2026 primary election results: Key races unfold in Michigan, Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Washington

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told reporters on Wednesday that she believes Abdul El-Sayed is “going to win” the Michigan Senate race in November as he campaigns on lowering costs while “Donald Trump thinks that affordability is a hoax.” 

“Abdul got outspent by 11 to 1. I've never heard of a race where somebody gets outspent 11 to 1, and the person spending 11 is not the one who wins. And the way I see this, it's all about building a real grassroots movement of volunteers. As he rolls into the November election, it's going to be all about Republicans who think that affordability is a hoax,” Warren said. 

“His opponent is somebody who has helped out the insurance industry, helped out the drug industry. Abdul is somebody who's run on lowering costs for American families, and that's what he's going to deliver on,” Warren continued. 

When asked to respond to President Donald Trump calling El-Sayed a “communist loser” Wednesday, Warren said, “If that's all that President Trump has it shows you that he doesn't have much of anything.” 

“Look, Abdul is out talking to people in Michigan every single day, and they want someone who's going to fight to lower costs. Donald Trump thinks that affordability is a hoax, and lowering costs is a big yawn. But the American people don't. And that's what Abdul is going to run on. And I think he's going to win,” she said. 

Fox News’ Caroline McKee contributed to this post. 

Rep. Hayley Stevens, who has been defeated by progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary, said Wednesday that "I love Michigan and am so proud to have put up my hand to serve."

"I spoke with Abdul a few moments ago to offer him my full support as we work to defeat Mike Rogers this November. Thank you, Michigan," Stevens wrote.

With 99% of votes counted, El-Sayed defeated Stevens by a vote count of 740,950 (48.5%) to 726,057 (47.5%), according to The Associated Press.

Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed vowed to defend "Jewish safety" in his victory speech Wednesday after heavily criticizing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Israel during his primary fight.

“To my Jewish American sisters and brothers. One of the most indelible memories of this campaign will have been the opportunity to break bread with you at Seder, to worship with you at shul, to embrace, to be embraced by you, and listening to sisters and brothers who said, you know, I want to join this movement because AIPAC doesn't speak for me, because I understand that self-determination for one people does not require the quenching of self-determination for another people, that unless all of us are free, none of us are free,” he said. 

“I want to tell you the great gift that you've given me, and to all of my sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith, or any faith at all, or no faith at all, I want you to know that my commitment to your safety, my commitment to Jewish safety, is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters,” El-Sayed added. 

El-Sayed has been a vocal critic of Israel during its war against Hamas, characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as "genocide" against Palestinians. 

More than $80 million was spent on the primary, making it the most expensive Democratic Senate nomination contest in history. The largest spender was United Democracy Project, a political action committee aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is best known by its acronym AIPAC.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this post. 

DETROIT, MI - Abdul El-Sayed's victory over moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan's high-stakes Democratic Senate primary is a massive boost for the party's left-wing in its ideological battle with the center-left establishment.

The win called Wednesday morning gives instant ammunition to Republicans aiming to flip a crucial battleground Senate seat the Democrats must hold as part of their midterm push to win back control of the chamber.

Republican nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers, in a Fox News Digital interview ahead of the primary, argued that El-Sayed is "way too extreme for Michigan. I mean, Abdul, he has his own special sauce of crazy."

El-Sayed is a far-left figure backed by progressive champions and socialists like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and other members of the "Squad." He beat Stevens, an establishment Democrat, by 1% when the race was called by AP with 99% of the vote counted on Wednesday morning.

A former Wayne County Health Department director, El-Sayed, if elected in November, would make history as the nation's first Muslim senator. He is an epidemiologist who unsuccessfully ran for governor as an insurgent candidate in 2018. He has made support for "Medicare-for-all" a major component of his campaign.

He has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and is a vocal critic of Israel amid its war with Hamas — even characterizing Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide" against Palestinians. El-Sayed, who served as a top surrogate on Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, has also vowed not to accept PAC donations.

El-Sayed's primary election victory has some wondering if the party of the late Rep. John Dingell, who was famously known as the "Dean of the House" during his historic tenure in Congress, and his wife Rep. Debbie Dingell, the current dean of the Michigan congressional delegation, has broadly shifted to the left, or if this is a one-off election dynamic.

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed appeared to dismiss Democrat Party infighting Wednesday after winning the state's Senate primary, describing it as an "intra-family squabble."

"You heard about the historic turnout. Sometimes, you know, intra-family squabbles are the biggest ones. But we all know that when we walk out the house, we stand united," El-Sayed said. "And sometimes we got to have it out about the conversation, about who we are and who we want to be. And I think I'll tell you that the things that unite us are so much bigger than the things that divide us."

More than $80 million was spent on the primary, making it the most expensive Democratic Senate nomination contest in history. 

El-Sayed defeated moderate Rep. Hayley Stevens and will face off against Republican Mike Rogers in November.

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this post.

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said Wednesday described Republican challenger Mike Rogers as a “corporate sellout,” claiming he is “licking Donald Trump's boots.” 

“If you want a senator who's going to lick some boots, fine. Go vote for Mike Rogers,” El-Sayed said after defeating Rep. Hayley Stevens in the primary. “But if you want a senator who's going to stand up to Donald Trump, then you've got your option right here.” 

“And what's funny about Mike Rogers is that he's like the worst of all versions of the Republican Party, right? He's the worst of the neocon version. I mean, he was in the House during the entirety of the Iraq War. He left because he got tired of it,” El-Sayed added. “And then he swore up and down he could never support Donald Trump until, of course, he was licking Donald Trump's boots. So now he carries the burden of both of those things. Is he MAGA? Is he neocon? Nah, man, he's just a corporate sellout.” 

Abdul El-Sayed said Wednesday that his victory in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary “would not have been possible” without help and endorsements from figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. 

“We took on a machine,” he said. “You're not supposed to be able to beat $70 million dollars of outside spending. A record amount of money spent in a campaign against a Democrat in a primary, in any campaign. You're not supposed to be able to beat that. And what we showed is that the power of our many is greater than the power of their money.” 

"This would not have been possible without the incredible efforts of so many allies and allied organizations. I got to give a special thank you to my first endorsers, Bernie Sanders, the OG who came in on day one, put his entire shoulder in the work,” El-Sayed added. “I just hope that I can help to carry some of that load in the fight for working people on Medicare for All that he's been carrying for all of this time.” 

Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed said Wednesday following his victory in the state’s Democratic Senate primary that the party must come together to “make sure that we never let Mike Rogers see the inside of the U.S. Senate.” 

“To my colleague and friend, Congresswoman Haley Stevens, we shared a great conversation this morning, and I know that it was a bitter, end to this very long primary, but I also know that Haley brings, the best of herself to her work,” El-Sayed said about his primary challenger. 

