Politics

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon voters are facing a familiar theme on their primary ballot Tuesday — well-financed Democratic incumbents looking to slide past little-known challengers while Republicans attempt to nominate candidates who could put up a fight in November in a heavily blue state.

Much of the Election Day drama will center less on candidate races and more on a referendum seeking to repeal a bill passed last fall by the Democratic-controlled Legislature that raised the state gas tax and hiked a series of fees.

The legislation was Democrats’ answer to help Oregon’s transportation budget as the state projects a decline in gas tax revenue from the shift to more fuel-efficient, electric and hybrid vehicles. The gas tax is the largest funding source for fixing roads and upgrading highways.

The referendum, known as Measure 120, lands on the ballot as the cost of gas is spiking nationwide from the war in Iran. The state’s Democratic governor, Tina Kotek, and other lawmakers from her party have acknowledged it will be tough for the ballot measure to pass. A yes vote means voters approve of the gas tax increase while a no vote means they reject it.

“It’s going to lose, so we might as well get on to the work of finding alternatives,” said Democratic state Rep. Paul Evans, anticipating that voters will reject the gas tax increase. “It has been a frustrating year.”

Republicans began circulating a petition to repeal the tax and fee increases soon after Kotek signed the legislation. It didn’t take them long to gather more than three times the number of signatures required to place the measure on the ballot.

With the referendum going before voters at a time when gas prices are skyrocketing, Republicans are trying to turn the tables on national Democrats’ messaging about affordability and lowering the cost of living during this year’s midterm elections.

“Oregonians are paying more today and not getting more in return,” said Republican state Sen. Bruce Starr, who helped lead the referendum campaign. “So are they going to, at the polls, vote to increase the price of gas another six cents? I doubt it.”

The Democrats’ transportation funding bill raised the state gas tax from 40 cents a gallon to 46 cents a gallon while also boosting a payroll tax for transit projects and vehicle registration and title fees. At a Portland gas station recently, some voters said they were sympathetic to the need to raise money for road upkeep while others said a tax increase was just too much to swallow.

“At a time when everything is more costly … nobody wants to pay more for anything,” said Josh Hansen, 39.

Kotek and other Democrats have linked the rise in gas prices to President Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, yet the party has not organized efforts to support the gas tax increase on the ballot. If the tax and fee increases pass, they would take effect 30 days after approval by voters.

Trump, for his part, recently said he will move to suspend the federal gas tax of 18 cents a gallon, which would need to be approved by Congress.

Kotek is running in the Democratic primary for governor as she seeks reelection. While she faces nine primary opponents, they have reported raising little to no money and don’t have experience in elected office.

Republicans have a crowded primary field of 14 candidates vying to run against her in November. They include state Sen. Christine Drazan, who lost to Kotek in the 2022 general election, and state Rep. Ed Diehl, who helped lead the gas tax referendum campaign.

The primary also includes Chris Dudley, a former NBA player whose career included time with the Portland Trail Blazers and who narrowly lost a previous bid for governor in 2010, and David Medina, a conservative influencer who was among those charged after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and pardoned by President Donald Trump last year. Medina faced charges that included obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony, and several misdemeanors that included destruction of government property and disorderly and disruptive conduct.

So far, Drazan and Dudley have reported raising the most money. Dudley notably received a $1 million contribution from Phil Knight, the billionaire co-founder of Nike, which is based in Oregon.

Whoever emerges faces a difficult path to the governor’s office. Democrats appear energized around the country this year, and Oregon hasn’t elected a Republican governor in over 40 years.

Voters also are casting ballots in primaries for U.S. Senate and the state’s six U.S. House seats, five of which are held by Democrats.

Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, considered its most competitive, was flipped by Republicans for the first time in decades in 2022 but reclaimed by Democrats in 2024. The district stretches from southern Portland across the Cascade Range to Bend.

The incumbent, Democratic Rep. Janelle Bynum, has more than $2 million on hand and is running against a primary opponent who has not reported raising any money.

Two candidates, a county commissioner and a political consultant, are running in the district’s Republican primary.

The other U.S. House seats are considered largely safe for the current incumbents.

While the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Jeff Merkley also is considered safe for him, seven Republicans are running in the primary to challenge him in the fall.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Republicans on Tuesday will choose among several U.S. Senate candidates who have stressed their loyalty to President Donald Trump as the party looks for a nominee to succeed Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor this year.

