June 5 marks one of the most consequential and crowded primary days of the year. Much of the action is in California, where a “jungle primary” system could lock Democrats out of important House races in November and 84-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein is facing a compelling primary challenger. There’s also a surprisingly heated governor’s primary contest in South Dakota. Eight states go to the polls on Tuesday: Alabama, California, New Jersey, Iowa, Montana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and South Dakota. Of course, not all those states have high-profile primary elections. We’ll guide you through what you actually need to pay attention to, with live results below, powered by Decision Desk. California Senate: Sen. Dianne Feinstein has a primary challenger Incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein, at age 84, is the oldest US senator; she’s been in office since 1992. This year, she has a challenger: state Sen. Kevin De León, the former president pro tempore of the California Senate, who thinks California might be ready to elect a younger, more progressive candidate. But Feinstein is still fairly popular in the state and has a war chest with millions. She’ll be tough to beat. On the Republican side, there’s pro-Trump candidate James Bradley, who has little money and almost no name recognition. He’s unlikely to make it through the primary. California’s Fourth District: Democrats are trying to target California’s most conservative Congress member Rep. Tom McClintock, the incumbent Republican and the most conservative Congress member in California, is almost guaranteed the top spot in the “top two” primary system. But there’s a heated race between two Democratic women to claim the No. 2 slot to run in November. Jessica Morse, 35, a national security strategist whose résumé includes the State Department, Defense Department, and USAID, has gained the Democratic Party endorsement and the support of many progressive groups. She’s outraised her Democratic competitors and even McClintock and is the Democratic favorite. But Regina Bateson, an MIT professor and native of the local town Roseville, has mounted a formidable challenge. This R+10 district is rated as Likely Republican by the Cook Political Report, but Democrats still think it’s in play. McClintock represents a district encompassing Roseville, Lake Tahoe, and down to Yosemite National Park — but he doesn’t live there. California’s 10th Congressional District: a beekeeper, the venture capitalist behind Blue Apron, and the daughter of immigrant farmworkers Incumbent Republican Rep. Jeff Denham, who came into Congress in the 2010 Tea Party wave, will likely be up against one of three Democrats in November: Michael Eggman, a 53-year-old third-generation beekeeper who is making his third run against Denham; Josh Harder, the 31-year-old venture capitalist who backed the meal kit service Blue Apron; and Virginia Madueño, the 52-year-old former mayor of Riverbank who has been tapped by Emily’s List. In 2016, Denham narrowly won by 3.4 percent in one of the closest House races in the country, and Hillary Clinton won the Central Valley district in 2016 by 3 points too; it’s rated as a toss-up, and is a prime pickup opportunity for Democrats. California’s 22nd Congressional District: a safe Republican seat that’s getting attention because of Devin Nunes Incumbent Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, friend to President Donald Trump and the author of the House Intelligence Committee’s dubious Russia investigation memo, is in a pretty safe Republican seat. But Democrats are still targeting the district, hoping Nunes’s role defending Trump in the Russia investigations will give them a boost. Andrew Janz, the Fresno County deputy district attorney, is considered best positioned to take on Nunes. He has the endorsement of the California Democratic Party and has raked in more than $1 million to challenge Nunes (mostly because Nunes is so nationally well-known/disliked). Entrepreneur Bobby Bliatout and business consultant Ricardo Franco are also running. California’s 25th Congressional District: a prime pickup opportunity for Democrats In this toss-up Los Angeles County district, the seat of incumbent Rep. Stephen Knight, who has been in office since 2015, is being targeted as a prime pickup opportunity for Democrats. All eyes are on attorney Bryan Caforio, who challenged Knight in 2016 and has locked up a lot of endorsements from labor and progressive groups. Democrat Katie Hill, a nonprofit policy advocate, has also mounted a formidable challenge, with the backing of Emily’s List, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and a number of California’s Democratic Congress members. Both Caforio and Hill have out-fundraised Knight so far. California’s 39th Congressional District: in an open race, Democrats are in an absolute squabbling match This is a heated race to fill an open seat, vacated by retiring Republican Rep. Ed Royce. On the Democratic side, two wealthy candidates are in an ugly battle for a spot on the November ballot. Gil Cisneros, a former Navy officer and 2010 lottery winner (he won $266 million), is on the DCCC’s Red to Blue list, which is as close as the national campaign arm gets to endorsing a candidate. He’s up against Andy Thorburn, a health insurance executive and former teacher. It’s been a doozy of a race, including allegations of tax fraud and legal action over a voicemail. There’s also another Democrat in the running, pediatrician Mai Khanh