“She is one of the most committed public servants that you'll ever meet. She loves democracy like I love democracy. And whatever differences that we might have had in the primary they pale in comparison to what unifies us,” he added. “A recognition that so long as we want to keep our democracy, that democracy better be working for people, and that all of us have to come to come together to make sure that we never let Mike Rogers see the inside of the U.S. Senate.” 

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Abdul El-Sayed's victory in the Michigan Senate primary is "great news" for the Republican party as the progressive candidate is a "Communist loser."

"Great news for the Republican Party. El-Sayed, a Communist loser who hates Jews and Israel, is the projected winner in his race with the Socialist," Trump said, noting El-Sayed's victory over Rep. Hayley Stevens.

"As usual, the Polls were way off on this one. She was not expected to do nearly as well as she did. Now, the Dumocrats crazy policies will only get worse!" Trump added.

Trump has endorsed Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the U.S. Senate race in Michigan.

Donavan McKinney, a congressional candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, won his Democratic primary, unseating incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich.

From primary candidates in New York like socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier and her victory over incumbent Rep. Adriano Espillat, D-N.Y., the veteran chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, to Melat Kiros, another socialist in Colorado, unseating 30-year incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., DSA-backed candidates have expanded their influence over the party.

They’ve even enjoyed victories over other progressives — like Thanedar.

Thanedar, while still a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has broken with the DSA on a few critical areas.

Most notably, Thanedar broke off his own membership with the DSA in October 2023 over his support for Israel.

"I can no longer associate with an organization unwilling to call out terrorism in all its forms. Sunday’s hate-filled and antisemitic rally in New York City, promoted by the NYC-DSA, makes it impossible for me to continue my affiliation. I stand with Israel and its right to defend itself," Thanedar wrote in a statement after the Oct. 7 terror attacks that left 1,200 Israelis dead.  

After a grueling, messy campaign, a far-left progressive has taken on the Democratic establishment and won.

Abdul El-Sayed felled Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., to secure the Democratic nomination for Senate in what became one of the ugliest Democratic primary races in the country. El-Sayed will now face former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who was uncontested in the GOP primary, in November.

Big money, the Democratic old guard and attacks on El-Sayed’s Democratic Socialist leanings dominated the primary, and leave the last man standing on the Left bruised and battered heading into the showdown with Rogers.

The face-off to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who backed Stevens, is a must-win contest for Democrats and one of roughly a dozen general election Senate races expected to determine whether Republicans retain their narrow majority.

Fox News' Alex Miller contributed to this post.

Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who suspended her campaign in July for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, said Wednesday that progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed "has my full endorsement and support."

"Congratulations to Abdul El-Sayed on winning the Michigan Democratic primary to be our nominee for U.S. Senate," McMorrow wrote on X this morning despite the race still being too close to call.

"This was a brutal primary (believe me, I know). And Trump and Mike Rogers are counting on us staying divided," McMorrow said, naming the Republican nominee. "Let's prove them wrong by beating Mike Rogers and taking our country back."

Progressive Michigan Democratic Senate primary candidate Abdul El-Sayed's lead over Rep. Haley Stevens narrowed on Wednesday morning, with the race still remaining too close to call.

As of 9 a.m. ET, with 96% of the votes counted, El-Sayed leads Stevens 740,943 (48.5%) to 726,045 (47.5%), according to The Associated Press. 

El-Sayed's lead of 14,898 votes has narrowed from earlier this morning, when he was up on Stevens by 19,403 around the 7 a.m. hour, the AP reported. 

El-Sayed wrote “we won” on X Wednesday morning, despite the race not being called yet. 

Michigan Democratic Senate primary candidate Abdul El-Sayed claimed Wednesday that Republican Mike Rogers is “a guy who has never seen a corporate dollar he did not want to use to corrupt his office.” 

“Mike Rogers served in Congress. He served the special interests in Congress but says he served the state of Michigan. He did it for 14 years. He took, I don’t know how much money, nearly a million dollars from the pharmaceutical industry, voted to raise prescription drug prices, helped to architect the legislation that kicked off the opioid epidemic. This is a guy who has never seen a corporate dollar he did not want to use to corrupt his office,” El-Sayed, a progressive, told MS Now’s “Morning Joe.” 

“What he is missing is politics has changed since the year 2000 when he got to office. Now it’s not enough to just get, what, $70 million dollars and run 30-second ads on television. You actually have to stand for something,” El-Sayed continued. “And this is a guy who doesn’t want to actually explain why he is backing Donald Trump on the worst, most ridiculous war that we’ve seen that they swore up and down that we would never fight.” 

“He doesn’t want to explain why he drives an EV but doesn’t want you to. He doesn’t want to explain why he is OK with everybody paying $5 gas because of adventurism abroad,” El-Sayed also said. “So we are looking forward to forcing him to explain all of those things to the people of the state of Michigan and then sending him back to Florida so he can golf with his buddies.” 

El-Sayed has claimed victory Wednesday in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary despite the race against Rep. Haley Stevens, a more moderate contender, remaining too close to call.   

GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers told "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday that Republicans in Michigan "really haven't had a chance to get our message out" as the race on the other side of the aisle became the most expensive Democratic Senate nomination contest in history. 

“Remember, this is the most expensive primary in history, some $100 million dollars. Meantime, we were building our ground game. We had over a million doors knocked. We are ready for the next phase of this election,” Rogers said. “And this is a change election.” 

“So, quarter century, we've had two Democrat senators represent us here in Michigan, 200,000 lost manufacturing jobs. Our utility bills are the highest in the Midwest,” Rogers continued. “Our auto insurance rates are the highest in the country. You can't buy a home here until you are 40 years old. That's the new median average. And guess what? Our education is now 45th in the country thanks to Democrats. Democrats did every bit of that.” 

“So when we get done explaining and talking about our vision for the future, we're going to get our kids reading. We're going to build homes here in the state again, we're going to fire some bureaucrats that keep rising, the artificially rising, the cost of homes,” Rogers added. “We think we're in good shape. That's why our polling has been so good, in a pretty tough environment, because they understand that the guy that worked on Chrysler LeBarons is on the factory floor, probably gets my economic pain. And we have plans to fix them.” 

GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers told "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday that he has never seen someone as "radical" and "extreme" as Abdul El-Sayed get nominated in the state's Senate race.

"He just came out a few minutes ago and said that he won the race, so he's declaring victory," Rogers, who secured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Michigan, said about the progressive candidate. "This is really about the heart and soul of our country. I have never seen someone so radical, so extreme, get nominated by a political party."

"And the DSA [Democratic Socialists of America] candidates in the state, in two different congressional races, look like they're pulling it off as well. The Democrat Party is lost to this hardcore socialist attitude," Rogers continued.

Michigan Democratic Senate primary candidate Abdul El-Sayed declared victory on Wednesday despite the race being too close to call.

"Michigan... We won. I am so proud to be your Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. Let's win in November," El-Sayed wrote on X.

The declaration came as El-Sayed led Rep. Haley Stevens by a vote total of 735,625 (48.6%) to 716,222 (47.4%) as of 6:49 a.m. ET, with 95% of the vote counted, according to The Associated Press.