Tuberville’s decision ignited a rare and fierce battle among Republicans for an open Senate seat that is all but certain to stay red. U.S. Rep. Barry Moore and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall are among the best-known candidates in a field of seven Republicans.

Trump has endorsed Moore, a three-term congressman and member of the House’s conservative Freedom Caucus, writing on social media that he is “one of my all time favorites” and “a totally reliable MAGA Warrior!”

Marshall is stressing his record as attorney general, including his work with other Republican-led states in filing court actions that challenged former President Joe Biden’s policies and supported Trump.

The Republican candidates also include former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson, business owner Rodney Walker, cardiac surgeon Dr. Dale Shelton Deas Jr., former U.S. Navy submarine commander Seth Burton and Morgan Murphy, who dropped out of the race but remains on the ballot because of a printing deadline.

The crowded field increases the chance that no one will receive a majority of the vote and the nominee will be decided by a June 16 runoff.

On the Democratic side, business owner Dakarai Larriett, business owner Kyle Sweetser, lawyer Everett Wess and chemist Mark S. Wheeler II are seeking the nomination. Any of them would face an uphill climb in deep-red Alabama.

The state’s other Senator, Republican Sen. Katie Britt, is not up for election this year.

Alabama voters will cast ballots in congressional primaries but a redistricting fight has confused many.

Primary voters will cast ballots Tuesday in all seven congressional districts, but the state currently plans to void the results in four districts as it goes forward with a plan to change congressional maps.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has scheduled special primary elections on Aug. 11 for the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts. The change comes after the state got permission to switch to a different congressional map that could help Republicans pick up a House seat in November.

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said the Tuesday votes will be tabulated in the four impacted Alabama congressional districts but will be “void for the purposes of determining the party nominees.” The Aug. 11 primary will determine those nominees in winner-take-all races without a runoff, he said.

The biggest change occurs to the 2nd Congressional District now represented by Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures. The district now stretches from Mobile through Montgomery to the Georgia border.

However, the district lines remain the subject of litigation. The NAACP Legal Defense Find and other groups are seeking to stop the use of the new map. If they are successful, the winner of the Tuesday primary will determine the party nominees.

But if they’re not and the new map goes forward, the Aug. 11 special primary will decide which nominees will appear on ballots in November.

Shayla Mitchell, an organizer with the Alabama Election Protection Coalition, said the situation has fueled voter confusion.

“People assumed that our election was cancelled, which is not true,” Mitchell said.

The November governor’s race could feature a rematch between Tuberville and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, who became the last Democrat to win a statewide race in Alabama during a special election in 2017.

Tuberville defeated Jones in 2020, boosted by a Trump endorsement and a recognizable name from his time as a football coach.

Since Tuberville has decided not to run for a second Senate term, the two men could once again face each other in the governor’s race if they secure their parties’ nominations.

The attorney general’s race has turned into a costly and contentious fight.

Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell, Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey and Katherine Robertson, chief counsel for Attorney General Steve Marshall, are battling for the Republican nomination. Robertson and Mitchell have traded a series of barbs and accusations.

An outside group funded an advertisement critical of Mitchell for writing the main court opinion that led to in vitro fertilization clinics in the state temporarily shutting down. The ruling said frozen embryos could be considered “unborn children” and couples could pursue wrongful death claims after their embryos were destroyed in a hospital accident. The 2024 decision relied on an Alabama law from 1872.

Mitchell said he supports IVF and that the ad is distorting the facts of the case.

The winner of the Republican primary will face Jeff McLaughlin, a former state legislator who is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday railed against one of President Donald Trump’s chief Republican critics in Congress, stepping away from the Iran war and into a Kentucky congressional election that’s testing the president’s political clout.

Hegseth traveled to Kentucky to deliver his remarks, which were designed to undermine Rep. Thomas Massie on the eve of his primary in the state’s 4th Congressional District. Hegseth said he was speaking “as a private citizen” — and not as a member of Trump’s Cabinet.

And yet Hegseth referenced Trump over and over as he praised Massie’s rival, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein.

