Moderate David Crowley and Democratic socialist Francesca Hong face tight race for Wisconsin governor primary – live

Norman, a hardline conservative who has served in the US House of Representatives since 2017, is projected to advance in the Republican senate runoff against Darline Graham.

A wealthy real estate developer and a prominent member of the House Freedom caucus, Norman ran unsuccessfully for South Carolina governor earlier this year. That campaign gave Norman statewide name recognition boosting his campaign for the Senate, after Lindsay Graham’s death.

As a reminder, here are the big races we’re watching tonight:

In Wisconsin, Democratic socialist Francesca Hong emerged as a frontrunner in a crowded primary for the Democratic nomination for governor after current governor Tony Evers decided not to seek a rare third term. Hong’s campaign built a grassroots army, though in recent weeks, national headlines have focused on her past tweets, including ones about defunding the police and canceling Thanksgiving, positions she no longer holds.

Evers endorsed David Crowley, the Milwaukee county executive, who previously left and then reentered the race and centered his bid on being more electable in a swing state. Kelda Roys, a state senator, and Joel Brennan, a former head of the state administration department, round out the field.

In Minnesota, both sides of the aisle have big primaries. In the Democratic race for an open US senate seat, Peggy Flanagan, the progressive lieutenant governor, faces US representative Angie Craig, a moderate. Flanagan has hit Craig on immigration enforcement, a major factor for voters in a state ravaged by federal agents. Michele Tafoya, a former NFL broadcaster, is favored to win the Republican nod for the seat.

And Republicans in Minnesota will decide whether to follow Trump’s endorsement and vote for pillow salesman and election denier Mike Lindell in the governor’s race. He is running against House speaker Lisa Demuth and businessman Kendall Qualls.

Amy Klobuchar, the US senator, is the likely winner for Democrats for the governor’s race.

As we watch for election results tonight, we’re also following news that a federal judge blocked the US Postal Service (USPS) from implementing part of Donald Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting ahead of the November midterm elections.

The president’s order had enabled the USPS to refuse to deliver ballots to states that did not comply with directives to turn over their voter rolls to federal officials.

​US district ‌judge Indira ‌Talwani in Boston expanded on an ‌earlier order from June that had prevented the administration from implementing restrictions in 23 mostly Democratic-led states.

Voting rights groups, joined by 23 states and the District of Columbia, sued the administration to stop the executive order, arguing that the US constitution does not authorize the president to issue orders governing the administration of elections.

Incumbent governor Lamont, 72, will face Ryan Fazio, 36, a Republican state senator in the November general election.

The governor, who is favored to win reelection in a reliably blue state, will become one of the longest-serving governors in Connecticut history.

Darline Graham has advanced to a runoff in South Carolina’s special Republican primary to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham in the Senate one month after his sudden death.

She did not win the primary outright – but the race is too close to call her opponent in the runoff to be held on 25 August.

Those in the running still include Representative Russell Fry, Representative Ralph Norman, former governor Mark Sanford and Mark Lynch, a businessman.

The winner of the Republican runoff will face Annie Andrews, the Democratic nominee and a pediatrician, in the November general election.

Democrat Molly Gray has won the primary for Vermont lieutenant governor.

Incumbent John Rodgers ran in the Republican primary uncontested.

Gerald Malloy is projected to win the Republican nomination for US House in Vermont’s first congressional district, the AP has called.

He’ll be facing against Democrat Becca Balint, the incumbent, who is is running for a third term as the state’s sole House member.

In Alabama, voters are participating in a second primary this year after the state’s Republican-controlled state legislature reconfigured four of the state’s seven districts after the supreme court dismantled a key section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

In Connecticut, Democratic governor Ned Lamont is seeking a third term, but is facing a challenge from Josh Elliott, the deputy speaker of the state house, who has said Lamont has been ineffective at raising taxes on the rich.

The special Republican senate primary is an odd one

Lindsey Graham had already won the Republican primary election for his seat, so the Republican party must hold a special election to replace him on the ballot in November’s general election. The timeline is brutal by American political standards, holding an election within a few weeks of the vacancy.

The winner will face Annie Andrews, the Democratic nominee and a pediatrician, in the November general election.

Lindsey Graham’s sister Darline Graham had the recommendation of Donald Trump to serve as McMaster’s Senate appointee, and has the president’s endorsement in the primary as well. She has spent decades as a public administrator and disability advocate, serving as the commissioner of the South Carolina commission for the blind from 2019 to 2026. She also has her brother’s considerable state political apparatus behind her.

Trump’s endorsement is important, but it is not decisive, according to Frank Tiller, the chair of the Spartanburg county Republican party. “It’s very important, but a lot of people are saying Donald Trump does not know South Carolina politics,” Tiller said. “South Carolina politics is different from a lot of places. Everybody here is fiercely independent.”

The compressed election cycle complicates the retail politics South Carolina voters have grown accustomed to, Tiller said. “There are not enough people that know the candidates. Everybody’s calling around trying to find out who to vote for, because they don’t know the candidates.”

Aside from Graham, two of the most able Republican competitors for the seat boast substantial campaign infrastructure of their own. Norman has served in the US House of Representatives since 2017, in a district covering the southern suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a wealthy real estate developer and a prominent member of the House Freedom caucus. Norman ran unsuccessfully for South Carolina governor earlier this year, and while he did not advance to the runoff, the infrastructure of his campaign was still largely intact when Graham died.

Fry represents Myrtle Beach and South Carolina’s conservative eastern border. Fry, an attorney, rose from the ranks of South Carolina’s state legislature after successfully challenging then US representative Tom Rice in the GOP primary in 2022. Rice was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 insurrection. Trump paid him back by endorsing Fry and campaigning to replace Rice. Both Fry and Norman have campaigned as fiscal hawks, highlighting culture war issues.

Sanford is a household name in South Carolina politics as a former governor with two separate stints in the US House. Sanford briefly challenged Trump in the 2020 Republican presidential primaries, and made headlines as governor after disappearing from the state for a week, ostensibly on an Appalachian Trail hiking trip, when he was instead having an extramarital affair in Argentina.

In South Carolina, all eyes are on the special Republican Senate primary to determine who will succeed the late senator Lindsey Graham.

Darline Graham, who was appointed as the replacement to serve the remainder of her brother’s term, is running in the contest with the backing of Donald Trump.

If no candidate wins an overall majority of votes, the top two will advance to a runoff on 25 August. Polling suggests that this is the most likely outcome.

ICE plans to spend up to $20m to purchase thousands of gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks for officers and agents by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.

The devices, called Glove (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky.

According to the manufacturer, “the discomfort associated with the stimulation is usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds and leaves no burns, marks or scars”. The company has advertised the device as a “humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution for many situations facing our men and women in uniform”.

The gloves have previously been used in settings such as jails in the US.

Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Associated Press that she questioned the use of the devices for civil immigration enforcement.

“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do,” she said. “Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.”