2026 primary election results: Key races unfold in Michigan, Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Washington
Voters are heading to the polls in five states Tuesday, with competitive Senate, governor and House primaries that will shape the 2026 midterm elections. Fox News Digital is tracking results, race calls and key developments throughout the day.
Washington primary unfolds as wildfires disrupt voting
Washington voters are casting primary ballots Tuesday as devastating wildfires force evacuations across the Spokane area and complicate the state’s largely vote-by-mail election.
Officials have urged affected residents to confirm that their ballots were received or request replacements.
The leading congressional contest is in the competitive 3rd District, where Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., faces eight challengers, including President Donald Trump-endorsed Republican state Sen. John Braun.
Voters will also narrow an 11-candidate field seeking to replace retiring Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., in the 4th District. Newhouse voted to impeach Trump.
Washington’s top-two system advances the two highest vote-getters in each race, regardless of party. Ballots must be returned to a drop box or postmarked by 8 p.m. Pacific time (11 p.m. ET). Because mail ballots are counted over several days, close races may not be settled Tuesday night.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trump-backed Brattin leads crowded GOP challenge to flip Missouri Dem Rep Cleaver's seat
Republicans are choosing among six candidates Tuesday for the chance to challenge Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., in the state's newly redrawn 5th District.
State Sen. Rick Brattin enters the primary with endorsements from President Donald Trump and Gov. Mike Kehoe.
His chief advertising rival has been Taylor Burks, a Navy officer and former Boone County clerk.
The revamped Kansas City-area district now stretches into rural central Missouri and carries a Republican tilt. Cleaver is unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Missouri ballot measure targets state income tax
Missouri voters are considering a proposal that could eventually eliminate the state’s individual income tax.
Amendment 5 would direct lawmakers to phase out the tax as state revenues increase.
It would also permit the Legislature to broaden the sales tax to additional goods and services without another statewide vote.
The measure would give lawmakers five years to determine what new sales could be taxed, setting up a major debate over how Missouri would replace lost income-tax revenue.
The Missouri measure marks the first time since the modern income tax began over a century ago that a U.S. state legislature has asked voters whether to eliminate the tax.
Alaska is the only state so far to impose a general individual income tax and then repeal it, doing so in 1980 by a legislative vote.
Massachusetts voters rejected income tax eliminations in 2002 and 2008 that were initiated by citizens, not lawmakers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Virginia Republicans choosing challenger to take on Dem Sen Mark Warner
Virginia Republicans are deciding Tuesday which candidate will face Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., in November.
The three-way GOP primary features accountant Kim Farington, retired Army Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa and Marine Corps reservist David Williams.
Warner, a former governor first elected to the Senate in 2008, is unopposed in the Democratic primary.
The eventual Republican nominee will enter the general election as an underdog in a race not currently viewed as a top Senate battleground.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Fmr Dem Rep. Elaine Luria seeks comeback in bid to flip back Virginia Beach 2nd District
Former Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., is seeking another shot at Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., in one of Virginia’s most closely watched House races.
Luria is the leading candidate in Tuesday’s four-way Democratic primary in the Virginia Beach-based 2nd District.
A retired Navy commander, she served two terms in Congress before Kiggans defeated her in 2022.
Luria has the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a major fundraising advantage over physician Nila Devanath, scientist and veteran Bill Fleming, and former humanitarian worker Patrick Mosolf.
Democrats consider the district a must-win in their fight for the House. Democrats currently hold six of Virginia’s 11 House seats.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
7 Democrats battle to challenge GOP Rep. Rob Wittman in Virginia-1
A crowded Democratic primary will determine who faces Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District.
Henrico County prosecutor Shannon Taylor enters Tuesday’s seven-way contest with the backing of national House Democrats and a large fundraising lead.
Her rivals include attorney Salaam Bhatti, military veterans Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, Jason Knapp and Mel Tull, environmental advocate Tim Cywinski, and attorney Ericka Kopp.
The district includes parts of suburban Richmond and a wide stretch of more conservative rural territory.
Democrats view it as a possible pickup opportunity, though it leans more Republican than Virginia’s coastal 2nd District.
Democrats currently hold six of Virginia’s 11 House seats.
Virginia's failed redistricting push leaves primary turmoil
Virginia’s delayed congressional primary arrives Tuesday after a failed Democratic redistricting effort threw campaigns into uncertainty.