“President Trump needs reinforcements, and that’s what war fighters do. They stand behind leaders and have their back,” Hegseth said. “Too often, Thomas Massie has acted like his job is to stand apart from the movement that President Trump leads, instead of strengthening it. When President Trump needs backup, Massie wants to debate process.”

The defense secretary’s political appearance, which represents an extraordinary break from tradition with the nation at war, comes as Trump looks to demonstrate his continued dominance of the Republican Party, even as he struggles to address heightened concerns about the economy and Iran war less than six months before the midterm elections.

Massie’s primary, perhaps more than others this midterm season, is testing Trump’s clout. The president’s allies have poured tens of millions of dollars into the campaign against Massie in what has become the most expensive congressional primary in U.S. history.

Massie, a rare Republican congressman who has openly clashed with Trump, has criticized the war in Iran and aggressively pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

“They’re desperate. That’s why they’re sending the secretary of war to my district,” Massie said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “That’s why the president’s losing sleep and tweeting about this.”

Ahead of Hegseth’s appearance in Kentucky, the Pentagon issue a statement in response to criticism that the defense secretary was breaking the law by using taxpayer dollars for political purposes.

“Secretary Hegseth is attending this event in his personal capacity. No taxpayer dollars will be used to facilitate his visit,” said Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell. “His participation has been thoroughly vetted and cleared by lawyers, including the Department of War Office of General Counsel, and does not violate the Hatch Act or any other applicable federal statute.”

___ Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An effort to reshape South Carolina’s congressional districts will get its first full airing Monday in the state House, as lawmakers launch a lengthy and potentially testy discussion on whether to accede to President Donald Trump’s desires for a U.S. House map that could yield a clean sweep for Republicans.

Tense debates already have played out in Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana as Republicans push aggressively to leverage a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on race based gerrymandering. The ruling has opened the way for Republicans to redraw districts with large Black populations that critics charge were designed to make sure Democrats were elected.

In South Carolina, that means targeting a seat long held by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the only Democrat among the state’s seven representatives in the House.

Clyburn has said he has no intention of retiring, even if his district gets changed. He told reporters last week in Washington that he has addresses in Columbia, Charleston and Santee, adding: “I live in three districts. I’ll decide which one to run in.”

Early voting is scheduled to begin May 26 for South Carolina’s statewide primaries on June 9. In addition to redrawing congressional districts, legislation pending in the state House would move the U.S. House primaries to August. If it clears the House, the legislation then must go to the Senate.

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who called lawmakers into a special session on redistricting, said it is important for South Carolina to send as many Republicans to Washington as possible to try to prevent Democrats from taking control of the House and attempting to impeach Trump.

Republicans are ahead in the national redistricting battle thus far. Since Trump agreed with Texas Republicans efforts to redistrict last year, Republicans think they could gain as many as 15 seats from new House maps in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama. Democrats, meanwhile, think they could gain six seats from new maps in California and Utah. But litigation is ongoing in some states, and voters will have the final say on who wins.

In addition, the courts have struck down Virginia’s effort to redistrict. A move that likely would have gotten rid of 4 Republican districts.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek and the nearly two dozen challengers hoping to defeat her are among the candidates who will seek their parties’ nominations for state and federal offices in Tuesday’s primary. Voters will also decide a statewide ballot measure that would raise gas taxes to pay for improvements to the state’s roads and bridges.

National politics cast a long shadow over the primary, as is often the case in a midterm election year, when voters historically have punished the incumbent president’s party at the ballot box. Kotek has made President Donald Trump a top foil in her campaign, while the vote on Measure 120 to raise vehicle fees and gas taxes for transportation infrastructure projects takes place against the backdrop of gas prices that have steadily climbed since the start of the Iran war.

Kotek faces nine Democratic primary challengers in her bid for a second term. The Republican primary field features 14 candidates, including Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell, state Rep. Ed Diehl, state Sen. Christine Drazan and financial planner and former NBA player Chris Dudley. Dudley last ran for governor in 2010, when he received about 48% of the vote in the general election.

Incumbents are also running for reelection for U.S. Senate and all six U.S. House seats, with only one member of Congress facing no opposition for renomination.

The key counties in both Democratic and Republican primaries are Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties in the Portland area and Lane County, which is home to Eugene. Salem-based Marion County, Jackson County and Deschutes County also contribute significant amounts of vote in both parties’ primaries.

