It's primary day! Besides the mother of all primaries in the Great State of California, we have other really significant primaries in Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota.
California - Polls close 8pm PDT
The premier event of the night is the California jungle primary for governor, pitting Republicans Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton against a whole raft of Democrats. But the top two Democrats as of this writing are progressive billionaire Tom Steyer and former DHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. It's been a lot, but the last Emerson poll had Steyer and Becerra vying for the top 2. If that result holds, it would lift a lot of the downballot Dems in contested districts in areas where the revised maps make things a bit more challenging. It will almost certainly make for a rip-roaring general election as well.
The outcome of this race will not be known today. It will probably not be known for a week or more. I expect Steve Hilton to have a strong showing initially as the redder regions of California are counted early while the cities and coastal areas take longer to count. Hilton's voting base in areas like Riverside and San Diego counties will likely be diluted by Bianco die-hards, but he'll get more of the GOP vote in Orange County and surrounds.
There's a hotly contested mayoral race in Los Angeles, with incumbent Karen Bass facing some tough critics. The top three in that race are Bass, Councilmember Nithya Raman, and failed reality show attention hound Spencer Pratt.
For months I have watched the crazy ads flying back and forth as Rep. Young Kim and Rep. Ken Calvert look in the mirror, mirror on the wall to see who is the trumpiest of them all for CA-40. They were seriously running ads waaaay out of that district saying Trump supported each one more than the other. It was awful to see for the last 4 months. May the best fascist win.
It should be a big night in California, but also the jungle primary process is terrible and should never have been implemented. There were SIXTY-ONE NAMES on the ballot just for governor, some with ridiculous names. Either make the ballot access harder or fix this.
Follow real-time California results.
But I digress...there are other states with primaries tonight.
Iowa - Polls close 8PM CDT
There are two Democrats duking it out for the nomination. Iowa state representative Josh Turek, backed by Chuck Schumer and Vote Vets. The other, Iowa state senator Zach Wahls, has vowed not to support Schumer. It's entirely possible that a Democrat could win the general election in Iowa, so let's not sleep on this one. Iowa state auditor Rob Sand is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for governor while Republicans decide how trumpy they want to be. Candidates for the Republican nomination include Randy Feenstra, Zach Lahn, Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman.
Montana - Polls close at 8PM Mountain Time
Five Democrats are competing for the nomination to run for U.S. Senate and three Republicans are competing for the Republican nomination. This is the open seat left by Republican Steve Daines.
New Mexico - Polls close at 7pm Mountain Time
In the Democratic gubernatorial primary, former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland faces Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman. Republican candidates include businessman Duke Rodriguez and Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull. Dem Senator Ben Ray Luján is duking it out with Democratic Socialist Matt Dodson for the nomination to run for a third term in the Senate.
New Jersey - Polls close at 8pm EDT
Beyond the weird and frustrating tale of Tom Kean in NJ-07, there are other races to watch. There's a four-way Republican primary for a candidate to run against Senator Cory Booker. Over in NJ-02, Democrats Bayly Winder, Tim Alexander, Zack Mullock, and Terri Reese are all vying to unseat Rep. Jeff Van Drew. In NJ-12, 13 Democrats and 1 Republican are running to fill Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman's seat.
South Dakota - Polls close at 7pm either Central or Mountain Time
Two Democrats are running unopposed for the Senate and Governor's offices there. The primaries are largely irrelevant, but depending on the size of the blue wave in November -- it would have to be a tsunami, I think -- those Dems might have a fighting chance.
Keep an eye on this post and I'll update as we get results.