Tran, who’s endorsed by Emily’s List. The field of Republicans running in this race is just as deep as the Democratic side. Three stand out: Shawn Nelson, the Orange County supervisor; Bob Huff, who is the former state Senate minority leader; and Young Kim, who has served in the state Assembly. This Orange County district is prime territory for Democrats to make gains in November, but they’ve failed to get behind a single candidate, and it could result in Democrats getting shut out of the general election altogether. California’s 45th Congressional District: a hotly contested Democratic race to challenge Mimi Walters Four Democrats are looking to earn a top-two slot and challenge incumbent Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. There’s Katie Porter, a UC Irvine law professor, who has endorsed Medicare-for-all and has the support of Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. Dave Min, another UC Irvine law professor, is more moderate and received the endorsement of the California Democratic Party. Brian Forde is an ex-Republican who worked under President Obama, and Kia Hamadanchy is a young Iranian American who has worked for populist Democrats like former Sen. Tom Harkin and current Sen. Sherrod Brown. This is a diversifying Orange County district, where Clinton beat Donald Trump by 5 points in 2016. California’s 48th Congressional District: drunken bar fights, a Putin-adored Republican, and a Kasich-friendly Democrat ... what could go wrong? There’s a highly contested race playing out in Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s coastal district. Rohrabacher, who is expected to make it past the primary, has a surprisingly formidable Republican challenger in Scott Baugh, a former Orange County Republican Party chair who is a longtime friend of Rohrabacher’s. In a field of eight Democrats, two stand out: Harley Rouda, a DCCC and Indivisible-endorsed real estate investor who donated to Republican campaigns as recently as 2016; and Hans Keirstead, a stem cell scientist with a California Democratic Party endorsement who has spent a lot of time trying to fend off 2009 allegations that he slept with his grad students and got into a drunken fistfight. The race is a circus. Clinton eked out a 1-point win in this district in 2016, so Democrats are energized for a potential takeover, but if Baugh does well, there’s a possibility Democrats are going to get shut out of this race altogether. California’s 49th Congressional District: Republicans are just as likely to get shut out as Democrats This is a wide-open race to fill retiring Rep. Darrell Issa’s seat. Four Democrats are in a dead heat: real estate investor Paul Kerr; Sara Jacobs, the CEO of a nonprofit who comes from a wealthy family; environmental lawyer Mike Levin; and retired Marine Col. Doug Applegate. There are a whopping eight Republicans on the ballot too, and no clear winner among the pack. Among the notable candidates are Rocky Chávez, a state Assembly member and retired Marine Corps colonel; Diane Harkey, who used to serve in the state Assembly and has current Rep. Darrell Issa’s endorsement; and Kristin Gaspar, an Orange County supervisor and small-business owner who has Rep. Ed Royce’s endorsement. Issa was considered to be the most vulnerable Republican in the midterms, having won reelection by the slimmest margin in the country; then he dropped out, leaving his Orange County/San Diego County district up for grabs. Clinton won the district by 7.5 points, and with a stacked ballot on both sides of the aisle, the possibility of a Republican shutout is just as likely as a Democratic one. California’s 50th Congressional District: incumbent Duncan Hunter is being investigated by the FBI for campaign fraud Incumbent Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter’s San Diego district is hardly competitive. Registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats 42 percent to 27 percent, and Trump won by 15 points. But Hunter has been dogged by serious legal and ethics scandals, accused of having inappropriate relationships with women, drinking on the job, and other unprofessional conduct, which his office has denied. He’s under investigation by the FBI. And there are two formidable Democratic challengers: retired Navy SEAL Josh Butner, and Ammar Campa-Najjar, who worked in Obama’s Department of Labor. Real estate agent Patrick Malloy, who has run against Hunter in the past, is also in the race. Iowa Iowa governor’s race: a potential referendum on Medicaid privatization Three Democrats are vying for the opportunity to challenge incumbent Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in November. Business owner Fred Hubbell and local labor leader Cathy Glasson are competing in the Democratic primary. Hubbell is the top fundraiser and first in the only poll on the race so far, but Glasson could be a competitive challenger. Reynolds’s signature achievement is probably moving Iowa’s 600,000 Medicaid enrollees into managed care, a privatized version of the program where private health plans administer Medicaid’s benefits. Hubbell wants to reverse that privatization, while Glasson supports a more liberal single-payer option. State Sen. Nate Boulton recently dropped out of the race following sexual misconduct allegations. Iowa’s Third Congressional District: Obamacare could be a big test in this swing district Small-business owner Cindy Axne and former Bernie Sanders campaign aide Pete D’Alessandro are running for chance to challenge Incumbent Republican Rep. David Young. Axne has