Politics

Connecticut Democrats are choosing whether to stick with U.S. Rep. John Larson, a longstanding fixture in the state’s politics, or embrace a generational change by choosing a far younger replacement.

Larson, 78, has represented the Hartford and central Connecticut-based 1st Congressional District since 1999. After largely avoiding serious Democratic opposition during his time in Congress, Larson is now facing concerns about his health and age after he abruptly stopped speaking during a speech on the House floor last year.

His office has since said Larson suffered a complex partial seizure, maintaining that he’s fit to seek a 15th term and is taking medication to help control the condition.

With Democrats expected to hold the seat in November, the fight over who becomes the Democratic nominee in the 1st Congressional District isn’t critical to the party’s effort to take back control of the House. However, it does reflect the growing willingness of younger Democrats to take on some of their party’s most stalwart figures in Washington.

After President Joe Biden’s drawn-out decision to ultimately step aside in 2024 at 81, which helped pave the way for Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, the Democratic Party’s veterans have increasingly been targeted as part of the problem.

Larson’s leading challenger is former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who won the state’s Democratic Party endorsement earlier this year.

Bronin, 46, is a Rhodes scholar, lawyer and U.S. Navy Reserve officer. He was a sophomore at Yale when Larson was first elected to Congress.

Bronin has said that the Democratic Party’s reluctance to embrace generational change, including Biden’s failed reelection campaign, was the leading factor in his decision to challenge Larson.

“I think we would be a stronger Democratic Party if more of our leadership recognized that part of leadership is knowing when it’s time to pass the torch,” Bronin said during a July 29 debate.

Larson has pushed back against the criticism surrounding his long time in office, saying experience is a virtue and leaning on his willingness to fight against President Donald Trump.

“I’ve called for his impeachment because of his violation for the rule of law, this president ignores the rule of law,” Larson said during the July 29 debate.

Other candidates running for the congressional seat are state Rep. Jillian Gilchrist, 44, and Ruth Fortune, 38, a lawyer who immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti.

Connecticut’s remaining four congressional seats are held by Democrats not facing a primary challenge. Republicans will hold a primary for the state’s 4th and 5th Congressional Districts.

Separately, the only statewide race on Tuesday is the Democratic primary for governor. Current Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont is seeking a third term against state Rep. Josh Elliott, 41, who is running left of Lamont.

Lamont, 71, a wealthy former cable entrepreneur, has developed a reputation as a fiscal moderate, signing a major tax cut and paying down unfunded state pension liabilities. He has also supported access to abortion through safe harbor laws and greater protections for immigrants.

No Connecticut governor has served three consecutive terms in modern times.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Minnesota Democrats will decide a competitive U.S. Senate primary Tuesday in another face-off between moderate and progressive candidates that could define the party’s identity heading into the midterm elections. Republicans will choose nominees they hope will end their 20-year drought in statewide elections.

The state has been at the center of a political maelstrom in President Donald Trump’s second term, as the Republican president has focused much of his ire on Minnesota and its Democratic leaders.

An ongoing fraud investigation into state childcare programs contributed to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz ending his reelection bid and has been a frequent topic among Republican candidates on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown that resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens has been a defining issue for Democratic candidates.

Walz’s retirement announcement, as well as that of Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, triggered a reshuffling of races throughout the ballot.

In the race to replace Smith, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination. Smith has backed Flanagan, while Walz has not made an endorsement. Flanagan also has support from key figures in the party’s progressive wing, including U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of the 5th Congressional District. Sanders is an independent but caucuses with Democrats.

Craig’s key supporters are Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Craig has about doubled Flanagan in overall fundraising. She also had about $3.6 million available to spend as of late July compared with about $1.1 million for Flanagan.

The Center Forward Committee and Unite to Win — two political action committees known for backing moderate Democrats — have spent at least $2.4 million on Craig’s behalf. The Center Forward Committee was founded by former Alabama U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer and supports what it describes as “pragmatic policymakers.” Unite to Win recently spent $4 million backing U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in her unsuccessful U.S. Senate primary bid against Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.

Flanagan’s largest backer in outside spending has been the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association, which has spent about $1.2 million on the race.

The Republican primary features nine candidates, including former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya; former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze, who has the state party’s endorsement; and former professional basketball player Royce White, who was the Republican nominee for the state’s other U.S. Senate seat in 2024. Trump has not endorsed a candidate.

Tafoya raised about $5.3 million for her campaign and had about $1.3 million in the bank as of July 22, a larger haul than the rest of the Republican field combined.

In the race for governor, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar faces minimal opposition for the Democratic nomination. She brought in $9.3 million for her campaign and had about $4.5 million in the bank as of July 20. Only three of Klobuchar’s six primary opponents filed campaign finance disclosures, and they reported having less than a combined $3,200 in the bank.

The nine-candidate Republican field includes state House Speaker Lisa Demuth, MyPillow founder and prominent 2020 election denierMike Lindell, who has Trump’s endorsement, and healthcare executive Kendall Qualls, who has the state party’s backing.

Lindell outraised Demuth overall in the campaign, although Demuth sat atop a significantly larger war chest as of July 20.