Dudley won the 2010 primary for governor with 39% of the vote against eight candidates. Of the most populous counties, he carried Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas and Washington counties and placed second in Lane County.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

Oregon elections are conducted predominantly by mail. Ballots delivered to a ballot drop box or a county elections office must be received by 8 p.m. local time, which is 10 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. ET. Counties have the option to keep their locations open longer. Almost all of the state observes Pacific time, so the deadline in those areas is 11 p.m. ET. Some of the state observes Mountain time and the deadline there is 10 p.m. ET. Mailed ballots must be postmarked by 8 p.m. local time and received by May 26 to be counted.

The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, state Senate and state House, as well as for Measure 120 and the nonpartisan race for state labor commissioner.

Voters must be registered with a political party to participate in that party’s primary. Democrats may not vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may not participate in either primary.

As of May 4, there were about 3.1 million registered voters in Oregon, including about 988,000 registered Democrats and about 737,000 registered Republicans.

Registered Democrats cast between 420,000 and 456,000 votes in the 2024 primaries, depending on the contest, while registered Republicans cast just shy of 300,000 votes.

Turnout was higher in the 2022 midterm primaries, when Democrats cast between 478,000 and 492,000 votes and Republicans cast between 347,000 and 370,000 votes.

Oregon has conducted vote-by-mail elections since the 1990s. Ballots may also be delivered to drop boxes and county elections offices.

As of Friday, nearly 513,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

Since Oregon elections are conducted predominantly by mail, results from mail voting are released throughout the night and the following days. A handful of smaller counties release all or most of their results from Election Day voting in their first vote report.

In the 2024 presidential and state primary, the AP first reported results at 11 p.m. ET just as the final polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 5:11 a.m. ET with about 74% of total votes counted.

The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Recounts in Oregon are automatic in the event of a tie vote or if the vote margin is 0.2% of the total vote or less. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

As of Tuesday, there will be 168 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

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By Phil Stewart and Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth campaigned on Monday for a former Navy SEAL who is challenging one of President Donald Trump’s top Republican targets in Congress, in a highly unusual appearance for a U.S. military leader.

At a rally in Kentucky, Hegseth endorsed Republican candidate Ed Gallrein and criticized incumbent Representative Thomas Massie, who has been at odds with Trump over major legislation and led the drive to release government files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The two face off on Tuesday in what has become the most expensive House of Representatives primary in history.

  “Too often, Thomas Massie has acted like his job is to stand apart from the movement that President Trump leads instead of strengthening it,” Hegseth said. 

It is highly unusual for defense secretaries to appear at political events, especially during wartime, as the U.S. military is meant to be apolitical. However, Hegseth has challenged norms since taking the job last year by leading Christian prayer services at the Pentagon, comparing news reporters to enemies of Jesus, and seeking to sanction a Democratic senator who had urged service members to reject unlawful orders.

Hegseth, addressing “all the lawyers” listening, said he was attending the event in Kentucky in a personal capacity — an important distinction given legal restrictions on political activities of federal employees.

The Pentagon said Hegseth was not violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from using their official capacity to affect elections.

“No taxpayer dollars will be used to facilitate his visit. His participation has been thoroughly vetted and cleared by lawyers,” Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said in a statement.

At the event, Hegseth said Gallrein would support Trump’s agenda and condemned Massie as an obstructionist. 

“When the movement needs unity, especially at the biggest moment, Massie’s willing to vote with Democrats,” he said. 

Massie, in an appearance Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” said he gets a fundraising boost each time Trump mentions him on social media and speculated that the president is “desperate” to get rid of him.  

Trump has pursued a retribution campaign against Republicans who have crossed him. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who earned Trump’s ire for voting to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial in 2021, lost his bid for re-election on Saturday after Trump endorsed a rival.  

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; editing by Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell)

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WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) – Kevin Warsh will be sworn in as U.S. Federal Reserve chief on Friday by President Donald Trump, a White House official said on Monday, capping off the process of installing the 56-year-old lawyer and financier at the helm of the central bank as it grapples with intensifying inflation that may make it hard to push through the interest-rate cuts Trump so deeply desires.

Warsh is succeeding Jerome Powell, whose eight-year run as Fed leader formally expired on Friday, although he plans to remain as a Board of Governors member until he is satisfied that a Trump administration criminal probe of him is fully wound down. Powell was sworn in as chair pro tempore on Friday to bridge the leadership gap until Warsh is formally installed.

