Midterm Elections (2022)

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      Adam Gray Will Face John Duarte in Central Valley Battleground

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      A Democratic state assemblyman, Adam C. Gray, and a Republican businessman, John Duarte, are headed for a November congressional contest in a Central Valley region that leans Democratic but remains a perennial California battleground.The Associated Press on Wednesday called the top two 13th Congressional District spots for Mr. Gray and Mr. Duarte, after the primary election on June 8.The newly redrawn district will most likely be fiercely contested as Republicans consider the open seat one of their best chances to regain ground in the state.Mr. Gray, a moderate Democrat with the backing of the state party establishment, has emphasized his efforts to keep water access for farmers in the Central Valley.Mr. Duarte, who is president of his family nursery, has made water access for farmers a centerpiece of his campaign, too. He has been tapped as a “Young Gun” rising star by the national Republican Party.Although California is still by far the nation’s most populous state, it lost a House seat in the most recent round of redistricting because population growth has slowed to historic lows amid a housing crisis and a slowed flow of immigrants.Last year’s decennial redistricting, tied to the U.S. census, had a scrambling effect on California’s politics, sending many lawmakers in search of friendlier districts and leaving some seats, including the 13th Congressional District, without an incumbent.Representative Josh Harder, the Democrat who represents the area, decided to run in a nearby district surrounding Stockton after the longtime Democratic congressman there, Jerry McNerney, said he wouldn’t run again.The 13th Congressional District, which encompasses Merced County in California’s agricultural heartland, is mostly Latino and voted for President Biden in 2020 by a significant margin. But the Central Valley has historically been one of the state’s more conservative regions — it is home to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and former Representative Devin Nunes, a close associate of former President Donald J. Trump.Its status as the center of farmworker labor activism, as well as its dependence on water and the oil industry, has long complicated partisan politics there.Assemblyman Adam Gray at the California State Capitol in Sacramento last month.Rich Pedroncelli/Associated PressPhil Arballo, a Democrat, in 2020 challenged Mr. Nunes, who held his seat for nearly two decades before resigning from Congress to run the former president’s media company. Although Mr. Arballo lost, the race was competitive.He had hoped to parlay that momentum into a bid for the newly drawn open seat. But Mr. Arballo was a distant third. More

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      Army Veteran Gets G.O.P. Nomination for a Hotly Contested Nevada House Seat

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      Mark Robertson, an Army veteran and business owner, has clinched the Republican nomination for a House seat in Nevada with a large campaign war chest and a message centered on protecting freedom of speech and pushing back against government mandates.Mr. Robertson will face the Democratic incumbent, Representative Dina Titus, 72, in the general election in November in a race that reflects national Democrats’ struggles over the economy amid the coronavirus crisis.The Associated Press called the race for Mr. Robertson on Wednesday, a day after voters chose from a crowded field of Republicans hoping to unseat Ms. Titus.Ms. Titus, who is in her sixth term, has for years easily claimed victory with the support of working-class voters and Latinos. But Republicans have a higher chance of success this fall after her district, which includes the urban center of Las Vegas, was redrawn to add more Republican voters by taking in larger portions of Henderson and Boulder City in Clark County.Ms. Titus has also been facing stronger political headwinds because her tourist-heavy district has been hit hard by the pandemic. High unemployment along with rising gasoline and food prices have made her vulnerable to attacks from Republicans on crime, jobs and inflation.The seat will be hotly contested: The National Republican Campaign Committee has added Ms. Titus to its target list of vulnerable Democrats, and Ms. Titus failed to get the ambassadorship she sought from the Biden administration because Democrats could not risk losing her seat.Mr. Robertson, who served in the military for 30 years, touted himself as a fiscal conservative determined to fight mandates on education and health care. More

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      Jospeh Lombardo Wins Nevada’s G.O.P. Primary for Governor

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      Joseph Lombardo, the sheriff who oversees the Las Vegas area and was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, has won Nevada’s Republican primary for governor.The Associated Press declared Mr. Lombardo the winner early Wednesday over a field that included four other major candidates for the right to challenge Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, in the general election.The November election is expected to be one of the tightest governor’s races in the country. Nevada’s political environment is highly favorable to Republicans because of unified Democratic control of the state amid a series of tough economic indicators, with the costs of rent and gasoline increasing at among the fastest rates in the country.Mr. Lombardo, who as the sheriff of Clark County became known nationally for overseeing the response to the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 60 people at a concert, had established himself as the race’s polling leader by the time Mr. Trump endorsed him in late April, giving the sheriff his boilerplate seal of approval on taxes, abortion, gun rights and election issues.Mr. Lombardo has since highlighted his endorsement from the former president across his television and digital advertising.Mr. Lombardo defeated former Senator Dean Heller, who waffled on his support for Mr. Trump before his failed 2018 re-election campaign; Joey Gilbert, a Reno lawyer and former professional boxer who was endorsed by the Nevada Republican Party; Mayor John Lee of North Las Vegas; Guy Nohra, a Lebanese-born venture capitalist; and Fred Simon, a physician.Such was Mr. Lombardo’s advantage after the Trump endorsement that during a televised debate last month, he declared the primary contest over and asked his Republican rivals to “come together” behind him to defeat Mr. Sisolak. More

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      5 Takeaways From Tuesday’s Key Primary Races