Craig is the only member of Minnesota’s U.S. House delegation who isn’t running for reelection. Her upcoming departure has triggered a six-way Democratic primary to replace her in the 2nd Congressional District. The field includes state Rep. Kaela Berg, state Sen. Matt Klein and former state Sen. Matt Little. Klein leads the field in fundraising, followed by Little, who loaned his campaign $155,000.

The winner will face Republican state Sen. Eric Pratt, who is unopposed for the nomination.

Craig won reelection in 2024 with about 56% of the vote. Democratic then-Vice President Kamala Harris received about 52% of the district vote in the 2024 presidential race against Trump.

All seats in both chambers of the Minnesota State Legislature are up in 2026. Democrats have a one-seat advantage in the 67-member state Senate, while Democrats and Republicans are deadlocked at 67 seats each in the state 134-member House.

Hennepin County, which is home to Minneapolis, is by far the state’s most populous and tends to contribute the most votes of any county in both Democratic and Republican statewide primaries. Neighboring Ramsey County, which is home to St. Paul, has the second-largest population but tends to be a bigger factor in Democratic primaries. Just north of the Twin Cities, Anoka County, which Trump carried in 2024 by about 4 percentage points, tends to be more influential in Republican primaries. Dakota, Washington, St. Louis and Olmsted counties are important primary battlegrounds for both parties.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s 2006 reelection was the last statewide contest Republicans have won in Minnesota. The last Republican to win a U.S. Senate race in Minnesota was Norm Coleman in 2002.

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 8 p.m. CT, which is 9 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, secretary of state, auditor, attorney general, state Senate and state House.

Any registered voter may participate in any party’s primary. Eligible voters may register at the polls on Election Day or during the early voting period.

As of Aug. 3, there were about 3.9 million registered voters in Minnesota.

About 324,000 Democratic primary voters and about 194,000 Republican primary voters took part in the 2024 primaries for U.S. Senate. In the 2022 primaries for governor, about 432,000 voters cast ballots in the Democratic primary and about 323,000 in the Republican primary.

About 23% of the vote in the 2024 state primary and about 20% of the 2022 primary vote was cast early in person or by mail.

As of Thursday, about 158,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

Counties tend to release results from early in-person and mail voting over the course of the night, along with results from in-person Election Day voting.

The state’s three largest counties of Hennepin, Ramsey and Dakota release relatively few results in their first vote updates, regardless of vote type.

In the 2024 state primary, the AP first reported results at 9:08 p.m. ET, or eight minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 1:28 a.m. ET, with more than 99% of total votes counted.

The AP 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 Minnesota are not automatic, but the losing candidate may request one under certain circumstances. A publicly funded recount can be requested in federal, judicial or state constitutional offices, like governor, if the margin between the winning and losing candidate is less than 0.25% of the vote. For state legislative races, the required margin is less than 0.5% of the vote. In races in which fewer than 400 votes are cast, the margin is 10 votes or fewer. Candidates may pay for a recount in races in which the vote margin is beyond the threshold for a publicly funded recount. 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 84 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) — Voters in four of Alabama’s seven congressional districts will select U.S. House nominees Tuesday under a new map that eliminates one of the state’s two majority-Black districts currently represented by Democrats.

Primaries for all seven congressional districts were originally scheduled for May 19, but Republican Gov. Kay Ivey postponed the contests for the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that prompted a handful of Republican-controlled Southern states to throw out their congressional maps.

The court-inspired actions in Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee, as well as earlier legislative actions in other states to redraw their boundaries through mid-decade redistricting, were part of a nationwide Republican effort championed by President Donald Trump to maximize the party’s chances of holding its slim U.S. House majority in the 2026 midterm elections.

Alabama’s U.S. House members will continue to serve in their current districts until the end of 2026. Candidates in Tuesday’s primaries are running under the new Republican-backed boundaries, which go into effect in January 2027. Both of Alabama’s Democratic members of Congress are seeking reelection in their newly configured districts and are unopposed in their primaries.

In the 2nd District, where U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures is running for a second term, the Black population will go from half of the population under the current lines to about 40% under the new lines. In the 2024 presidential election, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris beat Trump in the current district, 53% to 46%. But Trump would have beaten Harris 57% to 42% if the new boundaries had been in effect in 2024.

Six Republicans are running to challenge Figures in November, including state Rep. Rhett Marques, Army veteran Joshua McKee and real estate broker Hampton Harris. Trump has endorsed Marques, who is the field’s top fundraiser.

Black residents will maintain a slight majority in the new 7th District, where U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell is running for a ninth term. Harris beat Trump, 61% to 38%, under the current boundaries and would have beaten him by slightly less, 58% to 41%, if the new boundaries had been in effect in 2024. Two Republicans, Ammie Akin and David Perry, are competing for the nomination to unseat Sewell.

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 7 p.m. CT, which is 8 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts.

The special primaries are open to any registered voters in their respective congressional districts. Although Alabama does not register voters by party, voters will be asked to declare a party preference upon selecting a party’s primary ballot.

As of June 1, there were 3.8 million registered voters in Alabama. Each congressional district in the state has a total population of about 718,000.

About 409,000 ballots were cast across the state in the May 19 primaries, which was roughly 11% of registered voters. Past vote totals for the four new congressional districts are unavailable.

