a Democrat to Congress since at least the early 1980s.
Additionally, it’s important to note that the November playing field will be a lot friendlier for Democrats in another way: the urban/rural divide. So far, we’ve seen Republican Troy Balderson close the gap between him and Democrat Danny O’Connor because of his strength in rural areas. According to the Census, about 24% of the district is rural. The median congressional district, on the other hand is only about 13% rural.
The bottom line: This district really shouldn’t be close, and the fact that it is can’t be spun as good news for Republicans.
Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers resigned and vacated his seat in December as he faced several allegations of sexual harassment.
As we reported last December: The House Ethics Committee also announced that it had opened an investigation into allegations against him following a BuzzFeed report that he settled a wrongful dismissal complaint in 2015 after allegedly sexually harassing a staffer. Conyers denied wrongdoing in that case, but acknowledged that there had been a financial settlement to that complaint.
To fill his seat, Michigan’s 13th Congressional district will have a special primary election today. The general election will be held on Nov. 6, 2018.
On that date, the district will have two separate elections, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s spokesperson Anna Heaton told the Detroit Free Press. One will determine a candidate to complete Conyers’ term, which will end just over a month later, and another election for a two-year term starting in January 2019.
The polls have closed in Kansas and Michigan, where several key races are happening.
In Kansas, Kris Kobach, the conservative secretary of state who served on the President Trump’s voter integrity commission, is facing off against incumbent GOP Gov. Jeff Colyer. Trump on Monday endorsed Kobach over Coyler.
Labor lawyer Brent Welder, high school teacher Tom Niermann and Sharice Davids — a former White House fellow and former professional mixed martial arts fighter who will become the first openly lesbian Native American in Congress if she wins in November — are running in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District. (The winner will take on Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder, who represents the district that Hillary Clinton won by 1 point in 2016.)
In Michigan, former state Senate Majority Leader Gretchen Whitmer and Abdul El-Sayed, whom Sanders has campaigned hard for, are vying to be the state’s governor. If he wins the primary and wins in November, he would be the nation’s first Muslim governor.
On the Republican side, John James — an African-American Iraq War vet — got a boost from the President that could put him over the top and shake up the Senate race against three-term Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Stabenow is expected to win in the fall, but James could prove to be a formidable foe.
Kansas is a deep-red state — President Trump won there by 20 percentage points in 2016 — and any Republican would be favored in the gubernatorial election in November.
On Twitter, Trump also called the GOP candidate in the race, Kris Kobach, a “strong and early supporter of mine.”
But there are concerns: Democrats believe momentum from this spring’s protests over education funding against Republicans who control the state government could make the state surprisingly competitive this fall. And Kobach — who publicly backed Trump’s false claim that millions of people voted illegally in 2016 and who advocates a hard-line approach to immigration — could alienate Republican voters in areas like the Kansas City and Wichita suburbs.
The concern extends to Kobach’s potential impact on two potentially competitive congressional races in Kansas, too — including Rep. Kevin Yoder’s re-election bid in the 3rd District, a top Democratic target.
Rashida Tlaib is running to be the first Muslim woman in the US Congress, but first she has to beat a crowded field of Democrats in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.
Several of Tlaib’s Democratic opponents are themselves accomplished women. And while Tlaib doesn’t shy away from talking about her faith, it’s not a big part of her pitch to her voters. And it will take more than a meta-narrative to beat the four other Democrats vying for the same seat in Congress – a seat previously held by former Rep. John Conyers, who resigned in December amid allegations of sexual harassment.
Ian Conyers, the former congressman’s grandnephew and a Michigan state senator, is running to fill the seat, as is Brenda Jones, the president of Detroit’s City Council, and Bill Wild, the mayor of Westland, a small city in the district.
Still, the people who argue that Tlaib may be the first Muslim woman elected to Congress usually make these three points:
