CNN Projection: Democrat Peter Welch will face Republican Gerald Malloy in Vermont Senate race
From CNN staff
Rep. Peter Welch walks up the steps of the Capitol on April 28. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images)
Rep. Peter Welch will win Vermont's Democratic Senate primary, CNN projects, and will face Republican nominee Gerald Malloy in the general election in November.
Both candidates defeated two other challengers in each of their primaries on Tuesday.
The candidates are running to fill retiring Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy’s seat.
Welch, who has held the state’s at-large congressional seat since 2006, announced his run for Senate last year after Leahy said he would be retiring at the end of the term.
Welch is a chief deputy whip of the House Democratic Caucus and has pushed for energy reform.
11:26 p.m. ET, August 9, 2022
CNN Projection: Rep. Ilhan Omar will win Democratic nomination for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District
From CNN Eric Bradner's
Rep. Ilhan Omar waves during a voter engagement event on the corner of Broadway and Central Avenues in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Tuesday, August 9. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune/AP)
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar survived a primary challenge Tuesday, CNN projects — but barely, and the narrow result could encourage critics of the progressive "squad" member to try again in two years.
Omar, who is running for a third term in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, overcame a primary challenge from former Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels and three other Democratic primary candidates, CNN projects.
Democrats currently control four out of the state's eight US House seats to three for the Republicans and one vacancy.
Samuels had run as a pro-police critic of Omar's calls to "defund the police." Samuels and his wife successfully sued the city of Minneapolis to force it to increase police staffing levels to the 741 officers required by the city's charter.
Momentum behind what had been widely seen as a long-shot challenge built after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey endorsed Samuels last week. He was also backed by building trades unions, several suburban mayors and more moderate DFL leaders. His close call could inspire another effort to oust Omar in 2024.
Omar's victory comes the week after after two other liberal members of the "squad," Missouri Rep. Cori Bush and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, also beat back primary challenges.
10:55 p.m. ET, August 9, 2022
CNN Projection: GOP Tim Rogers will face incumbent Democrat Gwen Moore in Wisconsin's 4th District
From CNN staff
(From Rogers for Wisconsin)
Tim Rogers will win the Republican nomination in Wisconsin's 4th Congressional District, CNN projects, and face incumbent Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore in November. Moore is seeking a 10th term.
Rogers defeated GOP challenger Travis Clark and Moore ran unopposed. Republicans currently control five of the state’s eight US House seats.
10:07 p.m. ET, August 9, 2022
CNN Projection: Democrat Keith Ellison will face Republican Jim Schultz for Minnesota attorney general
From CNN staff
(Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune/AP)
Incumbent Keith Ellison will win the Democratic nomination for Minnesota attorney general, CNN projects, and face Republican nominee Jim Schultz in November.
10:07 p.m. ET, August 9, 2022
Trump privately tells Republicans he's "made up his mind" on 2024
From CNN's Melanie Zanona
Former US President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas on August 6. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
As another round of primaries unfolds in key states tonight, former President Donald Trump told a group of House Republicans during a dinner at his Bedminster golf club this evening that he’s “made up his mind” about launching a 2024 presidential bid, it’s just a matter of “when” he announces it, according to Rep. Jim Banks, who attended the gathering.
The group of 12 Republicans, all members of the conservative Republican Study Committee, encouraged Trump to run “sooner than later,” Banks said, who described Trump as being “upbeat,” “fired up,” and “not fazed at all” by the recent FBI search on his Florida property.
“He received a great deal of encouragement in the room to run. He told us that his is mind up made, it’s just a timing of when he will make that announcement,” Banks told CNN. “My sense is he is fired up and ready to go. And he received a lot of encouragement in the room to get out sooner than later.”
CNN reported earlier this evening how Trump’s allies have been urging him to speed up his presidential bid, including some who had previously advised him to wait until after the midterms.
During the dinner, which had been planned weeks ago, they also discussed their oversight and investigation plans into the Department of Justice if Republicans win the majority. They specifically talked about what Rep. Jim Jordan, who is in line to chair the House Judiciary Committee, could do on “day one” to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland “accountable” and “demand answers about what happened last night at Mar-a-Lago,” Banks said.