Relatively few Alabama voters cast their ballots before Election Day. The state is one of the only holdouts in the country not to offer some form of in-person early voting. In the 2024 primaries, about 4% of Democratic primary voters and about 1% of Republican primary voters voted by mail.

Vote release practices vary from county to county. Most counties tend to release results from absentee voting in the first vote update, sometimes along with results from in-person Election Day voting.

In the May 19 state primary, the AP first reported results at 8:28 p.m. ET, or 28 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 12:54 a.m. ET, with more than 99.9% of total votes counted.

The AP 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.

In 2010, the Alabama attorney general issued an opinion that Alabama’s automatic recount law does not apply to primaries. 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 84 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 Saeed Azhar and Tatiana Bautzer

NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) – The race to finance the U.S. data center boom is forcing banks and asset managers to confront an added risk: political and community opposition.

A spate of projects has hit roadblocks or faces opposition, creating another level of due diligence for banks and financiers assessing opportunities. Senior bankers told Reuters they are scrutinizing community concerns when they assess project loans and are leaning toward projects in states that are more welcoming toward data centers. Still, they remain keen to invest in or finance the red-hot sector. 

“I will primarily look for two things. One is the readiness of the project … the second aspect I look for is the credit quality of the project,” said Karen Fang, global head of infrastructure & sustainable finance at Bank of America. “Readiness means all the permitting and approvals that are required, and the community support from the people who are going to live around it.”

Governments, regulators and cities worldwide are increasingly moving to freeze, restrict or ban data center construction. 

Data centers, which are used for cloud storage and artificial intelligence compute, have caused concern nationwide from people living nearby, with complaints about their noise, appearance and worries about higher power bills and heavy water use.

Wall Street banks, including JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, advise on financing such projects. 

Banks conduct extensive due diligence before funding AI infrastructure projects, including technical, environmental, zoning, appraisal and insurance reviews. 

Given the intense opposition, lenders worry about wasting time on projects that may not proceed or face delays, causing them to scrutinize proposals more carefully. Community concerns are part of credit risk assessments for data centers, one bank source said.

“The amount of work that goes into putting a bank loan in place for one of these projects is significant,” said Kevin Curtin, head of AI infrastructure investment banking at JPMorgan.

“Putting the credit agreement in place is only the beginning. Throughout construction, builders must continually demonstrate that the project remains in compliance with the financial covenants and monitoring requirements agreed with lenders before each drawdown.”

Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Sharon Yeshaya said the firm is “very cognizant” of the risks. “This is a capital-heavy, capital-dependent industry, and we are here to help clients raise, syndicate and underwrite that capital needs, and to find offsets for the risks,” she said.

A source at a private capital firm said lenders consider community sentiment when assessing a project’s risks, and approvals and permits remain fundamental before financing can move forward.

PROJECT RISKS 

In the first quarter of 2026, at least 75 projects worth about $130 billion faced local opposition, according to research firm Data Center Watch. Big tech companies will spend more than $6 trillion on AI through 2030 — many times the capital deployed to internet infrastructure during the dotcom era, Goldman Sachs forecasts.

Banks typically begin talks on funding a project at least a year before construction starts and have recurring conversations with developers as it progresses, another banking source said, meaning that problems with projects can waste time and energy doing additional due diligence. 

Banks are involved in several projects that face community action. 

For example, banks including JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley managed the $12.3 billion bond sale for BlackRock, a partner with Meta on a data center project in El Paso, Texas, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. Some residents oppose the project. JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock declined to comment while Meta said the company is actively engaging with residents, city leaders, and local organizations.

Data center operator QTS, owned by private equity firm Blackstone, did not approach lenders for bank financing for its now-terminated Prince William Digital Gateway data center project in Virginia, a source familiar with the matter said. The project had faced strong local opposition. QTS declined to comment.

Firms including Morgan Stanley and KKR Capital Markets were among the lead arrangers for a $9.7 billion warehouse credit facility for Dallas-based data center operator CyrusOne, which is facing opposition from residents to its $500 million center in Sangamon County, Illinois, according to NPR.

CyrusOne said it has financing for the project, without providing details. Safeguards are in place for the financiers, as part of the credit facility can be used for new construction only if all permits and leases are in place, one of the sources said. Morgan Stanley and KKR declined to comment.

Bank of America, one of the biggest U.S. lenders to AI-related companies, is also a structuring agent and one of the financial advisors to Related Digital, the developer of a $16 billion data center campus in Saline Township, Michigan, purpose-built for Oracle. The project has faced opposition from residents but is moving ahead. BofA declined to comment.

ACCOUNTING FOR THE RISK 

A senior banker at a foreign lender said investors are getting comfortable pricing potential cancellation risks because demand for compute is expected to remain high. 

To try and allay concerns, data center operators are trying to pre-empt issues as they propose projects by considering steps such as building power generation on site.

“Many companies building new AI data centers are trying to address these concerns,” said Rajat Rana of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP.  

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Tatiana Bautzer; additional reporting by Isla Binnie in New York and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; editing by Megan Davies and Rod Nickel)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Two veteran Democratic incumbents in Connecticut face strong challenges in a state primary on Tuesday.

The contests take place as elements within the party look to redefine the Democratic brand ahead of the midterm elections by replacing old guard figures with younger and often more progressive alternatives.

Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont is running for a third term but must first clear a challenge from state Rep. Josh Elliott. Both candidates have raised just shy of $400,000 in contributions from individual donors. Nonetheless, Lamont, a wealthy former cable entrepreneur, has far outspent Elliott, thanks to $9.5 million in personal funds he’s invested in his campaign. Elliott has received about $3.8 million from the state’s public election funding program.

A primary upset by Elliott, along with additional Tuesday primaries in Minnesota and Wisconsin, could extend a progressive winning streak that began this summer with the defeat of Democratic incumbents in New York City and Colorado and continued with a high-stakes victory in the Michigan U.S. Senate primary on August 4.

The Democratic nominee will face Republican state Sen. Ryan Fazio in November. Republicans last controlled the governorship from 1995 to 2011. Lamont was first elected in 2018 with 49% of the vote and reelected in 2022 with 56%.

In the 1st Congressional District, longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. John Larson is running for a 15th term. Challenging him for the nomination are former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, Hartford Board of Education member Ruth Fortune and state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest.

This year marks Larson’s first primary challenge since he was first elected in 1998. He won a close primary that year with 46% of the vote but has not appeared on a primary ballot in his subsequent 13 reelection bids.

Bronin has slightly outraised and outspent Larson in the campaign overall, although Larson had a slight edge in terms of available cash heading into the primary campaign’s final three weeks. Gilchrest and Fortune trailed far behind in fundraising.

Larson turned 78 in July. In 2025, an incident on the House floor sparked concerns over his health and age when he suffered what he later described as a complex partial seizure while delivering a speech. He said the episode, which caused him to briefly but abruptly stop speaking, was related to a heart condition that he now treats with medication.

The district is heavily Democratic. Larson received 63% of the vote in his 2024 reelection campaign. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris received about 61% of the district vote in the presidential race.

All 36 state Senate seats and all 151 state House seats are up in 2026. Democrats hold two-to-one majorities in both chambers.

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 8 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. House, governor, state Senate and state House.

Voters registered with a political party may participate only 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 October 2025, there were about 2.5 million registered voters in Connecticut, including about 878,000 Democrats and about 529,000 Republicans.

About 114,000 Democratic primary ballots and about 94,000 Republican primary ballots were cast in the 2022 state primaries.

Early voting was enacted in Connecticut after 2022. There was no statewide Democratic primary in 2024, but about 17% of the Republican primary vote in the 2024 state primary was cast early in-person or by mail.

As of Friday, about 43,000 Democratic primary ballots and about 3,900 Republican primary ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

Connecticut runs elections at the town and city level. There are 169 separate jurisdictions administering local elections and they vary in terms of how and when they release results. In many of the larger jurisdictions, results from a mix of voting methods are released together throughout the night.

In the 2024 general election, the AP first reported results at 8:12 p.m. ET, or 12 minutes after polls closed. The vote count reached the halfway mark at 12:25 a.m. ET. By 2:06 p.m. ET the day after Election Day, about 90% of the total vote had been counted.

The AP 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 Connecticut are automatic if the vote margin is less than 0.5% of the total votes cast but does not exceed 2,000 votes. Recounts are also automatic in races where the margin is less than 20 votes or in the case of a tie vote. If a recount results in a tie vote, a runoff election (called an “adjourned election” in Connecticut) is held. 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 84 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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The AP’s Matthew Junkroski contributed to this report.

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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) — Fresh on the heels of Abdul El-Sayed’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary win in Michigan, Wisconsin voters will decide another high-profile clash between the party’s establishment and progressive wings in a gubernatorial primary on Tuesday.

Like Michigan, Wisconsin is one of the nation’s top electoral battlegrounds. The contest may further set the direction of the Democratic Party, as well as set the stage for a highly competitive general election where either party could emerge with complete control over state government. A competitive congressional race could also decide the majority in the closely divided U.S. House.

Four active candidates remain in the once-crowded Democratic primary field to succeed outgoing two-term Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. State Rep. Francesca Hong, a former restaurant owner and democratic socialist who entered the race in 2025 as a self-described “wild card,” has emerged as a top contender for the nomination. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley briefly dropped out of the race in July but reentered with an endorsement from Evers. Former state cabinet secretary Joel Brennan and state Sen. Kelda Roys round out the field.

Campaign finance woes prompted Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez to exit the race, while former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes suspended his bid the same day the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that state Democratic officials had reviewed past allegations against him of inappropriate behavior toward young adult women. The Barnes campaign denied that there were any such allegations. The names of Rodriguez, Barnes and former state economic development director Missy Hughes, who dropped out in June, remain on the ballot.

The winner of the primary will likely face Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who faces minimal opposition for his party’s nomination. Tiffany, who has President Donald Trump’s endorsement, sits atop a massive war chest that not only dwarfs that of his sole primary opponent but the entire Democratic field combined. As of July 27, he had raised $13.3 million for his campaign overall and had about $5 million in the bank. Hong and Crowley had each raised slightly more than $1 million for their campaigns and had less than $500,000 in their respective campaign coffers.

