As voters head to the polls on Tuesday to choose their preference in the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries, many Americans will also vote in important down-ballot races.
Super Tuesday primary elections will be held in 16 states and one U.S. territory as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump move closer to their respective parties’ nominations. Other races in multiple states will likely have major implications for the battle over control of Congress.
Here are some down-ballot races to keep an eye on as the results start pouring in on Tuesday evening:
California Senate Primary
Numerous Democrats and Republicans are running for the seat of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who died in September. Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, Barbara Lee, and former MLB player Steve Garvey, a Republican, are expected to be in a tight race for the top two spots.
California holds a nonpartisan primary election for the Senate, in which the two candidates with the most votes — regardless of party affiliation — will move on to face each other head-to-head in the general election in November. Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA), a labor leader and activist whom Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom appointed to fill the Senate seat following Feinstein’s death, said in October that she would not run to hold onto the seat.
According to FiveThirtyEight’s average of polls on the Senate primary in California, Schiff leads the pack at 25.5%, with Garvey coming in second at 20.4% and Porter in third at 18.4%. Lee remains farther behind in the polls, coming in at 9.1%.
Texas Democratic Senate Primary
Democrats in Texas will head to the polls on Tuesday to choose their nominee to run against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for the seat the conservative senator has held since 2013. Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), a former NFL player who has been serving in Congress since 2019, and Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez are the favorites in a crowded field to win the party’s nomination.
Democrats have put a lot of attention on Texas in Cruz’s past two re-election campaigns, hoping to steal a Senate seat in the red state. In 2018, Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke lost to Cruz by more than 200,000 votes. No Democrat has won an election for statewide office in Texas in 30 years, according to the Associated Press.
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Allred has outraised his Democratic opponents in the race, raking in more than $21 million during his campaign for the Senate, the AP reported. Gutierrez, meanwhile, has criticized Allred for joining 14 other Democrats in backing a GOP-led resolution condemning Biden for his handling of the border crisis.
The most recent polls on the Democratic primary in Texas show Allred leading Gutierrez by double digits, with one poll showing the former Tennessee Titans player ahead by 38 points. If one candidate doesn’t get a majority of votes in the primary, the top two candidates will head to a runoff election on May 28.
Texas GOP House Primary
Another Texas race, this one for a U.S. House seat, could be a close contest as 11 Republicans look to move on to the general election. Brandon Gill, the son-in-law of conservative documentary filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, is endorsed by both Trump and Cruz. He is considered the frontrunner in the race with John Huffman, the mayor of Southlake, Texas, being his most prominent challenger.
The Republican candidates are looking to win the seat of outgoing Rep. Michael Burgess, who announced in November that he would retire at the end of his current term. A candidate must get more than 50% of the vote to win the primary. The top two candidates will move on to a runoff in May if no candidate reaches the majority threshold.
Alabama GOP House Primary
A primary in the red state of Alabama is pitting two incumbent Republicans against each other after the state redistricted. Reps. Jerry Carl and Barry Moore, both second-term congressmen, must now fight for the 1st District seat.
Moore is backed by House Freedom Action, a group tied to the conservative House Freedom Caucus, of which Moore is a member. Since Alabama’s 1st District is safely Republican, the winner of Tuesday’s primary is expected to win the general election in November easily. A recent poll from the University of Auburn Montgomery shows Carl leading Moore 43% to 35%.
North Carolina Gubernatorial Primaries
Both Republicans and Democrats will vote for a nominee in the North Carolina gubernatorial primaries on Tuesday. Democratic Governor Roy Cooper is term-limited after this year, serving in the governor’s mansion since 2017.
On the GOP side, Trump-endorsed candidate Mark Robinson, who is currently the state’s lieutenant governor, is facing two other Republican candidates, Bill Graham and Dale Folwell. For Democrats, state Attorney General Josh Stein is widely expected to win the party’s primary as he looks to fend off four challengers.
The general election for North Carolina governor is expected to be competitive and expensive. According to polling, Robinson and Stein are neck-and-neck in a potential general election matchup.
