After nearly five months and more than 100 primaries and caucuses, the 2024 presidential nominating season concludes this month.
Voters in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and Washington, D.C., will head to the polls on Tuesday for both the presidential election and their state primaries. Voters in Iowa, which has already held its presidential caucuses, will vote in its state primary.
The White House nominating schedule ends in four days, with Democratic caucuses to be held in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands on June 8.
President Biden and former President Trump won the Democratic and Republican nominations nearly three months ago, but there is still drama to come in the final selection process.
The verdict is in, the criminal trial is over, and Trump is “set free”
President Biden and former President Trump (AP Photo/Julia Nickinson and Evan Vucci)
Tuesday’s Republican primary election is the first since Trump was convicted in a criminal trial in New York City, making history as the first former and sitting president to be convicted of a felony.
It also marks the first Republican presidential contest since Trump’s last rival, former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, said she would vote for Trump in the general election after months of silence.
After months of silence, here’s what Nikki Haley said about Trump
Haley, who suspended her campaign in early March and is essentially a zombie candidate, continues to receive as much as 20% of the vote in Republican presidential primaries. She is scheduled to appear on the New Mexico primary ballot.
The president is likely to continue to face protest votes through the “undecided” option on the ballot as part of a protest against his support for Israel in its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Tuesday’s primary elections kick off the battle for the Senate majority
Three states are holding Senate primaries that will set up general election showdowns that could determine whether Republicans regain control of the Senate.
In reliably Republican Montana, Tim Sheehy has won the GOP nomination for Senate and is the favorite to challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in November.
Tester has come under fierce attack from Republicans, who see him as extremely vulnerable in a state that Trump won by 16 points four years ago.
Sheehy, a decorated military veteran and successful businessman who has the backing of both President Trump and the Republican Senatorial Committee, the Republican Senate campaign arm, will face off against two rivals on Tuesday.
Democratic Senator Jon Tester and Republican Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy (Kevin Dietsch/Louise Johns)
It was the first time in 22 years that a Republican won a Senate election in New Mexico, once a swing state but now dominated by Democrats.
The last Republican politician to win was Senator Pete Domenici, who was re-elected to a sixth term in 2002.
Now, 22 years later, his daughter, businesswoman Nella Domenici, is looking to end the losing streak.
Domenici, a longtime finance industry veteran who served as chief financial officer for Bridgewater Associates, will use his strong political brand and deep name recognition in New Mexico to challenge Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, who is running for a third six-year term in November.
Neither candidate faces a significant challenge in Tuesday’s primary.
Six Senate seats Republicans are hoping to win back in November’s elections
It’s been more than half a century since a Republican won a Senate election in Democratic-leaning New Jersey.
But Republicans believe they have a chance of winning this time.
A key reason for the optimism is the prospect of a three-way race in New Jersey. Longtime Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who is on trial on federal corruption charges, is not running for reelection as a Democrat. On Monday, Menendez filed a petition with about 2,500 signatures to run for reelection as an independent. Polls suggest the embattled senator’s independent run could sap votes from Rep. Andy Kim, the leading Democratic contender for the Senate seat.
Sen. Bob Menendez leaves the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Kim, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, will face off in the primary against labor union leader Patricia Campos Medina and activist Lawrence Hamm.
The Republican primary will be a test of Trump’s enormous influence in what is expected to be a fiercely contested GOP primary.
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Mendham Borough President Christine Serrano Glassner received an endorsement from Trump at a large rally he held in Wildwood, New Jersey, a few weeks ago.
Real estate developer and hotelier Curtis Bashaw is the leading fundraiser in the race for the Republican nomination.
He also holds the edge in primary election votes, as he controls two-thirds of the state’s 21 counties.
New Jersey has long allowed counties to print ballots marked along party lines, a practice widely seen as favoring establishment candidates. Kim sued in federal court to overturn county lines in the Democratic primary, but Republican county lines were upheld.
Navy veteran Albert Harshaw and former Tabernacle Vice Mayor Justin Murphy are also running in the Republican Senate primary.
Get the latest 2024 election campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