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      From Las Vegas to Lewiston, Maine, the contours of critical midterm contests came into focus on Tuesday as Americans voted in major federal and state races across five states.In Nevada, which will be home to marquee House, Senate and governor’s races this fall, Republicans elevated several candidates who have embraced former President Donald J. Trump’s lies about a stolen election — even as candidates he endorsed had a mixed night in South Carolina, where he had sought to exact vengeance on two House incumbents.In Maine, a familiar set of characters moved into highly competitive general election races for governor and for a House seat that may be one of the most hard-fought in the nation. But in Texas, Republicans flipped a Rio Grande Valley seat — albeit only through the end of the year — as the party works to make inroads with Hispanic voters.Here are a few takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries:Election deniers prevail in Nevada.Republican candidates who have embraced Mr. Trump’s lies about election fraud were nominated for several positions of significant power in one of the most competitive political battlegrounds in the nation.They include Jim Marchant, an organizer of a network of 2020 election deniers. Mr. Marchant, who prevailed in Nevada’s Republican primary for secretary of state, is also a failed congressional candidate who declared himself a “victim of election fraud” after being defeated in 2020, and has said his “No. 1 priority will be to overhaul the fraudulent election system in Nevada.”Mr. Marchant was among an alternate slate of pro-Trump electors who sought to overturn President Biden’s victory in Nevada in 2020, and he has said he would have refused to certify the election had he been secretary of state at the time.Adam Laxalt, Nevada’s former attorney general who won his party’s Senate nomination on Tuesday with Mr. Trump’s backing, was one of the leaders of the Trump campaign’s effort to overturn the results in Nevada.Adam Laxalt during a campaign stop in Moapa Valley, Nev., on Saturday.Joe Buglewicz for The New York TimesAnd in the Republican primary to challenge Representative Steven Horsford, a Democrat, the two top finishers with 40 percent of the vote counted, according to The Associated Press, were Annie Black, a state lawmaker who said she was outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and Sam Peters, who has suggested he would not have voted to certify the 2020 election results and questioned the legitimacy of Mr. Biden’s victory.Their victories come as a bipartisan House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol has showcased testimony from Mr. Trump’s onetime top advisers discussing Mr. Trump’s claims.Understand the June 14 Primary ElectionsTakeaways: Republicans who embraced former President Donald J. Trump’s election lies did well in Nevada, while his allies had a mixed night in South Carolina. Here’s what else we learned.Winners and Losers: Here is a rundown of some of the most notable wins and losses.Election Deniers Prevail: Republicans who deny the 2020 election’s result are edging closer to wielding power over the next one.Nevada Races: Trump-inspired candidates captured key wins in the swing state, setting the stage for a number of tossup contests against embattled Democrats.Texas Special Election: Mayra Flores, a Republican, flipped a House seat in the Democratic stronghold of South Texas. Her win may only be temporary, however.“He’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff,” William P. Barr, the former attorney general, told the panel.Critical Nevada races come into focus.Nevada cemented its status as a focal point of the political universe on Tuesday, as several marquee general election contests took shape that will have significant implications for the balance of power in Washington.Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, will face off against Mr. Laxalt, who comes from a prominent political family. His positions on issues like election integrity may run afoul of some voters in a state that hasn’t supported a Republican for president since 2004.Supporters of Joe Lombardo at his election watch party in Las Vegas Tuesday night.Bridget Bennett for The New York TimesBut Ms. Cortez Masto may be the Senate’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbent. And there are signs that Nevada, which currently has among the highest gas prices in the nation, may be notably difficult terrain for Democrats this year, as they grapple with a brutally challenging political environment shaped by issues including soaring inflation and President Biden’s weak approval rating.Those dynamics will also influence the governor’s race, as Gov. Steve Sisolak prepares for a challenge from Joe Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff. And all three of the state’s incumbent Democratic House members are running in highly competitive seats.South Carolina shows the power, and some limits, of a Trump endorsement.After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, two House members from South Carolina broke with most of their fellow Republicans to lash Mr. Trump as complicit in the assault. On Tuesday, only one of them prevailed over a Trump-backed primary challenger.Representative Nancy Mace, who’d said she held Mr. Trump “accountable for the events that transpired, for the attack on our Capitol,” defeated her challenger, Katie Arrington, a former state lawmaker. But Representative Tom Rice, who stunned many observers with his vote to impeach Mr. Trump, lost to State Representative Russell Fry as he campaigned in a more conservative district.Russell Fry with supporters in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Tuesday night after winning the Republican primary over Representative Tom Rice.Jason Lee/The Sun News, via Associated PressA Trump endorsement is not always dispositive, as other primary election results this year have demonstrated. But the former president’s continued sway over the Republican base is undeniable. And openly challenging him remains politically dangerous for Republican candidates, as several who voted to impeach him have experienced.Despite her initial sharp criticism of Mr. Trump, Ms. Mace — who did not vote to impeach — went on to make overtures to Trump loyalists, including by issuing an appeal from outside Trump Tower as part of her broader campaign pitch.Mr. Rice, by contrast, appeared to grow sharper in his condemnations of the former president in the final stretch of the race.“It’s not about my voting record. It’s not about my support of Trump. It’s not about my ideology. It’s not because this other guy’s any good,” Mr. Rice said. “There’s only one reason why he’s doing this. And it’s just for revenge.”Making that argument proved fruitless for Mr. Rice. On Tuesday, he became the first Republican who voted for impeachment to be defeated in a primary.Republicans win in the Rio Grande Valley and call it a bellwether.Republicans are seeking to make inroads with Hispanic voters this year after doing far better than expected in parts of South Texas in 2020 — and they immediately moved to cast a special election victory in the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday as a bellwether for the region.Understand the 2022 Midterm ElectionsCard 1 of 6Why are these midterm races so important? More