“It has emboldened Republicans. It has unified Republicans,” Banks said, who also noted the FBI’s seizure of GOP Rep. Scott Perry’s cell phone.
Trump also touted some of his recent victories taking down the House Republicans who voted to impeach him, and told lawmakers he is looking forward to Tuesday, when Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming will face off against a Trump-backed challenger in a primary, according to Banks.
11:14 p.m. ET, August 9, 2022
CNN Projection: Democrat Sara Rodriguez will face Republican Roger Roth for Wisconsin lieutenant governor
From CNN staff
(From Sara Rodriguez/Facebook)
Sara Rodriguez will win Wisconsin's Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, CNN projects, and will face Republican Roger Roth in November.
Roth beat out a crowded field of GOP primary challengers.
10:00 p.m. ET, August 9, 2022
CNN Projection: Scott Jensen will win Minnesota GOP governor primary and face Democrat Tim Walz in the fall
From CNN's Eric Bradner, Dan Merica and Gregory Krieg
Scott Jensen speaks at a news conference outside the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 9. (Steve Karnowski/AP)
Scott Jensen will win Minnesota's GOP gubernatorial primary, CNN projects, and face incumbent Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in November.
The doctor and former state senator was facing off against Joyce Lynne Lacey and Bob "Again" Carney Jr.
Jensen is a fierce critic of Walz's initial Covid-19 response and, at a recent forum, called the incumbent's mitigation measures at the beginning of the pandemic an "abomination of government overreach."
Jensen's past remarks downplaying Covid, including a past assertion that hospitals were inflating the number of cases to collect more stimulus money, was cited in PolitiFact's post on its 2020 "Lie of the Year." He also touted his unvaccinated status over the past year as he rose to greater political prominence, sowing doubts over the safety and efficacy of the shots.
Jensen has also been an outspoken critic of abortion, an issue that is certain to be at the forefront of Democratic efforts to define him as too extreme after abortion rights supporters scored a notable victory in Kansas earlier this month. Jensen appeared to soften his position on abortion in late July, saying in a taped video that he supports allowing abortions for victims of rape or incest or if the life of the mother is threatened. He told Minnesota Public Radio in March that he would "try to ban abortion" as governor.
Walz has been attacking Jensen's abortion stance for weeks, framing the general election as a referendum on the issue. "This isn't a nuanced position between myself and my opponent," Walz said in June. "This is far as the Grand Canyon could be in how we view women and how we view health care."
3:07 a.m. ET, August 10, 2022
CNN Projection: Republican Finstad and Democrat Ettinger will be November nominees in Minnesota’s 1st District
From CNN staff
(Mark Zdechlik/Minnesota Public Radio/AP)
While the race to immediately fill a US House seat in Minnesota remains up in the air, two candidates know they will face off again and the question is which one of them will be the incumbent when voters go to the polls once more in November.
CNN projects that Republican Brad Finstad and Democrat Jeff Ettinger will be the nominees for November in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District.
The two candidates prevailed in their respective primaries Tuesday while also facing each other in a special election to fill the remainder of the current term. The seat was previously held by GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died earlier this year after battling cancer.
Finstad was a member of the Minnesota state House from 2003 to 2009 and served as director of USDA Rural Development for Minnesota in the Trump administration. Ettinger is the former CEO of SPAM manufacturer Hormel Foods, a company with deep roots in this southern Minnesota district.
Democrats currently control four out of the state’s eight US House seats to three for the Republicans. There is also currently the vacancy for the first district pending a winner in today's special election.
11:26 p.m. ET, August 9, 2022
CNN Projection: Democrat Steve Simon will face Republican Kim Crockett in Minnesota secretary of state race
From CNN staff
Steve Simon addresses questions from public observers before a public accuracy test of voting equipment on August 3 in Burnsville, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Incumbent Steve Simon will win the Democratic nomination for Minnesota secretary of state, CNN projects, and face Republican nominee Kim Crockett in November.