Michigan Democratic Senate primary candidate Abdul El-Sayed said Wednesday that “We need to move forward and start bringing this party together” as his race with Rep. Haley Stevens, a more moderate contender, remains too close to call. 

“On August 5, both Congresswoman Stevens and I had committed to bringing the party back together. We understand that she still wants to hold onto a path, we are focused on trying to figure out how we bring the party together to defeat Mike Rogers in November,” El-Sayed said during an appearance on MS Now’s “Morning Joe.” 

“We want to get money out of politics, put money in your pocket, pass Medicare for All,” the progressive candidate said when asked about his campaign’s message. 

“We have got an opportunity to bring ourselves back together to come together around a movement to take our democracy back. To make sure we have a government of the people, by the people and for the people rather than of the corporations, by the billionaires and for the special interests,” he added. “And that's exactly why $70 million dollars was spent against me in this race. They see me as an existential threat to the system of politics that is making it way too hard on everyday people.” 

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Hayley Stevens said early Wednesday that she is "grateful" for her supporters as the primary race against progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed remains too close to call.

"Michigan: The race is still too close to call," Stevens, who currently represents Michigan's 11th district in the House of Representatives, wrote on X. "I’m so grateful for all the support as we continue to wait for results to come in."

Abdul El-Sayed, meanwhile, addressed his supporters at his election night watch party at 1 a.m. and expressed optimism that he would end up victorious.

As of 6:15 a.m. ET Wednesday, with 95% of votes counted, El-Sayed leads Stevens by 735,625 to 716,222, according to The Associated Press.

Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this post.

The Democratic Party's progressive wing was aiming to notch its biggest victory yet Tuesday and deliver a high-profile blow to the center-left establishment in an intensifying ideological battle.

But the anticipated triumph in battleground Michigan's Democratic Senate primary will have to wait.

The race between progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, and Rep. Haley Stevens, a more moderate contender, remained too close to call early Wednesday.

While the night’s biggest prize remained undecided as five states held primary elections, Democratic establishment candidates scored several victories. Those included Rep. Wesley Bell of Missouri defeating Democratic Socialists of America-backed challenger and former Rep. Cori Bush, a onetime "Squad" member, in a rematch of their 2024 showdown.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's powerful sway over the Republican Party was reaffirmed as two Trump-backed candidates won gubernatorial nominations in Michigan and Kansas.

Former King County GOP vice chair Doug Basler advanced to the general election in Washington’s 9th Congressional District to face longtime incumbent Democratic Rep. Adam Smith in the general election.

Basler, who has lost to Smith multiple times in the past decade-and-a-half, is also the president of Prologue Digital Inc. – an advertising firm in Washington state.

On his campaign site, he offered a section called “Socialism Revealed” which warned voters about the true meaning of several socialist axioms.

He said he is running for Congress because American families don’t want such a political revolution but instead an “opportunity revolution.”

Basler noted the Evergreen State has birthed several iconic companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks and Costco.

“We became known as a place where ideas could grow, workers could prosper, and families could build a better future. But today, big government policies are making it harder to build, hire, afford, and stay,” he said.

“When we become hostile to the very employers and innovators that created opportunity here, we lose jobs, weaken our economy, and make life harder for working families.”

Smith, who has long held the Democrats’ top spot on the House Armed Services Committee, is again favored in the race.

The district comprises several dense suburbs south of Seattle, including Federal Way and SeaTac, home to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Chris Reichard, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Missouri’s 8th district, won a primary election on Tuesday evening.

Despite his win, Reichard faces an uphill battle against incumbent Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo. — a high-ranking GOP lawmaker in the House of Representatives.

Smith, the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, the body that oversees tax legislation, last won re-election in a 76.2% to 21.8% victory in 2024 over Democratic challenger Randi McCallian, a health specialist.

Reichard is pitching himself as a counter to establishment politics.

“Chris is running for Congress in Missouri’s 8th District because he knows what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck, to fight for fair wages and benefits, and to come home changed from war,” his campaign website reads.

“He’s not a career politician — he’s a working-class veteran who still shows up every day with tools in hand and a promise to serve the people, not the powerful.”

On his website, he has highlighted priorities like increasing affordability by making cuts to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and shoring up the country’s veteran benefits.

With the primary behind him, Reichard heads to the state’s Nov. 3 general election.

Rick Brattin, a Missouri state senator who received the endorsement of President Donald Trump, won a crowded Republican primary for Missouri's 5th Congressional District on Tuesday.

Brattin's victory comes in a newly redrawn district prompted by a 2025 special legislative session, after President Donald Trump urged Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The new map adds more Republican-leaning areas to Missouri's 5th Congressional District, giving the GOP an advantage in a seat long held by Democrats.

Brattin has served in the Missouri Senate since 2021 after serving four terms in the Missouri House of Representatives, where he became known as a leading conservative voice and helped found the Missouri Freedom Caucus.

He will now face Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., a longtime congressman and former Kansas City mayor who has represented Missouri's 5th Congressional District since 2005.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., celebrated Brattin's win on X.

"I look forward to working together to defend and grow the majority in November," Johnson wrote.

Polling stations in the Evergreen State closed at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.

Washingtonians voted in primary elections for all 10 of their House districts. The marquee race occurred in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District where moderate Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican John Braun advanced to the general election.

Brent Hennrich, a progressive challenger to Perez, failed to advance, marking a victory for the Democratic establishment in the party-wide struggle between left-wing and centrist factions.

The primary in the state’s neighboring 4th Congressional District also attracted national attention as a wide slate of Republicans competed to replace retiring Rep. Dan Newhouse.

Voters in the state cast ballots in primary elections covering 415 elected positions as well as 80 local referendums. Some races in Washington may not be called on Election Night as Washington relies on mail-in voting and ballots can arrive after Election Day and be counted so long as they were postmarked on time.

Democrat Josh Smead won the Democratic primary to face off with conservative radio host Chris Stigall in Missouri’s Sixth Congressional District on Tuesday.

The district, spanning the northern quarter of the Show-Me State, has been represented by Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., since 2001.Graves, of Tarkio in the far northwest corner of Missouri, is retiring this cycle.

Smead said on his campaign website that he has lived in the state since 2017, and grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia, about 100 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.

“Missouri has played a key role in American history, from its place in Westward Expansion to its deep-rooted values of hard work, resilience, independence, and patriotism. I love living in a state where people believe in personal responsibility, taking care of their neighbors, and expecting results,” Smead said in his campaign biography.

Smead is an architect who has worked on multi-million-dollar projects like NFL stadiums and other athletic facilities.

“While this has honed the skillsets I will need and use in Congress, the most relevant is the Aloha Stadium Redevelopment Project in Honolulu, which had $350 million of state money invested, allocated by the Hawaii Legislature,” Smead said, citing the stadium once used for the NFL Pro Bowl for many years.

