Several States and DC Hold Primaries and Runoffs: What to Watch

Today, voters in Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Washington, D.C., will go to the polls—or in some cases, return to the polls—to make their pick for a series of local and federal offices.

The top races of the night, as far as national observers are concerned, will be held in Georgia, where Republicans are competing for two key offices: the gubernatorial nomination and the Republican Senate nomination.

In Alabama—whose electoral politics have recently come into the national spotlight following a major Voting Rights Act-related ruling by the Supreme Court—both parties will make their pick for the statewide U.S. Senate nominee and a Huntsville-based congressional district nominee in two runoff elections.

Voters in Oklahoma, meanwhile, will cast ballots for governor in a completely open race.

Finally, in Washington, the three-term incumbent mayor isn’t seeking a fourth term, opening a scramble among Democrats to fill the vacancy in the roughly 95 percent Democrat-voting district.

Here’s what to watch.

Georgia Runoff Elections

In Georgia, Republicans will go to the polls for two key runoff elections.

At the top of the ticket is the governor’s race. Two-term Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is barred from seeking a third consecutive term under the state’s constitution, leaving open the race for the executive mansion in one of the most important battleground states.

Two main contenders are competing in the multi-million dollar GOP primary to replace Kemp: Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and businessman Rick Jackson.

Jones led in the first round of voting by about 6 points, taking in 38.4 percent of the vote.

The winner of the primary will advance to a highly competitive general election matchup against Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Republicans will also make their pick for the Republican that will take on incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), seeking a second term after his upset victory in the state’s 2020 Senate election.

Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.)—who’s been endorsed by Trump—alongside former football coach Derek Dooley—who’s been endorsed by Kemp—are competing for the nomination.

Currently, polling shows Ossoff is favored against either candidate, with Ossoff leading or tied in every general election poll taken against the two candidates.

Alabama Runoff Elections

In Alabama, voters in both parties will make critical picks for a runoff election for governor and Senate.

The state’s Senate seat is being vacated this year by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who is stepping down to run for governor.

Tuberville easily won his party’s nomination, raking in 85.5 percent of the vote on May 19, while Democrats nominated former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who won an upset special election victory to the federal upper chamber in 2017.

The party hopes for another surprise win from Jones, given his reputation and political status in the state.

Tuberville’s bid for the governor’s mansion left his Senate seat open, and candidates on both sides will be competing for the nomination on Tuesday.

On the GOP side, Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.), who’s favored for the post, will take on challenger Jared Hudson. Moore got 39.2 percent in the first round to Hudson’s 25.6 percent.

On the Democratic side, Everett Wess is favored for the nomination over Dakarai Larriett.

However, a Democratic victory in the solidly Republican state is highly unlikely, meaning that the victor in the GOP primary will be favored in the general election.

Oklahoma Primaries

In Oklahoma’s first-round primary elections, one race has drawn national attention: the Republican battle to replace term-limited Gov. Kevin Stitt.

A total of nine candidates are running for the Republican nomination, with two broad camps emerging.

On one side, candidates like Attorney General Gentner Drummond and former State House Speaker Charles McCall have run with a more friendly tone toward the outgoing Stitt administration—a governor with whom President Donald Trump has clashed publicly.

Meanwhile, former Secretary of Public Safety Chip Keating has run his campaign with a heavy focus on his alignment with Trump’s policy agenda.

Meanwhile, Trump has thrown his support behind former state Sen. Mike Mazzei.

“Mike knows the AMERICA FIRST Policies required to Grow our Economy, Create GREAT Jobs, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A., and Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE,” the president wrote in a May 29 post on Truth Social.

With a vote split nine ways, the race is practically guaranteed to be forced to go to an expensive August runoff between the top two contenders.

DC Mayor

In the nation’s capital city, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser previously announced that she wouldn’t seek reelection to a fourth term, leaving the race wide open.

The district is overwhelmingly Democratic, making the race effectively serve as the general election. Two primary contenders are seeking the Democratic nomination.

Polling has shown that Janeese Lewis George is leading in the race.

A former juvenile prosecutor and a current member of the city council, George is running as a progressive Democratic candidate.

Her campaign has won the support of the city’s left flank, having drawn some comparisons to the progressive policies of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, with a campaign focus on expanding public childcare funding, rent control, and crime reduction.

Meanwhile, at-large D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie is running as a business-friendly candidate heavily aligned with outgoing Bowser’s legacy.

California House Special Election

Voters in the San Francisco Bay area tomorrow will cast ballots in the race to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).

Previously the frontrunner in California’s gubernatorial race, Swalwell removed his name from the running before ultimately resigning from Congress altogether after a series of allegations of sexual misconduct were reported. Swalwell has denied the allegations.

Nine candidates are running in the special congressional primary scheduled for Tuesday.

It’s their second time appearing on the ballot in two weeks.

In a previous round of voting, they competed for the nomination to the congressional term beginning in 2027. Aisha Wahab and Melissa Hernandez—both Democrats—advanced to the November general election, indicating they’re favored in Tuesday’s contest.

In this round, they’re competing to fill out the roughly 15 weeks in the current term.

It’s high stakes for the top two candidates—if one of them is selected to fill out the remainder of the term, they’ll enter the race in November with an incumbency advantage over their opponent.