DENVER (AP) – The midterm primary season entered a new, more volatile phase on Tuesday as voters run in the first election since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling revoking women’s constitutional right to abortion shook the country’s politics.
In Republican primaries in the U.S. Senate in Colorado, voters choose between businessman Joe O’Dea and state Rep. Ron Hanks. O’Dea supports the ban on late-term abortions, but on the other hand, he is the rare Republican who supports most abortion rights. Hanks supports the ban on the procedure in all cases.
Meanwhile, in the Republican race to rule in Illinois, Darren Bailey, a farmer and state senator endorsed by former President Donald Trump over the weekend, wants to end the state’s right to abortion, except in cases where that the mother’s life is in danger. It does not allow exceptions for rape or incest. His opponent, Richard Irvin, Aurora’s first black mayor, has said he would allow abortion in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is at risk.
Both races develop in states where abortion is still legal. Democrats have tried to elevate both Hanks and Bailey, betting they are more likely to win the fall campaign if they compete against Republicans they could present as extremes. In Colorado, Democrats have spent more than $ 2 million to push for Hanks’ candidacy. In Illinois, the sums have been much higher, with Democrats spending at least $ 16 million against Irvin and pushing Bailey as a candidate against Gov. JB Pritzker.
The strategy carries risks, especially if the magnitude of the GOP’s expected gains this fall is so significant that Democrats lose in states like Illinois and Colorado, which have become party strongholds. But at a time when Democrats are facing voter frustration over inflation and rising gas prices, the focus on abortion may be their best hope.
“It’s a very attractive goal, to pursue a Republican candidate whose position is no exception,” said Dick Wadhams, a former Colorado GOP president who has worked for anti-abortion candidates in the past. “I think the repeal of Roe v Wade may encourage more candidates to go in that direction.”
Beyond Colorado and Illinois, elections are being held in Oklahoma, Utah, New York, Nebraska, Mississippi and South Carolina. Tuesday marks the final round of multi-state primary nights through August, when races for the U.S. governor and Senate will take place closely in Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, Missouri and other states.
And while Tuesday’s primaries are the first to take place in a post-Roe scenario, they will offer a more detailed view of the resonance of Trump’s electoral lies among Republican voters.
In Oklahoma, one of the country’s most conservative senators, James Lankford, faces a major challenge from evangelical pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, amid conservative anger because Lankford has not supported Trump’s election claims.
In Utah, two Republican critics of Trump point to Sen. Mike Lee, accusing the two-term senator of being too concerned about winning the former president’s favor and helping him try to overturn the 2020 presidential election. In Mississippi, Rep. Michael Guest, a Republican who rejected Trump for voting an independent commission on Jan. 6, faces the challenge of Michael Cassidy, a former Navy pilot.
Also in Colorado, defendant Secretary of State Tina Peters, who has been banned by a judge from overseeing elections in her home county in the western part of the state, is running for the GOP nomination for the county’s top election. ‘state in claiming he is being prosecuted for uncovering a major conspiracy to steal the 2020 election from Trump. He faces Pam Anderson, a former county secretary and critic of Trump’s electoral lies, for her nomination to challenge Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold in November.
Republicans worry that Peters, who is being prosecuted by a Republican district attorney for his role in a security breach in his county’s electoral system, would drag the entire ballot if he becomes the candidate. The GOP has lost almost every race across the state since 2014, but hopes the public disenchantment with President Joe Biden will give them an opening.
“On June 28 there is a lot of danger for Republicans,” Wadhams said. “Many opportunities, but also many dangers.”
Other Republican opportunities in the state come to the seat of the newly created Congress in North Denver, where four Republican candidates are competing to face state Rep. Yadira Caraveo, the only Democrat running in the primaries. Heidi Ganahl, the only statewide elected Republican to serve on the University of Colorado board of governors, faces Greg Lopez, a former Denver suburban mayor, in the GOP nomination contest to confront Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.
Also in Colorado, Fire Rep. Lauren Boebert faces moderate state Sen. Don Coram in Republican primaries in the western part of the state. In Colorado Springs, Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, who faces usual primary challenges, this time is fighting state Rep. Dave Williams, who failed to get the phrase “Let’s go to Brandon,” code for obscenity against the President Joe Biden, is added to his official name on the ballot.
Aside from the governor’s career primaries, Illinois also has two incumbent Congress vs. incumbent primaries. Democratic Representatives Sean Casten and Marie Newman will compete in a seat in the Chicago area. And Republican Rep. Rodney Davis, one of the last moderates in the Republican caucus, faces Trump-backed Rep. Mary Miller, who at a meeting with the former president this weekend described the Supreme Court’s decision as “a victory for white life “. A spokesman said he meant “right to life.”
In the smaller cities of Illinois, conservative voters yearn for change. McHenry’s 80-year-old Toni Block, about 45 miles northwest of Chicago, voted for Bailey in the governor’s primary.
“It has all the good things we have to go back to,” Block said. “Not only is he a Trump supporter, he has our values.”
In New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who became the state’s executive director last fall when Andrew Cuomo resigned during a sexual harassment scandal, is battling major challenges from the left and center. . New York City’s elected public attorney, Jumaane Williams, says Hochul has not been active enough on progressive issues, while Long Island MP Tom Suozzi criticizes her for being too liberal in crime.
On the Republican side, Rep. Lee Zeldin is the favorite in a field full of primary governors that includes Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York mayor and Trump confidant Rudolph Giuliani. Trump has made no endorsement of the race.
___
Associated Press writer Sara Burnett in Chicago and Claire Savage in McHenry, Illinois, contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP for full coverage of the average aia Twitter sessions at