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  • Central Michigan voters are deciding 2 open congressional seats in the fight for the US House

    Central Michigan voters are deciding 2 open congressional seats in the fight for the US House

    DETROIT (AP) — Between redistricting and incumbents forgoing reelection, four congressional seats in Michigan are key targets as the parties vie for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

    Republicans are seeking to flip two open congressional seats in central Michigan as the GOP tries to broaden its majority.

    The two seats being vacated were redrawn in 2021, yielding Democratic victories in the midterm elections. Now this year’s races are true tossups and some of the most competitive in the country, with millions of dollars poured into the campaigns.

    8th Congressional District

    After longtime Democrat Dan Kildee announced he would not seek reelection in Michigan’s 8th District, Republicans saw the first opportunity in decades to flip the seat red. Kildee had served since 2012 when he succeeded his uncle Dale Kildee, who represented the area including the cities of Flint and Saginaw in Congress for 36 years.

    For Republicans, former news anchor and Trump administration immigration official Paul Junge is making his third bid for Congress after losing to the younger Kildee in 2022 by about 10 points.

    Junge appealed to voters over economic and immigration concerns. He also attacked Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet over national security and sought to tie her to a Chinese-based battery manufacturing company looking to build in Michigan that has been a target for Republicans.

    McDonald Rivet, a freshman state senator, painted Junge as a Californian outsider and cast herself as a middle class pragmatist. She focused her messaging on preserving reproductive rights and like her opponent, the economy.

    7th Congressional District

    In the 7th district in central Michigan, former state lawmakers Democrat Curtis Hertel Jr. and Republican Tom Barrett have sought the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin.

    Slotkin, the Democratic candidate for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, narrowly defeated Barrett in the 2022 midterms for the district that includes the state capital of Lansing and the surrounding rural areas.

    Hertel, a former state senator and more recently the governor’s legislative director, was portrayed as a “regular guy” in an ad campaign where he grills, takes out the trash and prepares to mow a yard. He’s labeled Barrett an anti-abortion extremist, but in an attempt to reach GOP voters, he’s also criticized Democrats over immigration.

    Barrett in turn has appealed to voters’ concerns over inflation and attacked Hertel over national security. A former state representative, senator and Army veteran, he has run ads featuring his helicopter pilot background.

    3rd Congressional District

    The open seats are the most contested in the state, but two other congressional seats have drawn the attention of national parties.

    Hillary Scholten became the first Democrat to represent the city of Grand Rapids in the U.S. House since the 1970s when she won Michigan’s newly redrawn 3rd Congressional District in 2022. But the surrounding Kent County has plenty of Republican voters. The county went for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. The Republican ticket has targeted the county with five visits in 2024 between Vance and Trump.

    Scholten faces Republican Paul Hudson, who lost a bid for the Michigan Supreme Court in 2022.

    The 2024 election is here. This is what to know:

    News outlets globally count on the AP for accurate U.S. election results. Since 1848, the AP has been calling races up and down the ballot. Support us. Donate to the AP.

    10th Congressional District

    Voters in Michigan’s 10th congressional district — which includes the all-important suburbs of Macomb County north of Detroit — will decide a rematch between Republican incumbent Rep. John James and Democrat Carl Marlinga.

    Marlinga lost by just 1,600 votes in 2022, and the district is now seen as competitive, drawing money and attention from Democratic national groups.

  • Alaska voters deciding a hard-fought race for the state’s only U.S. House seat, election issues

    Alaska voters deciding a hard-fought race for the state’s only U.S. House seat, election issues

    JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska voters were deciding Tuesday a hard-fought race for the state’s only U.S. House seat that could help decide control of that chamber. They were also choosing whether to repeal the state’s system of open primaries and ranked choice general elections just four years after opting to give that system a go.

    Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola sought to fend off GOP efforts to wrest back the seat held for 49 years by Republican Rep. Don Young, who died in 2022. Peltola’s main challenger was Republican Nick Begich, who is from a family of prominent Democrats and was among the opponents she defeated in special and regular elections two years ago when Peltola, who is Yup’ik, became the first Alaska Native elected to Congress.

    In addition to the repeal initiative, the ballot included a measure that would raise the state’s minimum wage and require paid sick leave for many employees, a measure opposed by groups including several chambers of commerce and a seafood processors association.

    Fifty of the Legislature’s 60 seats were up for election, too, with control of the state House and Senate up for grabs. The closely divided House has struggled to organize following the last three election cycles. In Alaska, lawmakers don’t always organize according to party.

    In Alaska’s marquee House race, Peltola tried to distance herself from presidential politics, declining to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris and dismissing any weight an endorsement from her might carry anyway in a state that last went for a Democratic presidential nominee in 1964. She cast herself as someone willing to work across party lines and played up her role in getting the Biden administration to approve the massive Willow oil project, which enjoys broad political support in Alaska.

    Begich, whose grandfather, the late Democrat Nick Begich, held the seat before Young, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump following his showing in the primary.

