ANALYSIS — Four more states held primaries this week, marking the halfway point of the 2026 primary season.
A total of 26 states have conducted regular congressional primaries so far this year, the latest being Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina, where voters cast their ballots Tuesday.
A handful of those states still have important primary runoffs ahead, including for the Republican Senate contest in Alabama and GOP races for governor, Senate and the 11th District in Georgia on June 16. A week later, on June 23, South Carolina plays host to key runoffs in the 1st District and the GOP race for governor. Then there’s the GOP Senate runoff in Louisiana on June 27 and the Republican gubernatorial runoff in South Dakota on July 28.
But Arkansas, California, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia are done selecting nominees along with Maine, Nevada and North Dakota this week. (To get ahead of emails from readers, yes, Alabama will have another slate of primaries in some districts because of late court decisions regarding redistricting, while Louisiana will hold jungle primaries this fall for its six House seats. )
