Tuesday marks one of the final primary nights of the 2022 midterm cycle as voters in Wyoming and Alaska cast ballots to determine who will represent them in the November's general election that's now less than three months away.
Townhall's full preview of Tuesday's races can be found here, and results from both states and all the races can be found below with live updates as ballots are tallied starting at 9:00 p.m. ET with Wyoming, followed by 12:00 a.m. ET (Wednesday) for Alaska.
ALASKA — MURKOWSKI PRIMARY SHOWDOWN + PALIN SPECIAL U.S. HOUSE RACE
Incumbent GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski faces a primary challenge from Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka on Tuesday. Murkowski, who voted to convict Trump during his second Senate impeachment trial and has a track record of crossing the aisle to vote with Democrats on key legislation, is expected to clear the primary hurdle and move ahead to the general election for a second matchup against Tshibaka.
This cycle, Alaska's voters are having their first go at ranked-choice voting and an all-party primary that will see the top four vote-getters advance to November's general election. That means both Murkowski and Tshibaka are likely to advance, setting up a second showdown between the incumbent and Trump-endorsed challenger.
In addition to the U.S. Senate primary, Alaska's voters will vote in a special general election for the state's at-large U.S. House seat. Sarah Palin is in the running, appearing on a general election ballot for the first time since 2008 against fellow Republican Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola. The third-place candidate from the primary, independent candidate Al Gross, dropped out and threw his support to Peltola. If no candidate in the special general lands more than 50 percent of the votes cast, then ranked choice kicks in.
At the same time Alaskans are voting to elect a new representatives to serve out the rest of the current Congress, they're also voting — for the second time in half a year — in the primary for November's general election to serve a full term beginning in 2023.
The Last Frontier also votes on Tuesday for its chief executive in another all-party primary in which the top four vote-getters will advance to November's general election.
WYOMING — LIZ CHENEY FACES THE REPUBLICAN BASE
UPDATE 9:30pm ET: Trump-endorsed challenger Harriet Hageman defeated GOP Rep. Liz Cheney in Tuesday's primary election:
Decision Desk HQ projects Harriet Hageman (@HagemanforWY) is the winner of the Republican nomination for Wyoming's at-large U.S. House congressional district. She has defeated incumbent Rep Liz Cheney (R).#DecisionMade: 9:27pm EDT
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) August 17, 2022
More results here: https://t.co/lXPOtTvdbv
All eyes are on the Wyoming GOP primary for the state's at-large U.S. House seat currently occupied by Liz Cheney as she faces a Trump-endorsed challenger in Harriet Hageman. Cheney was down 30 points in polls leading into primary day but she's tried to make excuses for her situation by claiming some things — like promising to do everything possible to keep Donald Trump from winning another term as president — are more important than winning.
Cheney is also the last of the Trump-impeaching House Republicans to face voters in the midterm cycle after most others have already been dealt career-altering blows from the Republican base. Reps. Gonzalez (OH), Kinzinger (IL), Katko (NY), and Upton (MI) aren't running for another term while Reps. Herrera Beutler (WA), Meijer (MI), and Rice (SC) lost their primaries.
Meanwhile across the aisle, Democrats will choose their candidate for U.S. House to challenge the Republican nominee in November who is unlikely to win in the R+26 at-large district.
Voters in Wyoming will also be casting ballots in the less hotly debated primaries for governor:
Stay with Townhall throughout Tuesday evening into Wednesday and beyond for additional coverage of this week's primary results, the reaction from inside and outside the beltway, and all the liberal meltdowns to come.