Congressional primaries next week in Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina and Virginia feature half a dozen open seats and a few toss up districts which will be closely watched by both parties. Remember that in districts where one party has a stronghold, primaries with an open seat essentially function as general elections because the individual who wins the primary for his or her party is highly likely to go on to win the general in November.

Maine

Independent Senator Angus King, the incumbent, has raised over $4 million and is supposed to be a safe shoo-in to keep his seat, according to projections by University of Virginia’s Center for Politics (Sabato’s Crystal Ball) and Cook Political Report. King typically votes with the Democratic caucus in the Senate.

On the House side, there’s a three-way contest amongst the Democrats in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. Jared Golden raised the most with over $750,000.

Incumbent Bruce Poliquin in the 2nd Congressional District will lead the Republican charge after running unopposed and raising a massive haul of over $2.6 million but only spending a little over $300,000 so far. The district leans Republican according to Cook and Sabato.

Nevada

One of the biggest battles in the Senate is being waged in this toss up state with the two Democrats Jacky Rosen and Jesse Sbaih raising $7.1 million and $2.1 million respectively for their primary fight. Senator Dean Heller, the Republican incumbent out raised both of them with $9.3 million and is expected to sail through his primary next week. It’s anyone’s guess who will win in November. Heller has benefited from another $1.5 million in outside spending from the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade association for American chemical companies.

On the House side, there are two open seats in the 3rd and 4th Districts that ‘lean’ blue according to Cook and Sabato. There’s a multitude of candidates in running on both sides in each district with Susie Lee leading the 3rd District race on the Democratic side with $1.4 million raised and Danny Tarkanian at the top of the Republican pile with $1.1 million raised.

The 3rd District is open because the incumbent Jacky Rosen has her sights set on higher office in the Senate. In the 4th District, Congressman Ruben Kihuen (D) announced last December that he would not seek re-election following reports that he had solicited sexual favors from a female staffer. Steven Horsford, the leading candidate in the Democratic field in the 4th District, has raised $359,899 and also benefited from $340,143 in outside spending from UNITE HERE, a labor union representing U.S. and Canadian workers.

North Dakota

Senate Democrat Heidi Heitkamp’s can head to bed early on Tuesday, she’s unopposed in the primary. Republican Kevin Cramer is expected to win the nomination on his side. With $9.7 million in her war chest, Heitkamp raised more than three times as much as Cramer who raised $2.4 million so far. CNN listed this race as one of the 10 U.S. Senate seats it considered most likely to flip red in 2018. Heitkamp has benefitted from another $678,691 in outside spending from the American Chemistry Council and the liberal Senate Majority PAC.

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The sole Congressional District in the state is a safe Republican seat with Kelly Armstrong leading the charge of Republicans looking to fill the open seat that Kevin Cramer is vacating. Armstrong raised close to a million dollars with no real opposition on the Republican side. Look for her to lock the seat down in November after winning the primary next week.

South Carolina

Trey Gowdy in the 4th Congressional District is leaving politics to pursue a legal career. He is the current chairman of the House Oversight Committee and former chair of the Select Committee on Benghazi, which was partly responsible for discovering Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Over a dozen fellow Republicans have tossed their hats into the ring to replace him in this safe Republican seat. Will Timmons leads the Republican pack in fundraising with $667,275 raised. Another top Republican candidate is Daniel Hamilton, who raised $219,201.Both Hamilton and Timmons have each had a little over $182,000 spent by an outside group in opposition to their campaigns. The opposition came from the Club for Growth Action, a conservative super PAC.

Virginia

There are two particularly hot open races in the Old Dominion state this year, in the 5th and 6th Congressional Districts — the 5th district leans Republican and the 6th is a red safe seat.

In the 5th District Republican state leaders and activists chose Denver Riggleman to be the Republican nominee on June 2, just days before the primary next week. Riggleman was chosen amidst a chaotic scramble that ensued less than a week after incumbent Congressman Thomas Garrett (R) abruptly abandoned his reelection bid amidst a servant scandal and revelations that he was an alcoholic. Having just entered the race, Riggleman doesn’t have any reported money raised thus far. Leslie Cockburn is running unopposed on the Democratic side and has raised $715,038, so far.

In the 6th District Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R) is retiring after serving for over 25 years in the House. A number of Republicans have entered the rink to replace him with Ben Cline leading the pack in terms of fundraising with $268,788.

Another important district to look out for is the 10th District with Republican Barbara Comstock in power the moment. Comstock is one of few Republicans in 2016 that managed to keep her seat in a district that Hillary Clinton carried in the presidential election — needless to say it’s a toss-up district. Comstock looks poised to win the primary after a $3.2 million fundraising haul. Comstock has benefited from another $370,675 in outside spending, most of it from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

On the Democratic side Alison Friedman, Daniel Helmer and Jennifer Wexton lead the blue side with over a million dollars raised by each candidate.

In the Senate, Senator Tim Kaine looks to cruise to victory in his uncontested primary with a humongous haul of $16.8 million raised so far. Kaine is preparing to face off against one of the three Republicans that are dueling it out for the Republican nomination next week.



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