On the last day of August, crucial primaries will be held in Florida, New York, and Oklahoma.
Redistricting has jumbled congressional districts in Florida and New York, increasing the number of high-profile contests on Tuesday’s ballot.
However, the most anticipated race in the Sunshine State will be for governor, where Republican Ron DeSantis faces a likely Democratic challenger in 2024. Representative Val Demings will seek the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Republican senator Marco Rubio.
Voters in New York’s Congressional contests started casting ballots on Tuesday, months after the state’s highest court tossed out the legislature’s map because it unjustly favoured Democrats. Incumbent House members had to run in new districts, compete against colleagues, or face a few opponents, leading to intraparty clashes within reliably blue sections. There are also two special congressional elections happening in New York.
Runoff primaries are held to fill a senate seat and the 2nd congressional district in Oklahoma, both firmly owned by the Republican party.
Governor of Florida
There is no doubt that the Democratic primary for governor of Florida will come down to which candidate voters think has the best shot of defeating Ron DeSantis in the general election.
Rep. Charlie Crist is challenging Nikki Fried, the sole statewide elected Democrat, for her position as agriculture commissioner. The 2014 gubernatorial election was the end of Crist’s political career. A Republican, he nonetheless became governor in 2006.
Crist has received the backing of several state Democratic legislators, including some of the party’s more progressive members. Several labour unions, including the state’s teachers union, have endorsed him, and so has the Sierra Club. A few Democratic state representatives and the Florida College Democrats have endorsed Fried.
In the 12th Congressional District of New York
Because of the redistricting, two powerful Democrats in Manhattan are now engaged in a vicious campaign to win one of the city’s limited number of seats.
Two New York City representatives, Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, were initially elected in 1992. They have voted similarly with a few notable outliers.
Maloney is campaigning based on her work in women’s rights, stating that she is the best candidate to fight for reproductive health care in a post-Roe society. Representative Nadler boasts about his prominent position in the Trump impeachment hearings and his votes against the Iraq War and the Patriot Act.
Suraj Patel, a former Obama adviser who lost to Maloney by only 4 points in 2020, is their primary opponent.
Although Maloney has raised more money than her opponents, Nadler has garnered support from influential people, such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and D-New York.
The district’s voting preferences strongly favour Democrats, so whoever wins on Tuesday will likely be elected to the House. However, regardless of the outcome, at least one of the Democrats’ top congressional leaders will leave the party.