Progressive streamer and media personality Hasan Piker called 2026 “just the beginning” for progressives amid a series of primary elections on Tuesday evening.

“It’s not just Michigan,” Piker said in an interview, referring to the ongoing races of Abdul El-Sayed and other progressive candidates in the Wolverine State.

“This is just the beginning. We will hopefully continue this movement all across the United States of America. We will go to every single state. Because I know that no matter what — where there are workers — there are going to be the same exact interests. There are going to be people who are sick and tired of business as usual politics.”

In 2019, Piker famously said that "America deserved 9/11," arguing later that the U.S. had "brought it on itself," sparking massive backlash online.

Similarly, in the wake of the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack that incited Israel’s war with Gaza, Piker described Hamas, a terrorist organization, as the "lesser of two evils" in the conflict.

Once, when asked if he supported terrorism, Piker answered by saying, "No, I don’t. I don’t support the state of Israel, and I don’t support the state of the United States of America."

While not officially tied to Democratic groups, Piker has emerged as a sort of kingmaker among progressives and continues to appear in Democratic campaign events across the country.

Lauren Reinhold, a former attorney at the Social Security Administration, won the Democratic Party's nomination for Kansas' 1st Congressional District, setting herself for an uphill battle to unseat Rep. Tracey Mann, R-Kan., this November.

Kansas' 1st Congressional District, which covers much of western and central Kansas, is labeled by Cook Political Report as "Solid Republican," making it one of the GOP's safest House seats.

She launched her congressional campaign after her federal position was eliminated during the Trump administration's DOGE-directed workforce reductions.

Reinhold defeated Colin McRoberts, a University of Kansas business law professor. She centered her campaign on touting her experience in the federal government before moving on serve as a federal union officer. Reinhold also worked at the National Labor Relations Board as an attorney representing the interests of low-income clients.

At the heart of Reinhold's campaign, she set her priorities on improving rural healthcare access, supporting the agriculture industry, and also advocated to support "commonsense" immigration reform.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., warned Tuesday that socialists are taking over the Democratic Party and that if they are able to take power, states like his own will lose any hope of retaining any geopolitical power in the future.

Cotton told “Hannity” that socialism is now the Democratic Party’s key “intellectual influence” and “political muscle” and that even former Vice President Kamala Harris is entertaining some of their platform by reportedly supporting abolition of the Electoral College.

“She couldn't win it last time around. It's only going to get worse for her and Pete Buttigieg the next time around, but our founding fathers wanted a presidential campaign to have to appeal to all parts of the state,” he said.

“A state like Arkansas could never hope to have any presidential attention if it wasn't for the electoral college.”He said that while Arkansas may seem reliably Republican, that is a new phenomenon.

Just about two decades ago, longtime Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor indeed had no Republican opponent in the 2008 general election.

Cotton upset Pryor in 2014, giving the Natural State a long-tenured GOP senator at this point, along with intrastate colleague Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., who defeated Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., in a prior upset in 2010 that featured former Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton notably endorsing her to no ultimate avail.

“And look at other smaller states like Nevada or New Hampshire or maybe northern Maine or Omaha. Those electoral votes matter. It requires a president and presidential candidates to pay attention to the entire country,” Cotton said.

“But the socialists don't want to. They want to elect presidents just based in cities like New York and Chicago and San Francisco and Los Angeles: Where socialists are taking power.”

Republican Rep. Bob Onder won the Republican primary in Missouri's 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday, defeating public accountant John Fraser to secure the GOP nomination for a second term in Congress.

The Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed, with Onder advancing to the November general election in the heavily Republican district.

Onder, a former Missouri state senator and physician, first won the seat in 2024 after longtime Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer retired. He entered the primary as the incumbent and significant favorite, backed by President Donald Trump as part of the president's broader effort to bolster Republican incumbents during the 2026 midterms.

Onder now advances to the November general election, where he will seek a second term representing one of Missouri's safest Republican congressional districts. Republicans are expected to strongly favor holding the seat as they work to maintain their House majority. 

Moments after former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., lost a primary and a chance to re-ignite her congressional career on Tuesday evening, Megan Romer, the national co-chair for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), expressed her disappointment in a statement.

“We’re heartbroken over this loss … but we know that the thousands of doors that Cori and her team of supporters knocked weren’t in vain — they’re building toward a stronger, more coherent movement to fight against fascism,” Romer said.

Bush represented Missouri’s first district from 2021 to 2025.

Bush’s decisive loss marks a speedbump for the DSA’s momentum in what has otherwise been a series of victories in the 2026 Democratic primaries.

From New York to Colorado, DSA-backed candidates have managed several upsets — even over established incumbents — and increased their influence over the party.

Bush, who herself was beaten in a primary race in 2024 by Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., first received DSA’s endorsement in 2018, during a failed congressional bid.

Romer hinted that Bush might yet have a role to play in furthering the organization’s causes.

“We also know that Cori isn’t going anywhere — she’s a fighter and always has been. Her leadership and her voice will remain critical in the national conversation about social, racial, and economic justice across the working class,” Romer said.

Bethany Mann clinched the Democratic nomination for Missouri's 3rd Congressional District, setting up a general election matchup against Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo.

Cook Political Report rates Missouri's 3rd Congressional District as Solid Republican, making it a difficult seat for Mann to flip.

Mann defeated Democratic candidate Tommy Holstein, a progressive Democrat who campaigned on Medicare for All and Paul T. Wilson, a dentist and small business owner. He suspended his campaign weeks before the primary but remained on the ballot because it was too late to remove his name.

Mann made education reform, such as promises of universal pre-K, advancing rural broadband access, abortion access and Medicare for All center issues for her campaign.

She is an environmental chemist and technology specialist and is a first-time candidate who began her career as an EPA intern.  She is a self-described "working mom" of three and is the daughter of an Air Force veteran.

A former longtime pollster for Bill and Hillary Clinton’s during their respective political tenures said the Democratic Socialists of America is not representative of true Democrats as-defined.

“Unfortunately, other Democrats and mainstream Democrats let them in the party, accepted them, and now they're eating the establishment,” Penn said when pressed on “Hannity” about DSA priorities like abolishing prisons, abolishing the U.S. Senate, making the Supreme Court report to the House of Representatives and eliminating the presidency.

“If this Michigan race goes the way the polls, and I think the early returns are showing, it's a tremendous defeat for the Democratic Party as a pro-American party that, OK, differs with the Republican Party but is in the mainstream of supporting the country and its basic values,” Penn told host Sean Hannity on Tuesday, referring to the matchup of Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich.

“[T]he DSA does not support America. This is a toxic brew of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism that has been allowed to come into the Democratic Party and presents a danger both to the party and to the country,” Penn said.

Hannity added that the DSA appears indicative of the “majority” of Penn’s party.

Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., won a Republican primary on Tuesday evening, setting him up to secure a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

With a seat in a heavily Republican district, Alford is projected to win reelection come the November midterms.