The state moved its usual June primary to August while Democrats pursued a map that could have improved their chances in 10 of Virginia’s 11 districts.
By then, candidates had already launched campaigns based on the proposed map. Some dropped out, while others switched races or continued in districts less favorable to their party.
Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger nevertheless says Democrats can still make gains under the existing map.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Virginia primary chatter puts Democratic midterms enthusiasm in state in spotlight
Political chatter around Virginia’s primary is raising an unusual turnout question in Fairfax County: Could Democrats outvote Republicans even though the Democratic contest is limited to the 8th Congressional District, while Republicans have countywide U.S. Senate and congressional races on the ballot?
Virginia political observer Ben Tribbett suggested that outcome would be striking, given the broader Republican slate.
Separately, another conservative-leaning account warned of weak GOP awareness, saying politically active voters appeared unfamiliar with the candidates — or even that primary day had arrived.
The posts are anecdotal, not turnout data, but together they frame the early storyline: Democratic enthusiasm may be worth watching, while Republicans face questions about voter engagement in a state some activists fear the GOP has neglected.
Debt-ridden Democrats tap a surprising asset as collateral for $15M loan
As the Democratic National Committee (DNC) shouldered significant debt and fell behind its GOP equivalent, Democratic leadership decided to use its headquarters as collateral for a $15 million loan, according to public records.
The loan was taken out in 2025 as the DNC struggled to keep pace with the Republican National Committee’s fundraising efforts ahead of the midterm elections.
While taking out loans ahead of high-stakes races is common, and using property as collateral to do so is not unheard of, the line of credit secured by the DNC was reportedly the largest ever taken out by the committee for an off-year election.
The terms of the loan allow the DNC to withdraw an additional $5 million beyond the $15 million it already has taken, public records show.
"This is not new," a DNC official told Fox News Digital of the loan. "The loan documents were publicly released in November, and the DNC’s building was also used as collateral in our prior lines of credit in 2019, 2018, 2014 and many other years."
What is new, however, is the DNC’s considerable debt.
The financial gap between Democrats and Republicans, as well as the former's higher-than-usual debt load, could leave the DNC with less flexibility to support candidates in the midterm elections.
The national party’s debt and smaller cash reserves could limit its ability to respond quickly, invest broadly and compete with the GOP’s far larger war chest, a boon to conservatives who are currently struggling in the polls.
As of June 30, the DNC has $18.5 million in debt against just $16.3 million in cash on hand, according to campaign finance records.
For comparison, the DNC ended 2022, the previous midterm cycle, with $30.5 million in cash against roughly $420,000 in debt.
The Republican National Committee, by comparison, had $128.5 million in cash with no debt as of June 30, per Federal Election Commission records.
This is an excerpt from Fox News' Robert Schmad's report.
NRCC touts $13.7M cash edge, 36-seat offensive push as House fight inside 100 days
The House Republican campaign arm is hailing its multimillion-dollar fundraising advantage and an expanding battlefield of Democratic-held seats, claiming its strongest midterm position in two decades.
A July 26 National Republican Congressional Committee memo marking the 100 days until the November elections reported a $13.7 million cash-on-hand advantage over the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The NRCC say it is the strongest financial position at this stage of an election cycle in 20 years, arguing that the money will fund advertising, campaign staff and voter-turnout operations in the districts expected to decide control of the House.
But the committee’s most aggressive claim centers on the map.
Democrats are defending 23 seats carried by President Donald Trump in 2024, while Republicans are defending only eight seats carried by Harris — a nearly 3-to-1 disparity that the NRCC believes gives Republicans room to play offense, according to the NRCC.
Several of the seats are identified as open races.
The NRCC's offensive target list has now grown to 36 Democrat-held seats, after seven were added during the week the memo was issued.
“This is not a defensive battlefield,” the NRCC wrote in the memo.
“The next 100 days won’t be easy.”
"For the next 100 days, House Democrats will spend every day trying to explain away their radical socialist record and opposition to countless commonsense policies Americans overwhelmingly support. Republicans have the momentum, the candidates, the resources, and the map to grow our House majority in November, and we’re ready to take it across the finish line."
Abdul El-Sayed's agenda compared to socialist platform
Fox News' Charlie Hurt reviews Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's policy alignment with the Democratic Socialists of America platform.
Despite denying the socialist label, his agenda matches the DSA perfectly on Medicare-for-all and abolishing ICE.
