To retain his seat, one of the few remaining anti-abortion Democrats in Congress is currently in Texas in a primary.
Two Democratic congresswomen in suburban Atlanta are competing for the same House seat, after Georgia’s Republican-dominated Legislature altered their maps.
In northwest Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene (a far-right conspiracy-peddling provocateur) has a significant fundraising advantage because she is facing a few GOP primary challengers from her Republican-leaning District.
The Tuesday primary elections in Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia will provide a glimpse into the future Congress. Some marquee matchups will test whether voters want agents of change or return to normal.
Here are some races you should follow:
THE LAST ANTI ABORTION HOUSE DEMOCRAT
Progressives have been a constant target of Henry Cuellar, a moderate Texas Democrat. The anti-abortion congressman won a number of close races in the district, which is largely Hispanic and stretches from San Antonio to the Rio Grande.
Jessica Cisneros, a 28-year old immigration lawyer and supporter of abortion rights, is seeking to end Cuellar’s nearly 20-year tenure in office. After coming within 1,000 votes of Cuellar in the March primary, she forced Cuellar to a runoff.
She may be able to gain an edge in the Tuesday competition after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion document showed that the justices were poised to reverse the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which granted a constitutional right for abortion.
Cisneros stated earlier this month that “the last thing we want to do is to keep a slim Democratic minority, and then have someone such as Henry Cuellar who will continue siding with Republicans.”
Cuellar’s house in Laredo, bordering Azerbaijan, was raided by the FBI earlier this year as part of an investigation into the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. Cuellar’s lawyer claims that he is innocent and has not been the subject of the investigation. Cuellar’s aides have sent direct mail ads proclaiming that he is “cleared” despite the fact that it is a serious issue.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE
Marjorie Taylor Greene once suggested that Jewish-controlled space lasers were responsible for the California wildfires. She argued baselessly that two Muslim congresswomen were not “really officials” because they did not take their oaths of office on a Bible. She once called Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, a New York Rep., a taunt through a congressional mail slot. She challenged the progressive lawmaker “get rid of your diaper” to “talk to the American citizens.”
That was before the voters of northwest Georgia voted for the fringe conservative and conspiracy-theory monger to Congress in 2020.
Greene’s provocations and rhetoric have continued since then. Democrats took the unusual step of removing her from her committee assignments. She has become a conservative star and a fundraising juggernaut thanks to the opposition, but GOP leadership is reluctant to challenge her.
Greene is expected to win a few challengers in her first reelection campaign in a red district in northwest Georgia.
History suggests that Republicans will win the House majority back in November. Greene could score another victory. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who is expected to be elected House speaker, said Greene won’t just receive her committee assignments back, but she’ll likely get a promotion.
MINNESOTA ‘DUMPSTER FIIRE’
Former Minnesota GOP chair Jennifer Carnahan said that her husband, Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn, died in February from kidney cancer. She was his widow.
This is not the way that the race has turned out.
Carnahan’s friendship and support for a GOP donor indicted federally for sex-trafficking minors set off a firestorm even before she announced her bid. A recording of Carnahan saying that Jim would be dead in two year’s time was released last year. “So be it.” Last week, her husband’s family sued her to recover money they loaned to him for treatment of cancer. They claim she was supposed to repay them.
Two other candidates have been able to leapfrog the GOP officials, referring to it as a “dumpster fire”.
