Roll down the window, put down the top, crank up the Beach Boys, baby, don’t let Spencer Pratt stop …
Welcome to our Super Tuesday primary coverage special! As usual, we’re partnering with our friends at Decision Desk HQ to provide live results on ballot counts after polls close in states from coast to coast. Polls close in New Jersey at 8 pm ET, in California at 11 pm ET, and the other states will close their precincts between those two times. We should get results back fairly quickly from everywhere but California, which will take several weeks to receive and count the ballots, so don’t stay up late tonight expecting a firm result from La-La Land.
Still, California Dreamin’ will dominate interest in contests today. Voters in Los Angeles have to choose between Pratt, incumbent disaster Karen Bass, councilmember Nithiya Raman, plus a cast of other fringies. Don’t let the initial listings fool you; the widget is arranged by alphabetical order on first names until the first votes get counted. All primaries in Caifornia are “jungle” format, so the top two candidates will have a runoff in November in each of these contests. For LA Mayor, polls leave open three potential outcomes, none of which predict one candidate getting 50%+1 in this round. Right now, the best odds are on a Bass-Pratt runoff, but that’s not a lock. Too bad we’ll have to wait until the end of July to be certain.
Also in California, the gubernatorial election looked spicy up until a few weeks ago, when the possibility for an all-GOP runoff seemed significant, if still a bit of a reach. With Eric the Pred Swalwell out of the way, Democrats seem to be rallying to Xavier Becerra, while Republicans have flocked to Donald Trump-endorsed Steve Hilton. Again, the polling is close on this race, so we probably won’t have solid enough results for another five or six weeks for certainty on the outcome. Tom Steyer has made a late move in polling there too, so Republicans could still find themselves locked out of the general election.
We may get a real result out of New Jersey’s 12th CD tonight, though, where Adam Hamawy has received the big endorsements, despite his connections to the Blind Sheikh and al-Qaeda. DDHQ has this to say about the NJ-12 race:
Democrats also have a big primary in the solidly blue 12th District, where Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman is retiring. A whopping 13 candidates are on the ballot. The frontrunner is plastic surgeon Adam Hamawy, a progressive former Army physician who saved the life of now-Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois in Iraq (she’s endorsed him). He leads the field with $1.0 million raised and has benefited from $1.6 million in outside support from American Priorities, a super PAC that supports progressive Democrats who are critical of Israel.
Still, the Egyptian-born Hamawy has attracted scrutiny over some connections from his past. This includes volunteering for a medical association in Bosnia in the mid-1990s that later was found to have ties to Al-Qaida, and a relationship with Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as “The Blind Sheikh,” who was convicted for his role in the 1993 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Hamawy’s foremost opponent may be former state Working Family Party leader Sue Altman, a fellow progressive who lost in 2024 against Kean as the 7th District Democratic nominee. Helpfully for Hamawy, local county organizations split their support among four other candidates.
Over in Iowa, both parties have a wide-open shot at a US Senate seat, but it looks as though Ashley Hinson will win the GOP nomination to replace Joni Ernst. Two Democrat state legislators will fight it out for the nomination, state Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls:
Some establishment Democrats argue Turek is more electable. Born with spina bifida, Turek is a two-time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball, and he’s twice won a Trump-leaning state House district. For his part, Wahls represents a dark-blue seat around Iowa City, the most heavily Democratic turf in Iowa. Raised by lesbian parents, Wahls came to prominence in 2011 as a 19-year old college student, when his testimony against a proposed gay marriage ban in Iowa’s legislature went viral.
The two candidates have raised similar amounts, but Turek’s outside support from VoteVets — nearly $10 million — could be a difference-maker. Wahls has argued that money is linked to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, which Schumer and VoteVets deny. The most recent surveys of the race find Turek leading Wahls, though with caveat that each was sponsored by VoteVets or Turek’s campaign. While Turek is not a veteran, his spina bifida is a byproduct of his father’s exposure to Agent Orange while serving in the Vietnam War.
Iowa went GOP two years ago by over 13 points, so the odds are long for either man to win in November. Iowa also has an open gubernatorial seat, with the GOP fighting it out while Democrats have former auditor Rob Sand running unopposed for the nomination. Trump has endorsed congressman Randy Feenstra, but this is a five-way race that might produce a surprise.
Be sure to read all of DDHQ’s notes on tonight’s primary. A week from tonight, we’ll got to Maine, South Carolina, North Dakota, and Nevada. Tonight, though, we love LA … and hope LA still loves itself.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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