Socialist insurgents eye Midwest gains as Dem civil war threatens must-hold Senate seat
The high-stakes fight between the left-wing and the center-left establishment for the future of the Democratic Party is front-and-center Tuesday in Michigan's primary.
Boosted by a string of victories this spring in mostly blue congressional districts across the country, the Democrats' ideological war moves to the Great Lakes battleground state, where progressive victories could reshape the party and endanger must-hold seats in the midterm elections.
Taking top billing is Michigan's divisive and expensive Democratic Senate primary, which is seen as the biggest stage to date in the fierce fight for the future of the Democratic Party.
The primary face-off pits Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County Health Department director, against Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., a more moderate candidate backed by the establishment.
The race to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who is backing Stevens, is a must-hold for the Democrats and one of roughly a dozen Senate races from coast to coast that will determine if Republicans hold onto their slim Senate majority.
This is an excerpt from Fox News' Paul Steinhauser, Andrew Mark Miller and Luke Trevisan's report.
"This is ground zero in the battle for the future of the Democratic Party pitting status quo corporate Democrats against shake up the system economic fighters, and we’ll see who wins."
Virginia primaries put House battlegrounds, political comebacks in focus
Virginia voters are choosing congressional nominees Tuesday in primaries that could help shape the fight for control of the narrowly divided House.
The biggest contest is in the 2nd Congressional District, where former Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., is seeking a rematch against Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va.
Democrats are also choosing from a crowded field in the 1st District to challenge longtime Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va.
Another former lawmaker, Democrat Tom Perriello, is attempting a comeback in the Republican-leaning 5th District.
Meanwhile, Republicans are selecting a Senate nominee to face Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who is running unopposed for a fourth term.
The voting follows a failed Democratic effort to adopt more favorable congressional boundaries.
The Virginia Supreme Court invalidated the new map, forcing candidates to compete under the state’s existing districts and raising the stakes in several potential November battlegrounds.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kansas judicial reform vote could reshape abortion rights fight
Kansas voters will consider a referendum that would replace the state’s current Supreme Court selection system with elections for six-year terms, a change critics warn could threaten abortion rights.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the state constitution protects a person’s right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy and reaffirmed that protection in 2024. In 2022, nearly 60% of voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed lawmakers to restrict abortion access.
Under the proposed system, three Supreme Court seats would be elected in 2028, two in 2030 and the final two in 2032. Vacancies would be filled through special elections.
Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach said in 2022 that electing justices could gradually produce an anti-abortion majority on the court after voters rejected the earlier amendment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Fmr Rep Cori Bush’s comeback bid faces another costly test in Missouri
Former members of Congress have struggled to mount successful comebacks this year, with only four advancing through their primaries so far.
Several others have suspended their campaigns or lost before reaching the general election.
The next major test comes in Missouri, where progressive Democrat Cori Bush is seeking to unseat Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., in a rematch of their 2024 primary.
Bush, a vocal critic of Israel, lost that race after the pro-Israel super PAC United Democracy Project spent $8 million supporting efforts to defeat her. The group has spent more than $3 million this cycle to keep Bush from returning to Congress.
The primary winner will be heavily favored in November because the St. Louis-area district is safely Democratic.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Michigan Democratic primary puts party’s Israel divide to the test
Michigan Democrats are voting Tuesday in a closely watched Senate primary that could influence both the fight for Congress and the party’s approach to Israel.
The contest pits progressive former public health official Abdul El-Sayed against moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich.
El-Sayed wants to end unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel, while Stevens is a longtime Israel supporter backed by Democratic leaders and pro-Israel groups.
“Gaza and Israel is an affordability issue,” El-Sayed told Reuters. “I would rather spend our money on healthcare and schools and infrastructure here at home rather than bombing other people elsewhere.”
Stevens and her allies argue that her more moderate profile would make her a stronger general-election candidate in a swing state. She has also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he has failed to make Israel safer or bring the region closer to peace.
The primary has become a test of whether Democratic voters are moving toward an anti-establishment message focused on Gaza, corporate influence and domestic spending — or remain more concerned with electability and defeating Republicans.
The race has drawn tens of millions of dollars in outside spending and national attention from both wings of the party.
The winner will face former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., in November in a race expected to play a major role in determining control of the Senate. The result could also shape how prospective Democratic presidential candidates address Israel heading into 2028.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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