August 2 Primary: Key House Races

By Keith C. Smith On Aug 2, 2022

The new maps of Arizona, Michigan and Washington were drawn by redistricting commissions. The Republicans had control of the route of the lines in Kansas and Missouri.

Here’s a look at the major House primaries we watch on Tuesday:

Arizona

Republicans are considering pickup opportunities in several districts that have become more party-friendly under the new map.

In the new 2nd District, which Trump would have carried by 8 points in 2020, several Republicans are challenging Democratic Representative Tom O’Halleran. They include Navy veteran Eli Crane, who has Trump’s endorsement; State Representative Walt Blackman, an Army veteran and the first black Republican elected to the Arizona legislature; and business consultant Mark DeLuzio.

New 6th District, which Joe Biden would have won by just a tenth of a point, is a successor seat in southeast Arizona to the one vacated by retired Democratic Representative Ann Kirkpatrick. The GOP frontrunner is Juan Ciscomani, who worked at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Tucson and served as a senior adviser to Gov. Doug Ducey. Key Democratic hopefuls include former state Sen. Kirsten Engel, who has Kirkpatrick’s endorsement, and state Rep. Daniel Hernandez, who was an intern for Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords in 2011 when he helped save her life after she was seriously injured in a shootout outside. a grocery store in Tucson.

Republicans are also targeting Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton in the Phoenix area 4th District, which Biden would have carried by 10 points. Leading GOP contenders include Tanya Contreras Wheeless, a former Phoenix Suns leader who has leadership PAC support from House GOP conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik and Navy veteran Kelly Cooper.

Meanwhile, in the new 1st DistrictAlso in the Phoenix area, six-term Rep. David Schweikert, who had previously been reprimanded by the House for ethics violations, faces a tough challenge from businessman Elijah Norton, who attacked the holder for his ethics issues and had loaned more than $4.3 million to his campaign as of July 13. Democrats are targeting that seat, which Trump would have won by less than 2 points. Their top prospects include community leader Jevin Hodge, who is part of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program for promising recruits, and former Phoenix Suns executive Adam Metzendorf.

Kansas

Two-term Rep. Sharice Davids — who made history in 2018 as one of the first Native American women elected to Congress — is the only Democrat in the Kansas delegation and saw her Kansas City area 3rd District go from a Biden carried by 11 points in 2020 to one who would have backed him by 4 points. Davids likely faces a rematch with former Kansas GOP chairwoman Amanda Adkins, who attends the National Republican Congressional Committee’s Young Guns program for tough recruits.

Michigan

Michigan’s new Citizens’ Redistricting Commission produced a congressional map that was considered more representative of the purple state.

Democratic prospects have improved in the Grand Rapids area 3rd District, which Biden would have carried by about 9 points. Rep. Peter Meijer, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 uprising on the U.S. Capitol, faces a fierce primary challenge from Trump-backed John Gibbs, a former official of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. The House Democratic campaign arm has recently drawn criticism within the party for running ads touting Gibbs, whom it sees as a weaker opponent in the general election. Hillary Scholten, a lawyer who lost to Meijer in 2020, is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

The redesigned 11th District in suburban Detroit features a member-vs.-member Democratic primary between Representatives Haley Stevens and Andy Levin. The race has become one of the main battlegrounds for the party’s evolving divide over Israel and overlapping debates over the Democrats’ broader ideological direction. Levin, who is Jewish, has support from the campaign arm of J-Street, a moderate ‘pro-Israel, pro-peace’ group, while Stevens, who is not Jewish, has benefited from spending by United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the more hawkish American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Top Democrats weighed in on the race, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsing Stevens and Levin gaining backing from the senses. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. The winner would be heavily favored in the fall in a district that would have backed Biden by 20 points.

Republicans, meanwhile, have their sights set on three seats in Michigan.

