Voters in Six States Hold Primaries to Set November Field

Voters in six states are casting ballots today in primary elections that will shape the field for November's midterm contests. The states holding primaries are California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Californians are deciding House races for the first time under a new congressional map designed to help Democrats pick up additional seats through redistricting. Last year, voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that replaced a map drawn by an independent commission with one drawn by Democrats who control the state's levers of power.

The goal is to help the party flip as many as five GOP seats to offset gains sought by Texas Republicans in that state's redistricting push. Democrats currently control 43 of the state's 52 House seats. One Republican representative who has represented a district hugging California's eastern border with Nevada is now running as an independent in a blue-tinged district in the Sacramento area.

There is no guarantee that Democrats will win all the seats they seek, but today's election offers an early test of whether the party's expensive redistricting gambit might pay off this fall. Five Democrats and two Republicans have pulled ahead to the front of the pack in the race for California governor.

The two top vote-getters in today's non-partisan primary will advance to the general election in November. One candidate who was also a California attorney general and longtime congressman ran on experience leading large agencies. A Republican candidate was propelled to the front of the pack when President Donald Trump endorsed him in April.

The candidate, who moved to California in 2012 after working in British politics, has focused the campaign on affordability concerns, blaming Democratic leadership in the state for high costs and vowing to reduce bureaucracy. A Democratic candidate is a billionaire investor who made a fortune as a hedge fund manager and later became a climate change activist and a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.