Evers is Wisconsin’s third consecutive two-term governor. The race to replace him will set two longstanding political trends on a collision course. The state has a 64-year streak of electing new governors from the opposite party of their immediate predecessor. That would seemingly favor Wisconsin Republicans in November, although voters nationwide tend to punish the president’s party in midterm elections, which would favor Democrats.

About half of Wisconsin’s 33 state Senate seats and all 99 state Assembly seats are up in 2026. Republicans hold slight majorities in both chambers. For years, Wisconsin’s state legislative boundaries had been heavily gerrymandered to favor Republicans, but the liberal-leaning state Supreme Court struck down the maps in 2023 and ordered them redrawn ahead of the 2024 elections. State Democrats made gains that year and now believe they could flip control of one or both chambers in November.

Wisconsin’s congressional districts remain among the most tilted toward Republicans nationally, according to an Associated Press analysis. Republicans hold six of the state’s eight U.S. House seats. One Republican-held district is a top target of Democrats hoping to retake the chamber.

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden of the 3rd Congressional District is unopposed for the Republican nomination in his bid for a third term. He has Trump’s endorsement. Former Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge and former boutique owner and nonprofit founder Rebecca Cooke are vying for the Democratic nomination. Cooke ran for the seat twice before. She placed second in the 2022 primary and narrowly lost the 2024 general election to Van Orden.

Milwaukee County is by far the state’s most populous and plays a pivotal role in both Democratic and Republican primaries. However, Waukesha County tends to contribute the most votes in Republican primaries. Dane and Brown counties, home to Madison and Green Bay, respectively, are major battlegrounds for both parties. Ozaukee and Washington counties, which along with Waukesha County, form the so-called “WOW” counties in suburban Milwaukee, tend to be more influential in Republican primaries than in Democratic primaries.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont trounced former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Wisconsin presidential primary. Sanders scored big wins in Dane, Brown, Outagamie, Winnebago, Kenosha, LaCrosse and Eau Claire counties, approaching or surpassing the 60% vote mark in each. Clinton carried only Milwaukee County, which has the state’s highest share of Black residents.

Former President Joe Biden carried every county against Sanders in the 2020 presidential primary, which was held in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sanders’ strongest performance was in Dane 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:

Polls close at 8 p.m. CT, which is 9 p.m. ET.

The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. House, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, state Senate and state Assembly.

Any registered voter may participate in any party’s primary. Eligible voters may register at the polls on Election Day.

As of August 1, there were about 3.6 million active registered voters in Wisconsin.

Around 500,000 voters cast ballots in the Democratic state primaries in 2022, compared to roughly 680,000 Republican primary voters.

About 26% of the vote in the 2022 primaries was cast before early in-person or by mail.

As of Friday, about 235,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

Counties vary in terms of how and when they release early and absentee results. In previous elections, counties tended to release a mix of all vote types over the course of the night. Roughly a third of counties released all results, regardless of vote type, in the first vote update.

In the 2024 state primary, the AP first reported results at 9:09 p.m. ET, or nine minutes after polls closed. About 91% of the vote had been counted by 12 a.m. ET. The last vote update of the night was at 2:59 a.m. ET with 99.8% of total votes counted.

Milwaukee County, the most populous, had counted more than 99% of the vote by its final update of the night at 1:06 a.m. ET. Dane County, home of Madison, reached more than 99% of the total vote by its final update of the night at 12:38 a.m. ET.

The AP 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 are not automatic in Wisconsin, but a trailing candidate may request one if the winning vote margin is less than a percentage point in races where more than 4,000 votes are cast. 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 84 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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Associated Press writer David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this report.

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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 Renee Hickman

EAU CLAIRE, Wisconsin, Aug 10 (Reuters) – When she’s not trekking across Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District to meet voters, Democratic congressional challenger Rebecca Cooke is still on her feet, waiting tables at two restaurants around Eau Claire, a city of about 73,000 people surrounded by rolling farmland. 

“When you’re serving people at a restaurant, it’s almost like you’re knocking doors every time you’re waiting a table,” said Cooke, who is trying to flip one of a shrinking number of highly competitive seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections that could end Republican control of Congress.

Cooke doesn’t get into deep political conversations as she takes orders, she said, but customers do sometimes recognize her and tell her about issues they care about, occasionally writing notes of support on receipts. She keeps the best ones in a folder on her phone. 

Each of those tableside moments could be a difference-maker for Cooke, 38, the Democratic frontrunner in Tuesday’s primary. If victorious, she will head to a rematch with Republican incumbent Derrick Van Orden, who was elected in 2022, in what’s expected to be a tight race that could turn on how President Donald Trump’s policies have affected rural voters.

Trump has already traveled to Wisconsin this summer to stump for Van Orden, 56, in an appearance framed by tractors and bales of hay.

Van Orden was elected in 2022 following the retirement of moderate Democrat Ron Kind. However, with the reverberations of Trump’s policies — the U.S. war with Iran, trade battles with China, and steep cuts to healthcare and food aid — Democrats see an opportunity for Cooke, a dairy farmer’s daughter who says Trump has left rural voters behind, to recapture the rightward-trending district.

A COMPETITIVE RURAL AREA

With fewer voters splitting tickets and gerrymandering reshaping congressional maps, “any district that is mathematically competitive is going to get a significant amount of attention,” said Anthony Chergosky, political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The district’s last three elections were decided by between 3 and 4 percentage points, including Van Orden’s win over Cooke in 2024. 

