Primary night: Crucial votes in Michigan, Missouri, and Kansas set the stage for November midterms

Primary season for the 2026 US midterm elections commenced on Tuesday as voters in five key states, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas, Virginia, and Washington, went to the polls to select their nominees for November.

With control of both the US Senate and House of Representatives hanging in the balance, the mid-August primary slate served as a crucial barometer for both major political parties.

In Michigan, all eyes were on the high-profile Democratic battle to succeed retiring two-term US Senator Gary Peters. The primary pitted moderate Representative Haley Stevens, backed by mainstream establishment figures like Governor Gretchen Whitmer and heavily bolstered by pro-Israel advocacy groups like AIPAC's United Democracy Project, against progressive former public health official Abdul El-Sayed, who gained momentum among left-leaning leaders and Arab-American voters by calling for limits on US military aid to Israel.

In Missouri's 1st Congressional District, Democratic Representative Wesley Bell comfortably won his primary rematch against former Representative Cori Bush, an outspoken critic of Israel's actions in Gaza.

The race turned into a major test of views on the Middle East within the Democratic Party. Jewish voters and pro-Israel groups, including AIPAC, strongly supported Bell. They viewed Bush’s calls to cut US aid to Israel as a threat to the alliance between the two countries.

Across the state line in Kansas, voters rejected a Republican-led constitutional amendment that would have altered how state Supreme Court justices are selected. Kansas voters also solidified their gubernatorial matchup, setting up a November contest between Republican Senate President Ty Masterson and Democratic State Senator Cindy Holscher to succeed outgoing Governor Laura Kelly.

Further west, Washington state held its nonpartisan top-two primary, where all candidates appear on the same ballot regardless of party affiliation. Attention centered on key battleground House districts, including Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez's defense of her seat in the 3rd Congressional District.

These open-primary formats offered early indicators of voter turnout and candidate strength ahead of a general election cycle where Democrats need to flip only a handful of seats to retake the US House. Local election boards are tallying the final key precincts, with official projections expected to trickle in over the coming hours.