The investigation into Powell centering on cost overruns for building renovations at the Fed’s Washington headquarters complex became an obstacle for a time to Warsh’s confirmation by the Senate. The probe was settled to the satisfaction of an objecting Republican senator, however, and the full Senate confirmed Warsh on an almost-party-line vote on May 13.

Warsh, who served as a Fed governor through the global financial crisis era, returns at a difficult moment for U.S. monetary policymaking. Annualized inflation is running well above the Fed’s 2% target and likely to keep rising, largely because of policy choices by the president who gave him the job.

The tariffs Trump imposed through his first year in office pushed up prices for a broad range of imported goods, and then this year Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran has triggered a global energy price shock that recent data show is driving up prices across a widening array of goods and services.

The tariffs’ impact on its own had been a factor that a number of Fed policymakers, including Powell, had been willing to look past as a one-time price increase, not persistent inflation, and that could have allowed the central bank to resume interest-rate cuts that were put on hold early this year.

But the now-cascading effects of the Iran-war-induced energy price shock have deepened the inflation concerns of a growing number of the Fed policymakers Warsh must now lead and with whom he must now try to form a consensus over the direction of rate policy.

A run of hotter-than-expected readings of inflation caused upheaval in the bond market as last week ended. Yields on U.S. government bonds shot higher on Friday as investors repositioned for what they now see as sticky inflation and likely Fed rate hikes in response, starting perhaps as early as December.

Warsh’s first rate-setting meeting is just weeks away in mid-June and he is likely to find himself confronted with a growing hawkish bloc of policymakers arguing for the Fed to shift its posture explicitly to guard against inflation. Interest-rate futures markets assign effectively zero probability to a change in the Fed’s current policy rate, 3.50% to 3.75%, at the June meeting.

(Reporting by Dan Burns, Steve Holland, Jasper Ward and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; editing by Michelle Nichols and Rosalba O’Brien)

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(WASHINGTON) – Israeli officials say a key figure behind the October seventh attacks has been killed. The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency report Izz al-Din al-Haddad was eliminated in a targeted strike in Gaza City on Friday.

According to the IDF, Haddad served as head of Hamas’s military wing and was one of the main planners of the October seventh assault. He had taken over military operations following the deaths of senior Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Sinwar.

Israeli officials say Haddad also played a central role in managing Hamas’s hostage system, at times surrounding himself with captives in an effort to prevent being targeted. He was described as one of the group’s longest-serving commanders, with decades of involvement in Hamas leadership.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts in the region remain strained. A senior international official told The Wall Street Journal that Hamas’s refusal to disarm and its control over Gaza’s civilian population continue to hinder progress toward any broader peace agreement. Hamas has denied those accusations.

—

In a separate development, the United States says it has eliminated a top global ISIS leader in Africa.

U.S. officials confirm that American forces, working alongside Nigerian القوات المسلحة, carried out what was described as a highly coordinated operation in northeastern Nigeria. The target, Abu Bilal al-Minuki, was believed to be the second-in-command of ISIS worldwide.

President Trump, in a statement, called the mission “flawlessly executed,” saying al-Minuki had been one of the most active террорист leaders globally, involved in planning attacks and directing hostage-taking operations.

U.S. Africa Command says the strike also killed additional high-value ISIS figures and is part of a broader effort to maintain pressure on remaining террорист networks.

—

And in the United States, a suspected international terror planner is now in federal custody.

The FBI says an Iraqi man, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, has been brought to New York to face charges linked to nearly twenty planned attacks across Europe.

Authorities allege that al-Saadi coordinated operations for a pro-Iranian extremist group, targeting Jewish schools, synagogues, and charities, as well as American and Israeli interests.

FBI Director Kash Patel called the arrest a major international success, saying it reflects ongoing efforts to bring high-level terror suspects to justice.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics within the Republican Party, faces a tough primary challenge Tuesday in Kentucky’s state primary. It’s the latest example this primary season of the president trying to purge the party of Republicans he perceives as disloyal.

Kentucky voters will also pick nominees for U.S. Senate, five other U.S. House seats and the state General Assembly. Voters in Louisville will winnow down a crowded field for mayor.