The district is split between farmland and larger towns that are home to universities and corporations like home improvement store chain Menards. Former President Barack Obama won the district in his two presidential races, but the district voted for Trump in each of his elections.  

Van Orden, a retired Navy SEAL and occasional actor, has a MAGA-friendly public image, previously attending the January 6, 2021 pro-Trump rally that later ended in rioters storming the Capitol. 

He has been a staunch supporter of White House policies including 2025 tax-cut legislation that sharply cut Medicaid, the SNAP food assistance program and renewable energy incentives. Those cuts have hit rural areas, which have high rates of poverty and food insecurity, hard. 

Van Orden also voted against rescinding some of Trump’s controversial tariffs. The administration’s tariff policies have stalled purchases of U.S. agricultural products, including by China, a major consumer of goods such as soybeans, which are widely grown in the district. 

And he is a vocal backer of Trump’s war with Iran, which has driven up the cost of fuel and fertilizer. 

Before Trump spoke at a June rally in Chippewa Falls, Van Orden told the crowd, “We’re going to make sure that our farmers don’t have to wring their hands at night because they’re worried about paying the bills.”

Van Orden, in an interview with Reuters, acknowledged that the war had driven up costs, but he still sees the cause as just. 

“If we can hold these people accountable for killing my friends and make sure they don’t have the ability to hold the world economically hostage, this short-term trouble that we have right now, I think is going to be worth it in the long run,” he said, referring to Iran’s government.

He cited the House passage of legislation, which is not yet law, that allows year-round sales of higher-ethanol gasoline, as a signal that he is trying to reduce fuel costs. 

FARM AND FUEL CRISIS

From his farm in Ferryville not far from the Mississippi River, Dylan Bruce, 33, a produce and seed farmer, said the region is in a fuel and farm crisis.

An April American Farm Bureau survey showed 70% of its members were unable to afford fertilizer. As of Sunday, diesel averaged $5.05 a gallon in Wisconsin, down from a May peak of $5.87, but still far more than the $3.51 average a year ago, according to American Automobile Association data. 

Bruce said his business lost a steady source of income after the Trump administration cancelled food purchasing assistance programs that enabled state and tribal governments to purchase locally farmed food and distribute it to food banks. He hopes a Democrat can win the seat.

Dean Rosenbrook, a corn and soybean farmer at Trump’s Chippewa Falls rally, said he would likely vote for Van Orden, but wanted to see the Iran war end. 

Fuel and fertilizer prices are “killing us,” he said.

Trump remains more popular with rural voters than he is nationally, with an approval rating with those Americans at 51% as of a July 29 to August 3 Reuters/Ipsos poll. That’s still down from 60% in February 2025. 

That falloff is why some of Wisconsin’s political strategists believe Van Orden faces a tougher re-election battle.

Cooke’s message has not changed since her previous unsuccessful runs, said Democratic political strategist Joe Zepecki. “The political environment is the thing that is most different.”

Unlike the progressives who have won competitive Democratic primaries in recent months, Cooke describes herself as a moderate Democrat ideal for the district because of her background.

She recalls her family selling its cows when she was in high school, unable to compete with larger dairies. 

“The ripple effect is really felt in a rural economy,” she said. “When you see so many farms go under, so many bankruptcies happen, it’s tough to just sit by the sidelines.”

Cooke moved to Minnesota for college, and worked on political campaigns and nonprofits before moving back to the area in 2014. Van Orden has attacked her for her previous campaign work, accusing her of “cosplaying” as a waitress.

She says her prior campaign work informs her advocacy for rural areas. She wants to expand federal support for rural hospitals so they stay open, slow the trend of farm consolidation, and strengthen labor unions in Wisconsin. 

“Things could be different if we had the right change-makers in place,” she said.

(Reporting by Renee Hickman in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Editing by Emily Schmall and David Gaffen)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten Republicans will compete in a special primary election Tuesday to replace the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on South Carolina’s general election ballot. The candidates running to replace him include two congressmen, a former governor and Graham’s sister, now a U.S. senator appointed to serve out the final months of his current term.

Lindsey Graham won the June 9 Republican primary for renomination to the seat he first won in 2002, but his unexpected death on July 11 from an aortic tear created a vacancy not only for his current U.S. Senate seat but also for his spot on the November ballot as the party’s pick to compete for another six-year term.

U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to fill her brother’s vacant seat, has President Donald Trump’s endorsement to compete in the general election as the new Republican nominee. Among those challenging her in the special primary are U.S. Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman, former Gov. Mark Sanford and business owner Mark Lynch, who ran against Lindsey Graham in the June 9 primary.

Norman recently sought the nomination for governor and placed third in the primary.

If no candidate receives a vote majority in the special primary, the top two vote-getters will advance to a special primary runoff on Aug. 25.

The winner will face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician who challenged Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in the 2022 general election.

Lindsey Graham last won reelection in 2020 with 54% of the vote. Trump carried the state in the 2024 presidential election with 58% of the vote.