been endorsed by Emily’s List, while D’Alesandro (no surprise) has Sanders’s support. Cook rates this district R+1 this year, so it definitely has the potential to swing. And there’s a strong health care angle in this race. The Democratic side is a contest between a progressive vision for health care and a more moderate one: Axne is running on fixing Obamacare, while D’Alessandro has fully embraced a platform that includes Medicare-for-all. Montana Montana Senate: millions are being spent in the race to elect a Republican challenger to Sen. Jon Tester There are four Republicans running for the chance to kick out incumbent Democrat Sen. Jon Tester. But the primary has heated up between Montana state auditor Matt Rosendale and retired state Judge Russ Fagg. Trump won Montana by 20 points in 2016, and Tester hasn’t exactly made friends with the president lately, so Republicans are working hard to kick him out. Conservative outside groups are spending millions to boost Rosendale, but it has the potential to backfire in a state where local ties are paramount. Rosendale moved to Montana from Maryland nearly 20 years ago, but Fagg is a fourth-generation Montanan and is painting Rosendale as a carpetbagger. The fact that outside groups are going all in for Rosendale could irk the locals. New Jersey New Jersey Senate: Bob Menendez seeks a third term Incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez is running for reelection, and the only other Democrat on the ballot is community news website publisher Lisa McCormick. As for the Republicans, pharmaceutical executive Bob Hugin, construction company executive Brian Goldberg, and attorney Dana Wefer are all running. Hugin, a self-funder, has poured $7.5 million into his campaign already — he’s expected to win the GOP primary fairly easily. The only reason the general election contest might get interesting in this blue state is that Menendez faced trial last year on corruption charges.<doc-sep>SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Four San Diego City Council districts are in play in Tuesday’s primary election. City Councilman David Alvarez is termed out of his position, while council members Lorie Zapf, Myrtle Cole and Chris Cate are each seeking re-election. Three Democrats are vying for Alvarez's District 8 seat in the technically non-partisan race -- San Ysidro school board member Antonio Martinez, Alvarez staffer Vivian Moreno and Christian Ramirez, human rights director for the social justice group Alliance San Diego. No Republicans are running in the race. Martinez has focused on basics during his campaign, including increased funding for new sidewalks, streetlights and community parks for District 8, which is geographically split to include Sherman Heights and Barrio Logan near downtown as well as Otay Mesa and San Ysidro by the border. Moreno has called for additional housing and transit options, while Ramirez says there should be a greater focus on border communities and social issues, including racial profiling by police. In District 2, which includes beach communities and a section of Clairemont, Zapf, a Republican, will be challenged by UC San Diego employee Jordan Beane, retired doctor Jennifer Campbell and attorney Bryan Pease. All three challengers are Democrats. Other candidates are Republican Kevin Melton and Democrats Randy Hahn and Daniel Smiechowski, though none have approached the fundraising levels of their peers. Zapf says she should be re-elected because of her experience and institutional knowledge. She has cited homelessness, affordable housing and vacation rentals as important issues in her district. Beane, 34, has said he's a better fit for the district's young, progressive inhabitants. Campbell said she would focus on vacation rentals and preserving public recreation spaces, while Pease touted prior experience with issues related to homelessness and tenant rights. As of May 1, party registration totals in District 2 favored Democrats to Republicans by a 32,000 to 22,900 margin. A Democratic win in District 2 would increase the party's council majority from 5-4 to 6-3. Because of voter party affiliation totals, District 4 and 8 will likely remain in Democratic hands. Cole will be challenged in District 4 by former San Diego Housing Commission Chairman Neal Arthur and civil rights lawyer Monica Montgomery, both Democrats, and realtor Tony Villafranca, a Republican who hasn't raised any money. Cole said her re-election would allow the continuation of projects related to infrastructure, housing and economic development. Her district includes many of San Diego's southeastern neighborhoods. Montgomery, whose law career has focused on civil rights, said she has a better idea of what's happening at the grass-roots level in District 4. Arthur, who is also former director of housing for the Urban League of San Diego, touted his experience spearheading affordable housing initiatives. He said the council should be more receptive to the community. In District 6, which includes Mira Mesa, Rancho Penasquitos, Kearny Mesa and most of Clairemont, Cate, a Republican, is being challenged by broadcaster and environmental advocate Tommy Hough as well as lawyer Matt Valenti. Both challengers are Democrats. Independent Jeremiah Blattler and Kevin Egger of the American Solidarity Party are also on the ballot, though neither candidate has raised any money for the race. Cate said voters should re-elect him to a second term so he can continue advocating for pubic safety and infrastructure projects. His opponents have criticized