This will be a quiet week in Washington, as both the House and Senate remain on their August recess while President Donald Trump stays in Bedminster, New Jersey, on an 11-day vacation.
There will still be plenty going on in the political world, however, as voters in six states head to the polls for primary and special elections. Washington, D.C., will also see a different kind of political activity at the end of the week; white nationalist protesters and counterprotesters will head to the District of Columbia this weekend to mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, “Unite the Right” rally.
Here’s what to expect from the week ahead in politics.
Elections: Voters in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington will head to the polls for primary elections Tuesday ahead of the November midterms, while Hawaiians will vote Saturday.
Races to watch include the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Michigan, as progressive doctor Abdul El-Sayed runs against former state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer to become America’s first Muslim governor, and a “right-to-work” ballot measure in Missouri that will decide whether employees can be forced to join a union or pay union dues. Trump has weighed in on the Michigan Republican election for U.S. Senate, calling candidate John James “SPECTACULAR!” in a tweet endorsing the Iraq War veteran.
One of Trump’s allies, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, will be one of the candidates vying for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Kansas. Kobach, who is known as one of the country’s most vocal proponents against alleged voter fraud, served as the vice chairman for Trump’s failed “election integrity” committee, which was disbanded in January. More recently, Kobach’s claims of voter fraud were disproven when a federal judge struck down Kansas’ “proof of citizenship” voting law — and ordered Kobach to undergo legal education based on his conduct as the lawyer defending the law.
In addition to this week’s primary elections, voters in Ohio will head to the polls Tuesday for a special U.S. House of Representatives election for Ohio’s 12th Congressional District. The matchup between Democrat Danny O’Connor and Republican state Sen. Troy Balderson will mark the last Democrat-Republican matchup ahead of…
