Botwin's Morning Wire

POLITICS

Alaska Midterm Primaries Set to Narrow Senate, Governor, and Congressional Races

7d ago · Source: pbs

Alaska voters will narrow the field for a competitive U.S. Senate race and other offices in the August primary, with the top four finishers advancing to the general election. The primary uses ranked‑choice voting.

Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, first elected in 2014 and re‑elected in 2020, faces former Democratic Representative Mary Peltola, who won a 2022 special election and was defeated in the 2024 reelection bid. Sullivan leads in campaign funds, with about $7.3 million on hand compared with Peltola’s $4.6 million. A second candidate named Dan Sullivan, a former teacher, was allowed to remain on the ballot after a court rejected a Republican challenge.

Nick Begich, nephew of former Senator Mark Begich, is running for a second term in the House; fisherman Bill Hill, an independent with union and Democratic support, is his main challenger. Hill raised $1.3 million versus Begich’s $5.5 million.

Seventeen candidates, including former Governor Bill Walker running as an independent, compete for the gubernatorial nomination. Republican contenders include former state Senators Click Bishop, Shelley Hughes, Lesil McGuire, former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, former revenue Commissioner Adam Crum, Matanuska‑Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries, former Attorney General Treg Taylor, and businesswoman Bernadette Wilson. Democrats Tom Begich and Jonathan Kreiss‑Tomkins are also in the field.

All 40 House seats and half of the 20 Senate seats are up for election in 2026. State lawmakers are organized in multiparty coalitions.

Voters will decide on a proposal to impose contribution limits on state and local campaigns; a 2021 federal court decision lifted previous limits on individual contributions.

About 602,000 voters are registered; 63 % are undeclared or nonpartisan, 24 % Republican, and 12 % Democrat. Polls close at 8 p.m. local time, which is midnight Eastern, except one location in the Aleutian Islands that closes at 1 a.m. Early and absentee ballots made up 23 % of the 2022 Senate primary and 28 % of the 2022 House primary; about 18,000 ballots had been cast as of the previous Thursday. Results are expected to begin releasing after polls close, with most in‑person returns by the end of the night and mail‑in results later.

In the 2024 primary, AP first reported results at 1:03 a.m. ET, three minutes after polls closed, and the final tally reached 100 % on September 1, twelve days after the election. The AP declares winners only when the outcome is mathematically certain; it will cover any candidate concessions or victory statements without making projections.

POLITICS

Florida Holds Midterm Primaries to Choose Governor and Senate Nominees

Florida voters will select party nominees on Tuesday in primaries for governor, the U.S.

7d ago · Source: pbs · 2 min read

Florida voters will select party nominees on Tuesday in primaries for governor, the U.S. Senate, and the House of Representatives, the first congressional contests held under a map redrawn to favor Republican candidates. The governor’s race features 11 Republican candidates, including Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, Representative Byron Donalds, former investment executive James Fishback, and former Speaker Paul Renner; Donalds has received former President Donald Trump’s endorsement and holds a financial advantage over the field. Democrats are fielding six candidates, with former Representative David Jolly leading in fundraising and selecting former Representative Gwen Graham as his running mate. Senate incumbent Ashley Moody, appointed by DeSantis to fill Marco Rubio’s vacancy, faces no primary opposition and will appear on the November ballot. Her Democratic challengers include Representative Angie Nixon and retired Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman. In the House, the new Republican‑friendly map eliminates several districts currently represented by Democrats, creating contested primaries for incumbents such as Kathy Castor, Darren Soto, Jared Moskowitz, and Sheila Cherfilus‑McCormick. Polls close at 7 p.m. local time (8 p.m. in Central counties), and only voters registered with a political party may vote in the corresponding primary; independents are ineligible. As of July 20, Florida had about 13.5 million registered voters, with 42 % Republicans, 30 % Democrats, and 25 % unaffiliated. Early voting accounted for 63 % of Republican and 77 % of Democratic primary votes in the 2024 Senate primaries, and roughly 663,000 Republican and 610,000 Democratic ballots had been cast before Election Day. Results will be released first from early and absentee ballots, with in‑person Election Day tallies added later. The Associated Press will declare winners when a candidate’s lead is insurmountable; recounts are triggered if the margin is 0.5 % or less for a machine recount, or 0.25 % for a manual recount. The primaries occur 77 days before the 2026 midterm elections.