the councilman's ethics. In June, Cate leaked a memo written by City Attorney Mara Elliott to a lobbyist for the proposed SoccerCity development in Mission Valley. The San Diego Ethics Commission fined Cate the maximum amount, though the state attorney general decided not to pursue the matter further. Hough has called for infrastructure rebuilds, finding long-term homelessness solutions and revitalizing civic spaces, such as parks, libraries and police stations. Valenti says he wants more government transparency, less special interest influence and better homelessness solutions. Democrats outnumber Republicans in District 6 by 27,300 to 21,300 as of May 1, giving progressives an opportunity to bolster their council majority. An incumbent council member hasn't lost in San Diego since 1992. Unless a candidate wins an outright majority of votes in Tuesday's primary, the top two finishers from each race will move on to a November runoff.<doc-sep>
June 5 was the biggest primary day of the year — but it may take some time before all the election results are clear. Many of the most-watched races are in California, which closes polls late, counts votes slowly, and uses the unusual “top two” system that means both first- and second-place winners need to be declared — potentially making the proceedings drag on for days. But seven other states went to the polls Tuesday, and many held primaries with national ramifications. New Jersey, an important state in Democrats’ efforts to take over the House of Representatives, chose its nominees in key races. Montana picked a Republican nominee in a key Senate race the national party is watching closely. Iowa, New Mexico, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Dakota held their primaries too. On top of all that, there was another state Senate special election in Missouri that Democrats could celebrate. Here, then, are some key winners and losers for the states other than California that had June 5 primaries. (Update: Takeaways from California’s preliminary results can be found at this link.) Loser: New Jersey Republicans In a state that’s voted consistently Democratic on the presidential level for decades, Republicans have done a decent job winning some important political offices. Not only did Chris Christie serve eight years as New Jersey’s governor, but Republicans have controlled at least five seats of the state’s 12-member congressional delegation since the last redistricting. But all that is in danger in the age of Trump. Democrat Phil Murphy won the governorship last November, and now several GOP-held congressional districts are among Democrats’ top targets in the country. Already, two formidable Republican incumbents who’ve each been in Congress for 24 years — Rep. Frank LoBiondo in the Second District, and Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen in the 11th — chose to retire rather than face tough reelection fights this year. Rep. Leonard Lance, in the Seventh, also faces a difficult battle in a district Hillary Clinton won. Now that the primary results are in, Democrats have gotten the candidates they wanted in these three races. In the Second, they’ll field moderate Jeff Van Drew, who’s represented much of the district for a decade in the state Senate. In the 11th, they’ll put up former Navy pilot and prosecutor Mikie Sherrill, a female veteran who’s been a blockbuster fundraiser. In the Seventh, the nominee will be former Obama State Department official Tom Malinowski. These outcomes aren’t really surprising. New Jersey has an unusual primary ballot rule in which the county party’s endorsement is actually printed on the ballot, which gives a big boost to candidates with the party’s backing. Still, the party has its preferred nominees, and the national consequences could be big because New Jersey’s House Republicans look likely to face their toughest election races in decades. Loser: anti-corruption Democrats Since his indictment on corruption charges in 2015, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has been under a cloud. Accused of using his Senate office to do favors for a wealthy Florida eye doctor in exchange for private jet flights and fancy vacation accommodations, Menendez stepped aside as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As his trial approached in 2017, there seemed to be a high chance that, whatever the outcome, he wouldn’t run for another term. But in November of last year, jurors couldn’t unanimously agree on a verdict for any of the charges against Menendez. So a mistrial was declared, and the Justice Department ended up dropping the case rather than trying to prosecute him again. Menendez soon got his foreign relations post back and announced he’d run for a third full term. You might think, then, that Menendez would have drawn a primary challenger running on an anti-corruption (or at least an “I have never been indicted”) platform. But, of course, this is New Jersey we’re talking about, and the state’s hierarchical Democratic machine remained united behind him. One primary challenger quit the race after failing to raise much money, and Menendez was left with only one little-known opponent, community news website publisher Lisa McCormick, who hadn’t disclosed raising or spending any money at the time of the last campaign finance filing deadline. Menendez won, of course, but his win wasn’t particularly impressive — at press time, he had 62 percent of the vote to McCormick’s 38 percent. If he had drawn a serious opponent, would he have lost renomination? We’ll never know.