Alford last won reelection in a 71.1% to 26.4% victory over Democratic challenger Jeanette Cass, a farmer and former U.S. Postal Service employee.

Before his time in Congress, Alford worked as a morning news anchor in Kansas City for 25 years but found himself increasingly alarmed by the issues he covered — especially challenges to what he described as the culture and identity of the nation.

“Alford’s experience behind the news desk gave him a front-row view to the constant attacks against our nation’s founding principles from an increasingly liberal, progressive ideology that threatens to undermine our country’s values of faith, hard work and individual liberty,” his website reads.

Having cleared the primary, Alford will run in the state’s Nov. 3 general election.

Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., defeated his lone primary challenger, former Holland Mayor Philip Tanis, putting him on course for a competitive general election.

Michigan's 4th Congressional District, which spans across the southwestern region of the state and includes Kalamazoo, is considered by Democrats to be a possible pick-up seat with Cook Political Report rating the seat as a lean Republican. Democrats need to flip just a net of three seats to take control of the House this midterm cycle.

Huizenga was first elected to Congress in 2011 and has represented the state's 4th Congressional District since 2023 following redistricting after the 2020 Census.

In the 2024 election, Huizenga won reelection by a double-digit margin, securing 55.1% of the vote compared to his opponent's 43.4%. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump won Huizenga's with a smaller margin, capturing just 6% of the vote.

Huizenga has centered his campaign around tackling affordability issues, which has become a buzz word this election cycle. He is seeking to continue fighting to lower energy costs for Michiganders and inflation costs.

Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss won the Democratic primary in Michigan's open 11th Congressional District on Tuesday, defeating attorney Aisha Farooqi, Waterford school board member John Torres and job training professional Don Ufford to become the Democratic nominee in one of the state's safest Democratic House seats.

The Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed.

The seat was held by Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), who represented Michigan's 11th Congressional District since 2019. Stevens chose not to seek reelection in 2026, instead launching a bid for U.S. Senate.

Moss, who serves as president pro tempore of the Michigan Senate, entered the race as the establishment favorite with endorsements from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and a number of Democratic elected officials

Moss now advances to the November general election, where he is set to face Troy Mayor Ethan Baker, the Republican nominee. Democrats are favored to hold the district, but Republicans hope Baker's local profile and the open-seat dynamic will make the race more competitive as both parties battle nationally for control of the House.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), praised Jocelyn Benson, the Michigan secretary of state, after she secured the party’s nomination in the race to replace outgoing Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“Jocelyn understands the challenges families are facing, and she has been a fearless public servant who fixes broken systems and improves the lives of Michiganders,” Beshear said in a statement.

“As governor, Jocelyn will tackle corruption, lower the costs of health care, housing, and energy, and always stand up to Donald Trump when he threatens Michigan families and their freedoms,” he added.

Benson, prior to becoming secretary of state in 2019, worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center as an investigative researcher before going on to study law. After securing her law degree from Harvard, she worked with Wayne State University and then became its dean in 2012.

As part of his congratulations, Beshear noted that Benson had already won statewide elections in her current role.

Even so, he promised the DGA’s support.

“She's already earned the trust of Michiganders by winning statewide twice, and the DGA will be all-in to make sure she wins this high-stakes race so she can keep standing up for the people of Michigan,” Beshear said.

Having secured the nomination, Benson now heads to the general election on Nov. 3.

Rep. Tracey Mann, R-Kan., defeated Republican challenger Craig Musser in the Republican primary for Kansas' 1st Congressional District, securing his spot on the ballot in the general election in one of the state's safest Republican seats.

Mann secured the endorsement of President Donald Trump, who won his district with 64.72% of the vote in the 2024. Kansas' 1st Congressional District is labeled a Solid Republican. Trump described Mann as "strong and effective Voice for American Agriculture"

Mann's opponent, Musser, was a first-time candidate who campaigned as a political outsider focused on reducing government spending, lowering health care costs and challenging the political establishment.

First elected to Congress in 2020 to a district covering cities including Salina, Hutchinson and Dodge City, Mann has mostly centered his Congressional career on rural economic development, advocating on behalf of the interests of farmers, tax cuts and protecting energy production. He serves on the House Agriculture Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The Democratic primary in Michigan, pitting left-wing Abdul El-Sayed against more traditional Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, could be the “coming-out party” for democratic socialism in the Midwest, one pundit said.

The Wall Street Journal’s Philip Wegmann told "Special Report" the socialist-leaning El-Sayed and some other democratic socialists running in Michigan and elsewhere may have a real shot at transforming the Democratic Party’s ticket.

“[W]hile we can make fun of some of these DSA candidates for some of these woke, wacky ideas, the larger question is what happened to the Democratic establishment and also what happened Republicans such that some of these Democratic socialists have legs as candidates?” Wegmann said.

“The voters are dissatisfied with the status quo. And you might have a moment in Michigan where [Republican] Mike Rogers sees this as an opportunity.”

But, he warned that while El-Sayed may appear easier for Republicans to beat than Stevens, the situation suggests a similar dynamic is at play to how Democrats underestimated then-mogul Donald Trump’s abilities in 2016.

“This could very well be democratic socialism's coming out party in the Midwest. And if… El-Sayed is able to win there, Republicans could rue this day because it's not just those funny sound bites. There's real dissatisfaction with where both parties are taking the country.”

Joy Powers, a fourth-generation cattle rancher and Democratic candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 9th Congressional district, won her party’s nomination in a primary victory on Tuesday evening. 

Although she’s secured her party’s backing, Powers faces an uphill race against Republican incumbent Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va. 

During the primary, she has cast herself as a candidate in touch with the primarily rural district, arguing that President Donald Trump and his administration’s direction have peeled away resources from districts like hers. 

“Communities like ours are facing pressure from every direction. These tariffs are making the costs of feed and fuel impossible to afford for everyone. Rural hospitals here are closing and the cost of the healthcare we still have — skyrocketing,” Powers said in a campaign video.

On her website, Powers has highlighted priorities like opposing datacenter development, affordability and reducing corporate influence.

The district was last won by Griffith in a 72.5% to 27.3% victory over Democratic challenger Karen Baker in 2024.

Rep. Derek Schmidt, R-Kan., won the nomination to seek reelection in Kansas’ Second congressional district.

Schmidt’s district covers much of eastern Kansas including the capital; Topeka, Emporia and part of Kansas City, Kan., except for its urban core and some southern suburbs.

The district is considered a reliably red seat, with there having been only one Democrat elected – to a single term – in the time since the 1994 Republican Revolution.

Schmidt currently sits on the House Armed Services Committee, House Judiciary Committee and House Small Business Committee.

He has been a fixture in Sunflower State electoral politics since the turn of the century; serving in the Kansas State Senate until running for Congress and succeeding former Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-Kan., in 2024.

Rep. Donald Beyer, D- Fla., won his party's primary race Tuesday, beating out four contenders — including a far-left progressive candidate and a former U.S. Marine.