Greenville County is the most populous in the state and typically contributes the most votes in statewide Republican primaries. It also has a bit of an independent streak. In the June 9 primary, a plurality of Greenville County voters preferred Lynch over Lindsey Graham in the U.S. Senate race and Norman over the two candidates who would advance to the runoff for governor.

Democratic-leaning Richland and Charleston counties have the next-largest populations and contribute a sizable number of votes in Republican primaries, but they tend to be more influential in Democratic contests.

Horry, Lexington and Spartanburg counties are also large counties that have big impacts on Republican primaries. Spartanburg was the only other county where Lynch outperformed Lindsey Graham in the June primary.

Besides Greenville County, Norman also was the top vote-getter in York County and three smaller neighboring counties, all in his 5th Congressional District, in the June gubernatorial primary.

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 7 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in the special Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

Voters who participated in the Democratic primary on June 9 may not participate in the special Republican primary on Tuesday. Only Republican primary voters or registered voters who did not participate in any party’s primary may cast ballots in Tuesday’s election.

As of Friday, there were about 3.4 million registered voters in South Carolina. Voters in South Carolina do not register by party.

About 465,000 voters cast ballots in the June 9 Republican U.S. Senate primary in which Lindsey Graham was renominated. About 319,000 voters participated in the June 23 Republican gubernatorial primary runoff.

About 29% of the vote in the June 9 Republican state primary was cast early in person or by mail.

As of Friday, about 42,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

Nearly all of South Carolina’s 46 counties release all or almost all of their early in-person and mail voting results in the first vote update of the night, usually before releasing any results from in-person Election Day voting.

In the June 9 primary election, the AP first reported results at 7:22 p.m. ET, or 22 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 12:19 a.m. ET, with more than 99% of total votes counted.

The AP 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.

In South Carolina, recounts are automatic if the margin between the winning and losing candidates is 1% 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 84 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

___

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

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In the streets surrounding a drab federal office complex next to the Minneapolis airport, the beleaguered resistance to President Donald Trump found its footing.

As U.S. immigration agents staged at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building for a monthslong deportation campaign, protesters with whistles and cellphone cameras assembled to oppose them. Two were shot and killed in the city’s streets before Trump pulled back under pressure.

Months later, those confrontations remain the backdrop to Minnesota’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, which features establishment-backed U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and the more progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. The immigration debate is an added schism in a race that otherwise echoes many of the other left versus center divides that have played out across the United States this year.

Craig voted for tighter enforcement soon after Trump returned to office last year, only to later express regret for her decision after the Republican president sent a surge of agents into Minneapolis. She backed a resolution that condemned antisemitism after a 2025 firebombing in Boulder, Colorado, and expressed thanks for law enforcement, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Those votes may turn out to be some of the most fraught of Craig’s eight-year career in Congress, decisions that Flanagan has highlighted while trying to portray her rival as unwilling to fight an unpopular administration in Washington.

“I think that’s when she lost my vote permanently and that’s why I will not vote for her no matter what,” said Bryce Bohne, 40, of Minneapolis. The teacher and owner of an educational tourism company is supporting Flanagan.

Around the Whipple federal building, the fences and barriers are down. The ambient soundtrack is no longer the whistles and chants of protesters, just the rumble of departing jets and passing buses.

But the signs of what happened remain. A few volunteers in bright orange vests keep vigil across the street for 12-plus hours a day, ready to help people getting released from immigration detention or leaving hearings at the immigration court inside.

A few miles away, visitors still bring fresh flowers and handwritten notes to memorials marking the spots where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed.

Craig flipped a Republican-held seat in 2018, and every two years she overcame millions of dollars of attack ads to win tough reelection campaigns.

Until Craig’s Senate run, the heat came from the right. Newly under fire from the other side, the decisions she made as a swing-seat congresswoman have become a liability as a statewide Senate candidate. At one recent event, she adopted the language of the insurgent left, though it did not always seem to come naturally.

“The working class keeps getting screwed,” she told volunteers preparing to knock on doors for her Saturday in Brooklyn Park, a Minneapolis suburb. “Folks, I don’t know about you, but it is time that we had a working folks reno— reso— renovation—”

Here, she took a breath.

“—revolution in this country.”

In Craig’s view, she is well suited to the antiestablishment fervor gaining a foothold in the Democratic Party. Raised by a single mother in an Arkansas trailer park, she has known economic hardship. The lesbian mother of four grown children, she is not the archetype of a traditional member of Congress.

She was one of the House Democrats to call for President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race after his disastrous debate performance against Trump. As a relatively junior member of Congress, she pushed successfully to become the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, jumping ahead of long-tenured colleagues.

“I consider myself a progressive” she told reporters after her event Saturday. “Every race that I run, Republicans run ads against me saying I vote with Democrats 96, 97% of the time.”

“Of course, in the primary,” she added, “people want to point out the few votes I’ve taken against Democrats.”

Chief among them was the Laken Riley Act, the first bill passed by Congress after Trump started his second term. It requires federal authorities to detain migrants accused of theft and violent crimes.

Craig and nearly 60 other Democrats in the House and Senate voted for the bill early in 2025.

But at the end of the year, as immigration officers descended on Minneapolis, that vote became a liability. Weeks after Good and Pretti were killed, Craig published a mea culpa in a Minnesota Star Tribune column.

