Readers in South Dakota, New Jersey, Iowa, Mississippi and New Mexico will also vote in nomination races that will set the playing field for the November 8 elections, which will determine control of Congress. for the next two years.
With President Joe Biden plummeting in the polls and runaway inflation souring readers’ moods, Republicans are expected to take control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate, which would put a damper on the legislative agenda. of Biden and would empower Republicans to launch distracting and possibly politically damaging investigations.
In Montana, Ryan Zinke, who served as Interior Secretary under former Republican President Trump, is running for a newly created seat in the House of Representatives that the state won through population growth and the process of redistricting which takes place once per decade.
Zinke, who has served in Congress before, faces four Republican challengers, some of whom claim he is too liberal or lacks commitment to the state because his wife’s residence is in California.
This year, an Inspector General’s report accused Mr Zinke of using his position as Home Secretary to advance a development project in his hometown and of lying to an investigator about ethics. He denied any wrongdoing.
Conservative South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem faces a challenge from South Dakota House of Representatives member Steven Haugaard.
Ms Noem has been mentioned as a possible vice-presidential running mate if former President Donald Trump runs for re-election in 2024 or as a full-fledged White House candidate if he does not.
The winner of each of these Republican primaries is favorite to win in November.
CALIFORNIA IS TURNING ON
Two races in California will also illustrate the frustrations of liberal-leaning readers over spikes in homicides and gun violence.
Polls show progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin likely to be ousted by a recall vote. A replacement would be chosen by the city’s mayor, London Breed, a Democrat who has criticized Boudin but has not taken a position on the removal.
In Los Angeles, Rick Caruso, a billionaire promoter and former Republican, faces US Representative Karen Bass and a host of other Liberal candidates in the mayoral election.
Caruso, who has spent more than $30 million of his own money on the campaign, has made crime the centerpiece of his candidacy in a city that saw homicides rise to a 15-year high in 2021. forced Bass, a longtime progressive champion in Congress, to move to the center and promise to put more police on the streets. Caruso and Bass could be heading to a second round, according to the polls.
NEW JERSEY, IOWA DFIS
The Republicans of New Jersey and Iowa will also choose challengers to the struggling Democrat incumbents: Representatives Tom Malinowski in New Jersey and Cindy Axne in Iowa.
Former Republican State Senate Leader Tom Kean Jr., son of popular twice-elected Gov. Thomas Kean, is leading a strong Republican field to challenge Malinowski.
Malinowski, a two-term incumbent who entered Congress by swinging a Republican seat in 2018, won re-election beating Kean by 1.2 percentage points in 2020. Since then, his prospects have been weakened by redistricting and a House ethics inquiry after reports that he failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock trades.
“It was a nail in the bud in 2020 and his district has become a little more Republican-friendly. So that’s going to be a big challenge,” said Benjamin Dworkin, director of the University’s Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship. Rowan.
In Iowa, three Republicans are vying for the chance to challenge Axne: businesswoman Nicole Hasso, construction consultant Gary Leffler and former state senator Zach Nunn.
Nunn, the only Republican candidate to have held elected office, boasts a slew of endorsements from party figures, including former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and several House Republicans. representatives.