ATLANTA (AP) — Four states will cast ballots Tuesday as the 2018 midterm elections take shape. Voters in Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky hold primaries, while Texans settle several primary runoffs after their first round of voting in March. Some noteworthy story lines:
IN THIS #METOO MIDTERM, A BIG DAY FOR WOMEN
Texans will settle an all-female congressional runoff between liberal activist Laura Moser and Houston attorney Lizzie Fletcher in a Houston-area House race that has become a proxy for the Democratic Party’s battle over style and substance. The winner faces Republican Rep. John Culberson in the fall.
Women also could claim nominations in two other Texas congressional districts on Democrats’ national target list. In the metro-Dallas district now represented by Republican Pete Sessions, it’s attorney Lillian Salerno vs. attorney Colin Allred. Both are former Obama administration officials; Allred’s also a former player for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. In a San Antonio-Mexican border district, Gina Ortiz Jones is vying to become the first openly lesbian Latina congresswoman from her state.
The three Texas districts are among the 25 nationally where President Donald Trump ran behind Hillary Clinton in 2016. Democrats must flip 24 GOP-held seats for a House majority.
In Georgia, Democrats will tap either Stacey Abrams or Stacey Evans as the state’s first female nominee for governor from either major party. If Abrams ultimately were to prevail in November, she’d become the first black female governor in any state capital.
GOP MELEE IN GEORGIA
Georgia’s Republican candidates for governor have engaged in a sprint to the right on everything from immigration to bear-hugging Trump.
Secretary of State Brian Kemp set the curve with his home-stretch ads. In one, he wields a shotgun alongside a young male suitor of the candidate’s teenage daughter. Another features an explosion (what Kemp says he does to government spending), a chain saw (he’ll use it to cut regulations), and Kemp driving a pickup truck (which he says might come in handy to “round up criminal illegals”)....
Michael Williams, a state senator lagging badly in public polls, followed suit by campaigning with a “deportation bus.” When it broke down — literally — he suggested leftists had put water in the gas tank.Kemp is trying to secure a second-place finish to qualify for a likely runoff against Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who has GOP business establishment support but also touts his determination to “protect” Georgians from “criminal illegal aliens.”The question is whether Cagle leads by enough to suggest that he’s a clear runoff favorite. A second round between Cagle and Kemp could escalate the rhetoric and spook Georgia Republicans accustomed to more centrist, business-aligned politicians who rarely flout Atlanta-based behemoths like Delta and Coca-Cola. Some of those GOP figures worry the gamesmanship already has ensured Georgia won’t land Amazon’s second headquarters.A HEALTH CARE PREVIEW IN ARKANSASWhile Washington fixates on the daily glut of developments in the Russia election meddling investigation, Democratic congressional candidates insist