Beyer has served in Virginia's 8th Congressional, dubbed by the Cook Political Report to be a solid Democratic district, since being elected in 2014.

He is deemed a progressive Democrat as he is both a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the New Democrat Coalition.

Beyer serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, and he is a senior member of the Joint Economic Committee.

Beyer faced challenges from Mo Seifeldein, a former Alexandria City Council member who campaigned on far-left progressive policies like abolishing ICE; Adam Dunigan, a former U.S. Marine and CIA officer, Michael Duffin, a former State Department official and Lorena Bruner, at attorney and politcal activist.

Prior to serving in Congress, Beyer was the former Virginia lieutenant governor and U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein under President Barack Obama.

Eric Jenkins has won Republican nomination for U.S. House in Kansas' 3rd Congressional District, according to the Associated Press.

Jenkins, a retired Army colonel and former Shawnee city council president, won the Republican defeated businessman Chase LaPorte and earned the right to challenge Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids in November.

Jenkins ran on a traditional conservative platform centered on fiscal restraint, border security, military strength and reducing the size of the federal government.

The race now shifts to one of the nation's more competitive suburban House districts, which includes much of the Kansas City suburbs in Johnson and Wyandotte counties and has been represented by Davids since 2019.

While Republicans dominate statewide federal races in Kansas, the 3rd District has trended more Democratic in recent years, making Jenkins' bid an uphill climb. Most major election handicappers currently rate the seat as Democratic-leaning heading into the general election.

With polls set to close in Michigan, the future of the Democratic Party is about to be shaped by their results, Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Bill Hemmer discussed Tuesday.

All but four counties in Michigan will close at 8PM Eastern, with four counties situated at the western edge of the Upper Peninsula set to close an hour thereafter in Central Time.

It is those Eastern Time Zone counties that are worth watching, Hemmer said.

He pointed to Wayne County – home to Detroit and Dearborn – with the latter having an elevated Arab and Muslim population that may lean Abdul El-Sayed’s way.

Countering that is Oakland County outside Detroit, which is the stomping grounds of Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich.

“If she's going to do well tonight, she's got to keep the numbers down in Wayne and drive them up in places like Oakland,” he said, transitioning over to adjacent Macomb County – home to a longtime base of Reagan Democrats and blue-collar autoworkers.

“Which way would they go tonight? We're about to find out. So that's three down here in the corner of the state that I would keep a very close eye on at the moment,” Hemmer said.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., won his party's nomination unopposed after no candidate qualified to run against him in April.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin celebrated Warner's victory on X on Tuesday.

"Mark Warner is a proven leader who has fought to lower costs for Virginians and strengthen America’s economy," Martin wrote on X.

"Congratulations, Senator! Let’s win big this November."

Cook Political Report has dubbed Warner's seat to be solid Democrat, a strong indication that he will win likely win his seat.

First elected to the Senate in 2008, Warner is widely regarded as a moderate Democrat whose priorities include supporting businesses, investing in clean energy and backing Israel's right to defend itself.

Warner serves as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, making him one of Congress' top Democrats on national security and intelligence issues.

Prior to serving in the Senate, Warner was Virginia's governor from from 2002 to 2006.

In her “Ingraham Angle” segment on Tuesday, Fox News host Laura Ingraham sounded off on democratic socialist candidates claiming the mantle of the working class.

Ingraham reacted to Abdul El-Sayed’s rise in Michigan, as voters go to the polls in the Great Lakes State – saying that while he and others on the far left claim to be fighting the billionaires, their policy platforms speak to the opposite.

“[F]or most of the past decade, all but a few billionaires were aligned against Trump and against his policies. Well, why did they do that? That's because he fought them, the billionaires on tariffs, and he fought on immigration. He fought them on globalization,” she said.

“So if anyone is joined at the hip with the billionaire class, It's El-Sayed and the DSA, because their entire immigration platform is a boon to big tech and the globalists.”

Ingraham said that is the case because corporatist billionaires want a steady stream of migrant labor to keep labor costs low; as well as outsourcing onshore jobs.

“Bottom line, he may have a really slick media strategy, and it is. And he may be a smooth talker, and he is. But El-Sayed's agenda of raising taxes, piling on regs, creating a new monster healthcare bureaucracy, and flooding the country with illegals will send the misery index soaring,” Ingraham said.

In a memo published by Michigan's Department of State yesterday, over 1.2 million votes had been cast prior to election day, a turnout rate of 16.5% of the state’s active registered voters. Over a million absentee ballots had been submitted, and over 138,000 ballots were cast in-person at early voting sites.

Early voting turnout for the 2026 primary is far outpacing 2024, which was the first year voters in Michigan had the option to vote in person at an early voting site. At the close of the nine-day statewide early voting period this past Sunday, August 2, there was a dramatic increase of 88.6% over 2024.

Michigan, unlike a handful of states, does not automatically send a mail-in ballot to every voter.

Democrats renominated former Rep. Elaine Luria, who represented Hampton Roads and Virginia's Eastern Shore, on Tuesday to face incumbent Republican Rep. Jennifer Kiggans of Virginia Beach in a rematch. 

Luria, a retired Naval commander who served two terms from 2019 to 2023, entered the race with the highest name recognition and the backing of much of Virginia's Democratic establishment. 

The district, stretching from New Church on Maryland's border, through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to Virginia Beach, was one of several in Virginia that Democrats sought to redraw to shift the state's congressional delegation from a 6-5 Democratic edge to a 10-1 advantage. 

That plan failed when conservatives successfully challenged the redistricting in court, handing Gov. Abigail Spanberger and her party a major and financially costly loss. 

Luria had challenged Dr. Sudipta “Nila” Devanath, businessman Bill Fleming and former USAID staffer Patrick Mosolf for the nomination.

Manhattan Institute fellow Daniel Di Martino, who fled Venezuela's socialist government in 2016, debated Democratic Socialists of America national committee member Frances Gill over whether or not socialist programs provide high-quality services to citizens on Tuesday.

“One really great example is the VA and the healthcare we provide through the VA,” Gill said, when asked to point to an example of a successful socialist program.

Di Martino laughed at Gill before delivering his response. In recent years, the Department of Veterans Affairs has had a significant claim backlog, though it recently fell below 70,000 for the first time since early 2020.

“Frances, we already have many socialist systems in America, the VA, the Indian health system, we have public housing, we have AmTrak. I just got delayed an hour and a half on AmTrak,”  Di Martino said. “All of the public things in America lose money, have sub-par customer service, because the truth is, they’re not accountable to the consumer, they can just get a bail out from the government.”

“That is the problem with the government, that is what they did to my country of Venezuela. They destroyed the richest country in Latin America,” he added.

The interview aired as voters in Michigan prepared to head to the polls to vote either for or against a slate of DSA-linked candidates in Democratic primaries.

Former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said she would have discussions with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on whether she would support his bid to remain the leader of the party on Tuesday evening ahead of her primary race.