In the new 10th District, a suburban Detroit seat that would have backed Trump by one point in 2020, Army veteran John James, who lost tighter-than-expected races for the U.S. Senate in 2018 and 2020, is the frontrunner to the GOP nomination. James is part of the NRCC’s Young Guns program and has Trump’s endorsement. Among the Democrats seeking the seat are former district attorney and local judge Carl Marlinga, lawyer and Palestinian rights activist Huwaida Arraf and Warren City Council member Angela Rogensues.

The GOP is also targeting Democratic representatives. Elissa Slotkin in the new Lansing-grounded 7th district and Dan Kildee in the new 8th District, which includes Flint. State Senator Tom Barrett is the only Republican looking to challenge Slotkin, while three Republicans are competing to take on Kildee. Biden would have narrowly won both seats.

Meanwhile, two Detroit-area dark blue seats have competitive Democratic primaries. In the new 12th District, Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a member of the House Progressive ‘squad’, faces Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, Lathrup Village Mayor Kelly Garrett and former Rep. of the state, Shanelle Jackson. Outdoors 13th District, leading Democrats include State Senator Adam Hollier, an Army veteran; Michigan Civil Rights Commission Chairperson Portia Roberson, who has the endorsement of outgoing Detroit Area Representative Brenda Lawrence; and self-funded state representative Shri Thanedar, who ran for governor in 2018.

Missouri

With no swing seats in Missouri, the GOP’s 6-2 advantage in the state’s U.S. House delegation is likely to hold in November. But there are several competitive primaries.

In the deep blue anchored in Saint-Louis 1st District, Democratic Representative Cori Bush, who toppled an incumbent in the last primary cycle, faces several intraparty challengers on Tuesday, including State Senator Steve Roberts. Bush, who captured national attention as a member of the House’s progressive “squad,” holds a strong fundraising advantage in the race.

With GOP Reps. Vicky Hartzler and Billy Long vying for the U.S. Senate, the dark red seats they are vacating have generated a lot of interest. Among Republicans seeking to succeed Hartzler in the 4th district, which includes parts of western and central Missouri, are Navy veteran and former Boone County Clerk Taylor Burks, former television news anchor Mark Alford, State Senator Rick Brattin and farmer and CPA Kalena Bruce, who has the endorsement of Governor Mike Parson. GOP hopes for Long’s 7th district seat in southwest Missouri includes former state senator Jay Wasson and sitting state senators Eric Burlison and Mike Moon.

Washington

Two House Republicans in Evergreen State, who were part of so-called impeachment 10, also face major challengers endorsed by Trump on Tuesday. But Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse’s chances of survival could be higher than Meijer’s under Washington state’s open primary system, which sees all candidates run in the same ballot, regardless of party. , with the first two voters advancing to November.

Herrera Beutler is seeking a seventh term in the 3rd District, a Southwest Washington seat that Trump would have raised by 4 points in 2020. Army veteran Joe Kent, another Republican who has Trump’s backing, said the 2020 election was stolen and made the incumbent president’s vote for impeachment a focal point of his campaign. Other candidates on the ballot include author Heidi St. John and state Rep. Vicki Kraft, both Republicans, and Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, an auto repair shop owner.

In central Washington’s 4th District, Trump has endorsed Army veteran Loren Culp to take on Newhouse, who is seeking a fifth term. Culp was the GOP candidate for governor of Washington in 2020 and although he lost by more than 500,000 votes, he refused to concede, repeating campaign lies similar to those of the former president. Newhouse holds a significant fundraising advantage over his opponents, who also include Navy veteran and former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler, a Republican, and businessman Doug White, a Democrat.

And two-term Rep. Kim Schrier is again a GOP target in the 8th District, east of Seattle, which Biden would have carried by 7 points. His Republican challengers include Army veteran Jesse Jensen, who lost to Schrier by less than 4 points in 2020; Matt Larkin, who unsuccessfully ran for state attorney general in 2020; and King County Councilman Reagan Dunn, whose mother, the late Rep. Jennifer Dunn, represented an earlier version of the district.

CNN’s Renée Rigdon contributed to this report.