Primaries to watch Primary Elections in Arizona and Tennessee

The 2024 election is not just about the White House, this week there are a lot of primaries in both Arizona and Tennessee reminding us that there is plenty of political drama that is yet to be watched before the presidential elections.

Here are the key Congressional races to watch this week.

Arizona (Tuesday 30th July);

The big ticket race to look forward to was in Arizona, the GOP primary for Senate. Senator Krysten Sinema who was elected as a Democrat back in 2018, left the party to become an independent in 2022, causing her financial support to fall drastically. Instead of running for reelection, Sinema earlier this year decided to opt out of what was turning out to be a heated three-way race against a Democratic and republican candidate. This move resulted in Republican Rupen Gallego, of Arizona’s 3rd District, running as the Democratic nominee, and a showdown between two far-right candidates for the GOP nomination.

The current front runner in the Republican race is Kari Lake, an outspoken former TV anchor and 2022 GOP nominee for the Arizona Governor position (ultimately losing to Katie Hobbs). Currently, Kari has the endorsement of both Trump and Senator JD Vance who is also the Republican candidate for Vice President along with Trump running for the ultimate seat. Her campaign has raised over $10 million, five times that of her next closest opponent Mark Lamb. 

Arizona’s only high-profile primary contest in a seat expected to be highly competitive is the 1st district. In 2022, Republican Representative David Schweikert only won reelection here by less than one percentage point making him the top target for Democrats. The primary Democratic race has five different contenders having raised more than $1 million. Businessman Andrei Cherny leads the contesting race by $2.5 million, after him is Marlene Galan Woods at $1.6 million, and former State Representative Amis Shah at $1.5 million. Along with this, there are two contenders, investment banker Conor O’Callaghan who raised $2.1 million, and orthodontist Andrew Horne at $1.5 million, both having self-funded almost half of their campaigns.

In Phoenix’s 3rd District, Gallego’s run for Senate has left the seat open for others resulting in a competitive Democratic Primary. About this, former state senator and recent state party leaders, Raquel Teran and Yassamin Ansari have contested for the open seat. 

The Republican’s race in the Grand Canyon State 8th district in the wealthy Phoenix suburbs has been heating up. Among the top contenders is Blake Masters who has been a 2022 Republican nominee for Senate in Arizona and has lost to Democratic Senator Mark Kelly by a margin of five percentage points.

Tennessee (Thursday Aug 1);

The volunteer state is a fascinating political landscape in many ways and there’s a chance to witness a high-voltage primary on August 1. Republican Andy Ogles is a Freedom Caucus member and one of the most obstructionist members of Congress (he recently filed articles of impeachment against Vice President Kamala Harris) and has seen quite several scandals during his tenure in office. He is being challenged by Nashville Country Metro Council member Courtney Johnson in the 5th District.