“I don't know what the direction I'll go other than knowing that there will be a conversation between me and Leader Jeffries, because we do have a relationship,” Bush said.

Bush’s remarks raise questions about whether the Democratic Party’s progressive flank will rally around Jeffries after the November midterms. Support for Jeffries has also become a flashpoint in a primary that’s pitted Bush, who is trying to restart her congressional career, against incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo.

Bell beat Bush in a 2024 primary.

In the past, Bush has criticized Democratic leadership in Congress, arguing that it hasn’t done enough to push back against President Donald Trump, his administration and legislative agenda.

When asked about Bush’s comments, Bell declined to weigh in directly.

“I'm not going to get caught up in the back-and-forth at this point,” Bell said.

For his part, Bell has expressed support for Jeffries after the House minority leader endorsed him in April. Jeffries stated that “Wesley’s values, tenacity and refusal to back down have made him a vital voice within the House Democratic Caucus.”

In a recent interview trashing Sen. John Fetterman, Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed revealed that his Instagram feed is flooded with OnlyFans models. 

People on social media aren’t buying his explanation for it.

“My team has had access to my Instagram account and like the things that I actually look at on Instagram … we get served that on your For You page but then like every third video that scrolls on its own is going to be some Only Fans model,” El-Sayed told The Lever in an interview posted on July 31. “It's because it clocked me as being a 40-some year old man”

El-Sayed was remarking on how social media algorithms allegedly push adult content on individuals who aren’t otherwise interested in it. A clip of the interview was resurfaced on X by the RNC on Tuesday.

“It’s 2026. There’s really no need to lie. We all get it. That’s the stuff he watches,” conservative radio host Jesse Kelly wrote in response to the resurfaced clip. “Just come out and admit it. That isn’t even a political liability anymore. This is my Instagram feed. Why? Cause that’s the kind of crap I watch when I log in there.”

Kelly posted a picture of his Instagram feed, which included no OnlyFans models.

“Bro's telling on himself,” Anthony Constantini, policy director of the conservative Bull Moose Project, wrote. 

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed spent the night before Election Day at a pool party with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, sparking pushback both from his primary opponent and his Republican opposition.

The event was hosted by a content creator in Detroit, Michigan, and also attended by progressive House candidates Melat Kiros and Chris Rabb, both members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), The Associated Press reported.

Michigan Democratic state Rep. Donavan McKinney was also reportedly in attendance.

Piker, who has roughly 10 million followers across multiple social media platforms, has made multiple appearances on the campaign trail with El-Sayed, raising questions about the ideological similarities between the two. Last month, Piker drew backlash after addressing a group of college students while wearing an outfit resembling that of former communist dictator Mao Zedong.

"I never would and never will criticize Mao Zedong," Piker said earlier this year in a clip that recently resurfaced on social media. "One of the great leaders of this world."Piker has also said in the past that "America deserved 9/11" and has made controversial comments about Hamas and the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.While El-Sayed has said he doesn't agree with all of Piker’s positions, he has faced criticism for not distancing himself from the controversial streamer.

Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, once proposed allowing undocumented immigrants to secure driver's licenses, making the case that not doing so would be discriminatory.

"We’ve got to make sure that in this state we are not discriminating against documentation status. Right now, if you’re undocumented, you don’t get access to a driver’s license. You’re stuck," El-Sayed said in a 2018 campaign interview.

At the time, El-Sayed was running for governor.

Eight years later, as he looks to join the U.S. Senate, the resurfaced clip sheds light on El-Sayed’s past thinking about how local governments should interact with illegal aliens and raises questions about whether granting them state identification would in some ways legitimize their presence in the U.S.

Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., cast her ballot Tuesday and urged supporters not to sit out Michigan’s closely watched Democrat Senate primary.

“I just voted! Now it’s your turn,” Stevens wrote on X alongside a photo displaying her “I Voted” sticker. “There’s too much at stake in this election to stay home. Make sure your voice is heard.”

Stevens, a pro-Israel moderate, is facing progressive former public health official Abdul El-Sayed in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. The contest has become a major test of the Democrat Party’s divide over Israel and the direction of the party platform ahead of November.

A supporter of former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., urged the Democratic Party to move further left Tuesday while accusing some of its elected lawmakers of being too “passive.”

Grace, a St. Louis voter waiting for Bush at a polling location, told Fox News that the former congresswoman was the “obvious candidate” because she does not accept money from billionaires and remains active in the community.

“She’s boots on the ground,” Grace said. “I believe she practices what she preaches.”Asked whether Democrats should move left or right, Grace replied, “Definitely more left.”

“I feel like there are definitely some passive members,” she added. “We can be outraged all we want. What we’re looking for is actually actionable change.”

Grace said voters have now had an opportunity to assess Rep. Wesley Bell’s time in office since he defeated Bush in 2024 and suggested some are looking for another change in Tuesday’s rematch.

Fox News' Matthew Donnell contributed to this reporting.

Trump-endorsed Republican congressional candidate Amir Hassan urged Michigan voters to back his campaign Tuesday as he made an Election Day stop in Davison.

“I’m grateful and blessed to be here as we’re running to represent this district and flip the 8th District,” Hassan said in a video posted on X. “Bringing back common sense, bringing back the nuclear family and manufacturing to this district.”

Hassan appeared alongside other Republican candidates and supporters who called for the party to unite after the primary and spend the final 90 days of the midterm campaign fighting Democrat control of the state.

“We’re only going up from here,” Hassan said. “We’re looking for your support as we unify our party and we unify our state.”

Polls in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District close at 8 p.m. ET.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged Michigan voters to head to the polls Tuesday, sharing a photo wearing an “I Voted” sticker alongside Chasten Buttigieg.

“Happy Primary Day, Michigan!” Buttigieg wrote on X.

The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor, whose X profile now lists Traverse City, Michigan, later directed voters to an online polling-place lookup and encouraged those who had not yet voted to cast their ballots before polls closed.

Buttigieg also reposted a report that he will headline a Michigan Democratic Party rally in Detroit on Friday intended to unite the statewide ticket ahead of the November midterms.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., declined Tuesday to say whether he would support Abdul El-Sayed if the progressive candidate defeats Schumer-backed Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.

Asked whether he would endorse El-Sayed as the party’s nominee, Schumer responded, “Bottom line, we are going to win Michigan, take back the Senate and have a majority.”

Schumer also defended the Democratic Party amid questions about the growing number of candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

“Look, we are a big tent party, and being a big tent party is a strength, not a weakness,” Schumer said during his weekly leadership news conference.

El-Sayed, meanwhile, told MS NOW’s Chris Jansing that Democrats must come together after Tuesday’s contest, saying their internal disagreements are “way smaller” than their differences with Republican nominee Mike Rogers.

“I’m interested in figuring out how to heal those divides,” El-Sayed said before confidently predicting, “I’m looking forward to beating him by seven in November.”