Craig explained that although she had qualms with parts of the law, it had the support of Democrats she respected, and many of her constituents were unhappy with the situation on the border under Biden.

But the “outright occupation by aggressive, unaccountable federal forces” made clear to her “that supporting any bill that gives ICE new authority in this administration was the wrong decision. And I regret my vote.”

Trump’s immigration operation, she says, was not enabled by her vote on the Laken Riley Act.

“Before that, people had a little bit more sensibility about the fact she was in a tough district and had to take tough votes,” said Corey Day, former executive director of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

Craig has since presented herself as a strong defender of Minnesotans against Trump. She says her record of winning tough races positions her to ensure the seat stays in Democratic hands.

“Angie has experience working across demographics that we need to win over statewide, including in rural Minnesota,” said Kevin Anderson, a Hennepin County commissioner who is supporting Craig and went to one of her weekend events. “I love Peggy, I really do, she’s a great politician. But I don’t think she’s ever had to work across Minnesota.”

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has declined to endorse either candidate for the seat held by Democrat Tina Smith, who is not running again. Late last month his wife, Gwen Walz, endorsed Craig over Flanagan, his governing partner for two terms.

The Republican field includes Michele Tafoya, a former NFL sideline reporter.

To Flanagan and her supporters, Craig’s vote for the immigration bill was not a pragmatic overture to swing voters but a betrayal.

“My primary opponent voted for Donald Trump’s immigration bill and was the only Minnesota Democrat to do so,” Flanagan told volunteers in St. Paul on Saturday. “She since then has said that she regrets that vote, and I’m glad. But it shouldn’t have taken 14 months.”

“We can stand with the immigrant community and not just when it’s politically expedient for us,” Flanagan added.

Like Abdul El-Sayed, who won last week’s Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, Flanagan supports Medicare for All and wants to curtail U.S. military support for Israel. She is running as much against the donors who have spent millions of dollars backing Craig as she is against Craig herself.

“The fact that the money is coming from us and only us makes such a huge difference, because she’s beholden to us, not some billionaire with some business or crypto interest,” said 43-year-old Flanagan supporter Justin Ropella, a customer service manager from Woodbury.

Through July 22, Craig’s campaign had spent $9 million and Flanagan’s $5.5 million. The disparity was even higher among outside groups, with Craig backers spending considerably more, though both have benefited from an influx of outside spending.

To help make up the difference, Flanagan has called on the support of progressive champions such as Sen. Bernie Sanders the Vermont independent who campaigned with her last month.

“If the people of Minnesota can stand up — and I’m confident that they can — and tell these billionaires and their lies and their 30-second ads and their super PACs to go to hell, democracy is going to reign,” Sanders said.

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(AP) – Israel has rejected a proposed Gaza deal announced by President Donald Trump, drawing a clear line in the sand: Israel will not pull back until Hamas is genuinely disarmed. At a Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed what he called the “15-point document,” emphasizing that Israel’s military will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed in reality—not in promises.

Netanyahu also said Israel is still discussing plans for Gaza with Washington, suggesting negotiations continue even as the current proposal has been rejected outright. A fragile ceasefire is still holding, but Israeli control remains heavy across the Palestinian enclave—about half of the territory—after a war that has devastated large parts of Gaza. Hamas, for its part, insists the “road map” remains the path forward and expects mediators—and the United States—to pressure Netanyahu.

But tensions between Israel and Hamas remain unresolved, and now it’s the Trump administration’s challenge to manage. The administration backed the peace framework and helped build momentum around it, but its closest regional ally says the plan has not yet met Prime Minister Netanyahu’s core demand: that Hamas fully disarm before Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Middle East security picture is growing more dangerous on multiple fronts. Iran has again reshuffled leadership at the top of its Supreme National Security Council, naming Mohsen Rezaei to replace Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr. This is part of a broader pattern of changes among Iran’s senior ranks as the country adjusts to losses during the war.

Iran’s posture toward the Strait of Hormuz also remains firm. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says negotiations with Oman over “new maritime routes” are in late stages, but he stressed that the strait does not automatically “reopen.” He pointed to conditions that, according to Iran, have been communicated through intermediaries.

Those conditions are sweeping: Iran is demanding that the United States correct its behavior, end hostilities, lift naval restrictions on Iranian ports, remove sanctions, withdraw U.S. forces from the region, and compensate Iran for war damage—while also unfreezing assets and ending threats.

In parallel, reports suggest Iran and Oman are working to finalize a temporary arrangement tied to managing the strait. The reported framework would allow ships to enter near Iran and exit near Oman without paying fees during the interim period. But key restrictions are emerging as well: a preliminary plan outlined by Iran’s security and parliamentary structures indicates that vessels connected to “hostile countries” would be barred unless Iran receives compensation for past harm.

And in Yemen, Iranian-backed Houthi forces struck a government-held port on the Red Sea coast. That escalation deepens fears about interference with strategic shipping lanes—exactly the kind of instability that threatens global commerce and reinforces the need for strong deterrence.

Bottom line: while diplomats talk, regional actors keep preparing for confrontation. Israel is refusing to move without real disarmament. Iran is demanding major concessions. And dangerous attacks around the Red Sea continue. In times like these, American leadership—and credible strength—are not optional.

FILE – President Donald Trump listens as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

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