With less than three months until November's midterm general election, some of the final primary races to settle the Republican and Democrat fields will be decided on Tuesday night, including some of the highest-profile contests this cycle. Here's what Townhall is watching
In Wyoming, incumbent GOP Rep. Liz Cheney is down 30 points to Trump-endorsed challenger Harriet Hageman in the state where her family used to be a political dynasty. Now, it seems former VP Dick Cheney and an awful lot of out-of-state personalities are the only friends Liz has in her state. After voting to impeach former President Donald Trump and cozying up with Nancy Pelosi and Adam Kinzinger as vice chair of the January 6th committee's televised spectacle, Wyomingites have seemingly had enough.
Polls keep getting worse for Liz Cheney in Wyoming GOP primary. New University of Wyoming survey has Cheney down 30 points to challenger Harriet Hageman among likely voters: https://t.co/3oj4trnSCF pic.twitter.com/5x7bxYni2D
— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 11, 2022
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.
Up in Alaska, incumbent GOP senator Lisa Murkowski will also face voters who are upset with her frequent votes that align with Democrats over her Alaskan constituents — including voting to convict former President Trump in his second impeachment trial. Trump endorsed Murkowski's GOP challenger Kelly Tshibaka, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration.
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.
The Last Frontier will also vote in a special election to serve out the remainder of late Rep. Don Young's term, who passed away in March. Following a special primary in June, former Gov. Sarah Palin advanced to Tuesday's special general along with state GOP-endorsed Nick Begich and Democrat former state Rep. 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.
Former Governor and VP Nominee Sarah Palin (R) is the odds-on favorite to win the special election for Alaska's at-large congressional district this Tuesday. Watch our primary preview video for more information here: https://t.co/JvhCRyUlbg pic.twitter.com/yr1XUroSXc
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) August 12, 2022
In addition to the special U.S. House election on Tuesday, Alaskans will be voting in the usual primary ahead of November's general election to serve a full term.
Most polls in Alaska close at 8:00 p.m. local time Tuesday evening, or 12:00 a.m. Wednesday ET. Wyoming results will come in sooner as polls close at 7:00 p.m. local time or 9:00 p.m. ET. As always, Townhall will have live results throughout Tuesday evening as polls close and into Wednesday as final totals come in and races are called.
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