Republican congressional candidate Michael Bouchard released an Election Day video Tuesday urging voters in Michigan's 8th Congressional District to head to the polls, saying his campaign is focused on public safety, lowering costs and boosting manufacturing jobs.

“I just voted at my home precinct in Rochester Hills Adams,” Bouchard said in the video posted from outside his polling place.

“This time last year I was in Iraq. I got back the next day, I started running for this because I have a mission, and it's to keep your family safe, it's to lower costs for everybody in this district and it is to bring jobs back to our manufacturers all across this community,” he said.

Bouchard closed the message by encouraging supporters to cast their ballots before polls close at 8 p.m. local time, saying, “Please get out and vote. Please vote Mike Bouchard. Really appreciate your support. Let's keep fighting.”

Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., criticized the Justice Department’s decision to monitor polling sites in four Michigan cities during Tuesday’s primary, calling the move “not normal.”

“It is not normal that the president is threatening to nationalize elections to upend our Constitution,” Stevens told reporters after casting her primary ballot Tuesday.

The DOJ deployed monitors to Detroit, Hamtramck, Lansing and East Lansing, saying the effort was intended to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws.

Stevens said she was relying on Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s oversight and vowed to oppose what she described as efforts by President Donald Trump to expand federal control over elections.

"We have an incredible attorney general, Dana Nessel, in this state," Stevens continued. "I'm proud to have her support in this race, and I'm proud to have her protection, and oversight in this moment.

"We are truly in a see-something, say-something moment. We have been briefed that the DOJ is coming, and I am doing everything in my power to stop this president from nationalizing our elections."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned Tuesday that the Democratic Socialists of America is mounting a broader effort to push the Democratic Party further left as several DSA-backed candidates face primary voters.

In an opinion piece titled “The DSA is Coming for Congress,” Gingrich wrote that the organization has endorsed 29 House candidates this year. According to his tally, seven have won their primaries, 11 have lost and 11 are still awaiting results.

Gingrich touched on both Michigan congressional candidate Donavan McKinney and Missouri candidate Hartzell Gray, each on Tuesday’s ballot. McKinney has called for ending U.S. military aid to Israel, while Gray supports Medicare for All, abolishing ICE and stopping federal funding to Israel, according to their campaign platforms cited by Gingrich.

“Taken together, these endorsements illustrate a broader effort by the DSA to move the Democratic Party further to the left and cement it as the party of big government socialism,” Gingrich wrote.

He argued that victories by openly socialist candidates should concern voters and warned that traditional Democrats are only beginning to recognize the movement’s growing influence within the party.

A Jewish St. Louis voter who backed Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., in Tuesday’s Democrat primary told Fox News she believed former Rep. Cori Bush’s rhetoric went beyond criticism of Israel.

“I didn’t like Cori Bush when she was in office, I didn’t like her sort of attitude and I actually felt like she was sort of a bit antisemitic,” Carol said after casting her ballot.

Asked whether she was referring specifically to Bush’s position on Israel, Carol replied, “Not just Israel, but just her feelings toward Jewish people in general.”

Bell declined to apply the label himself when asked about the voter’s comments.

“I think that our friends in the Jewish community can make that decision for their own,” Bell said, adding that every community in his diverse St. Louis-area district should feel “welcome, appreciated and respected.”

Bell is seeking to fend off Bush’s bid to reclaim the seat she lost to him in 2024. Polls in Missouri close at 8 p.m. ET.

Fox News' Matthew Donnell contributed to this reporting.

Republicans targeted Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., on primary day after her campaign website dropped a section highlighting GOP endorsements once used to bolster the Washington Democrat’s bipartisan image.

The current endorsement page no longer lists former Clark County Councilors Julie Olson and John Blom, Lewis County Farm Bureau President Maureen Harkcom, former Longview City Council member Mike Wallin or former Oregon Republican gubernatorial nominee Ron Saxton.

It instead prominently features labor unions and Democratic-aligned groups under a banner declaring support from “Washington’s working families.”

“Marie Gluesenkamp Perez has finally dropped the act, and now we know why she was too cowardly to condemn the socialist radicals taking over the Democrat Party: they own her,” NRCC spokesman Christian Martinez wrote in a blistering statement, accusing the congresswoman of hiding her political loyalties and abandoning Southwest Washington voters.

"Perez is a weak, socialist-funded puppet who lies about her loyalties, hides the extremists bankrolling her, and betrays Southwest Washington to keep herself in power."

Gluesenkamp Perez is seeking reelection in Washington’s competitive 3rd Congressional District, which President Donald Trump carried in both 2016 and 2020.

The Justice Department monitoring polling sites in four Michigan cities during Tuesday’s primary was rebuked as an effort to discourage voters, according to Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey.

“Those kinds of tactics are tactics that are used when they want to discourage the vote,” Winfrey said at a Tuesday news conference on primary Election Day. “They absolutely have a right to observe, but they don’t have a right to interfere.”

The Justice Department said staff from its Civil Rights Division and Michigan’s U.S. attorney’s offices were monitoring polling locations in Detroit, Hamtramck, Lansing and East Lansing to promote transparency, ballot security and compliance with federal voting laws.

Winfrey said Detroit’s election process is open to observers and would demonstrate “professionalism at its best,” while defending the city’s record of running accurate and fair elections.

Detroit expects between 25,000 and 40,000 voters to cast ballots in person Tuesday. Winfrey said roughly 4,000 residents had voted during the first two hours after polls opened.

Fox News' Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump has endorsed Kansas state Senate President Ty Masterson in the five-way Republican primary for Kansas governor, giving Masterson a powerful advantage in a race with no shortage of well-funded rivals.

Masterson is competing against former state Rep. Charlotte O’Hara, financial services executive Philip Sarnecki, state Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt and Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab.

The contest will offer another measure of how strongly Trump’s endorsement resonates with Republican primary voters.

Masterson has not matched some of his opponents’ self-funded spending, but he has raised more from donors than Sarnecki and Schwab when candidate loans are excluded.

Trump has also endorsed Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who is seeking his party’s nomination for a second term. Marshall faces a long-shot challenge from Arch “Pond” Naramore.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Missouri voters will decide Tuesday whether citizen-led constitutional amendments should face a much higher threshold for approval.

Amendment 4 would require such measures to win a majority in all eight congressional districts, rather than simply carrying the statewide vote. Legislative amendments would still need only statewide approval.

The proposal follows voter-backed measures involving abortion rights, recreational marijuana, sports betting and Medicaid expansion — none of which would have passed under the proposed district-by-district standard.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A rare open-seat contest is unfolding in northern Missouri after longtime Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., announced he would not seek reelection.

Graves, who has represented the district for 25 years, endorsed conservative radio host Chris Stigall.

Kansas City Council member Nathan Willett is also among the five Republicans seeking the nomination.

The GOP-leaning district was reshaped to include more northern Kansas City neighborhoods. Three Democrats are competing for their party’s nomination.

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 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 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.

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.

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 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.

The Virginia Supreme Court ultimately rejected the new boundaries.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.