The Commonwealth’s marquee race on Tuesday is in the 4th Congressional District, where Massie seeks the GOP nomination for an 8th full term. His opponent is Ed Gallrein, a farmer and former Navy SEAL who entered the race at Trump’s urging.

Massie is the rare Republican in Washington who has clashed with Trump on his key domestic and foreign policy initiatives, opposing both his signature tax package and the war with Iran. He has also been a leader in Congress of the effort to release the files of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Massie has a fundraising advantage, but Gallrein has remained competitive. The incumbent more than doubled his opponent’s spending over the course of the campaign, but the two began the month on comparable footing in terms of funds in the bank.

The 4th Congressional District in northern Kentucky stretches along the Ohio River and shares a border with Indiana and Ohio. Trump received about 67% of the district vote in the 2024 general election, carrying all 21 counties with at least 59% of the vote. Massie ran unopposed in 2024 and received 65% of the vote in his 2022 reelection bid. Although Massie also carried every county in 2022, Trump outperformed him two years later in all but two counties.

In the U.S. Senate primaries, nearly 20 candidates are competing to succeed longtime GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is retiring after seven terms. Among the 11 candidates for the Republican nomination are U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, who has Trump’s endorsement, and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a former McConnell aide who has criticized his ex-boss on the campaign trail.

Seven candidates seek the Democratic nomination, including former state Rep. Charles Booker, military veteran and 2020 U.S. Senate nominee Amy McGrath and state House Minority Leader Pamela Stevenson.

In Louisville, Mayor Craig Greenberg is running for a second term against 10 other candidates. The top two vote-getters in the nonpartisan primary will advance to the general election.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

Polls close at 6 p.m. local time, which is 6 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. ET. Polls in most of Kentucky are in Eastern time and close at 6 p.m. ET, but polls in the Central Time Zone close at 7 p.m. ET.

The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and Louisville mayor.

Only voters registered with a political party may participate in that party’s primary. Democrats may not vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may not participate in either primary.

As of April 24, there were about 3.4 million registered voters in Kentucky, including about 1.6 million registered Republicans and about 1.4 million registered Democrats.

In the 2022 primaries for U.S. Senate, about 386,000 votes were cast in the Republican primary and about 292,000 in the Democratic primary.

About 21% of the Democratic vote and about 17% of the Republican vote in the 2023 state primaries was cast before primary day.

As of Wednesday, about 27,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election, including about 14,000 from Republicans and about 12,000 from Democrats.

Vote release practices vary from county to county. Results from early and absentee voting tend to be released from medium-to-large sized counties as part of the first vote update, usually before any in-person Election Day results are released.

In the 2024 primary, the AP first reported results at 6:06 p.m. ET, or 6 minutes after polls closed in most of the state. The last vote update of the night was at 9:47 p.m. ET with more than 99.9% of total votes counted.

The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Kentucky requires an automatic recount for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, state General Assembly and nearly all statewide offices if the vote margin is 0.5% of the total vote or less. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

As of Tuesday, there will be 168 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people streamed onto the National Mall for a daylong prayer rally Sunday called a “rededication of our country as One Nation under God.”

Against the backdrop of the Washington Monument, worship music blared from a stage that made clear the event’s Christian focus. Arched stained-glass windows, set underneath grand columns resembling a federal building, depicted the nation’s founders alongside a white cross.

Several speakers celebrated Christianity’s ties to American history, a blending of ideas that critics flagged ahead of the prayer gathering as supporting Christian nationalism.

From the stage, the Rev. Robert Jeffress embraced the term, which is often taken as a pejorative. “If being a Christian nationalist means loving Jesus Christ and loving America, count me in,” said the prominent Southern Baptist pastor.

President Donald Trump is to address the gathering in a video message. Other top Republicans, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., were also on the schedule as part of the celebrations this year marking 250 years of U.S. independence.

Hegseth, who has infused Christian language and worship with his role leading the Pentagon, asked the gathering in a video to pray to “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Referencing George Washington’s faith, he said, “Let us pray without ceasing. Let us pray for our nation on bended knee.”

The event was organized by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by the White House.

PHOTO- People worship to Christian music at Rededicate 250, a prayer gathering in honor of the United States’ 250th anniversary, on the National Mall, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

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