    Trump’s initial pick, Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, bowed to pressure from Republicans seeking to consolidate behind one candidate following her third-place finish in the primary and dropped out. Alaska’s open primaries allow the top four vote-getters to advance. The initial fourth place finisher, Republican Matthew Salisbury, also quit, leaving Alaskan Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe and Eric Hafner, a Democrat with no apparent ties to the state who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for threatening authorities and others in New Jersey, on the ballot.

    Begich, the founder of a software development company, sought to cast Peltola as ineffective in stopping actions taken by the Biden administration that limited resource development in a state dependent upon it, including the decision to cancel leases issued for oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

    Alaska is one of just two states that has adopted ranked voting — and would be the first to repeal it if the ballot initiative succeeds. In 2020, Alaskans in a narrow vote opted to scrap party primaries in favor of open primaries and ranked vote general elections. Most registered voters in Alaska aren’t affiliated with a party, and the new system was cast as a way to provide voters with more choice and to bring moderation to the election process. Critics, however, called it confusing.

    U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican and Trump critic who has been at odds with party leaders, appeared in an ad in support of keeping open primaries and ranked voting.

    Opponents of the system succeeded in getting enough signatures to qualify the repeal measure for the ballot — and withstood a monthslong legal fight to keep it on the ballot. Begich was among those who supported the repeal, and the state Republican Party also has endorsed repeal efforts.

  • Voters deciding ballot issues on marijuana, immigration, taxes and more

    Voters deciding ballot issues on marijuana, immigration, taxes and more

    While electing officials to make and enforce laws, voters in dozens of states are also deciding on more than 140 ballot proposals affecting the way people legally live, work and die.

    As 10 states consider measures related to abortion or reproductive rights on Tuesday’s ballots, about a half-dozen states are weighing the legalization of marijuana for either recreational or medical use. About two dozen measures are focused on future elections, including several specifically barring noncitizens voting. Other state measures affect wages, taxes, housing and education.

    Many of the ballot measures were initiated by citizen petitions that sidestep state legislatures, though others were placed before voters by lawmakers.

    Marijuana legalization

    Voters in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota are deciding whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults. The election marks the third vote on the issue in both North Dakota and South Dakota. In Nebraska, voters are considering a pair of measures that would legalize medical marijuana and regulate the industry.

    About half the states currently allow recreational marijuana and about a dozen more allow medical marijuana.

    In Massachusetts, a ballot measure would legalize the possession and supervised use of natural psychedelics, including psilocybin mushrooms. It would be the third state to do so, following Oregon and Colorado.

    Immigration

    An Arizona measure crafted amid a surge in immigration would make it a state crime to enter from a foreign country except through official ports of entry, and for someone already in the U.S. illegally to apply for public benefits using false documents.

    The border crossing measure is similar to a challenged Texas law that the U.S. Justice Department says violates federal authority.

    School choice

    A proposed amendment to the Kentucky Constitution would allow lawmakers to use state funds for private schools. A Colorado measure would create a constitutional right to school choice for K-12 students.

    In Nebraska, voters are deciding whether to repeal a new state law that funds private school tuition with state dollars.

    A majority of states offers some sort of state-backed program to help cover private school costs.

    Sports betting

    Missouri voters are deciding whether to become the latest to legalize sports betting. A total of 38 states and Washington, D.C., already allow sports betting, which has expanded rapidly since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it in 2018.

    Taxes

    A Colorado proposal would make it the second state after California to impose a sales tax on firearms and ammunition, with revenue going primarily to crime victims’ services. The federal government already taxes sales of guns and ammunition.

    North Dakota voters are considering a measure to eliminate property taxes. If approved, local governments could need more than $3 billion biennially in replacement revenue from the state.

    A South Dakota measure would repeal the state’s sales tax on groceries, a move already taken in most other states.

    An Oregon measure would raise the minimum tax on large corporations to fund a tax rebate for residents.

    The 2024 election is here. This is what to know:

    News outlets around the world count on the AP for accurate U.S. election results. Since 1848, the AP has been calling races up and down the ballot. Support us. Donate to the AP.

    Housing

    California voters are deciding whether to repeal a 1995 law limiting local rent control ordinances. If approved, it would open the way for local governments to expand limitations on the rates that landlords could charge.

    A unique proposal in Arizona links property taxes with responses to homelessness. It would let property owners seek property tax refunds if they incur expenses because a local government declined to enforce ordinances against illegal camping, loitering, panhandling, public alcohol and drug use, and other things.

    Climate

    Voters in Washington state are considering whether to repeal a 2021 law that caps carbon emissions and creates a market for businesses exceeding the mark to purchase allowances from others. Washington was the second state to launch such a program, after California.

    Citizen voting

    Republican-led legislatures in eight states — Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin — have proposed state constitutional amendments declaring that only citizens can vote.

    A 1996 U.S. law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and many states already have similar laws. But Republicans have emphasized the potential of noncitizens voting after an influx of immigrants at the U.S.-Mexican border. Though noncitizen voting historically has been rare, voter roll reviews before the election flagged potential noncitizens registered in several states.

    Some municipalities in California, Maryland, Vermont and Washington, D.C., allow noncitizens to vote in certain local elections.

    Voting methods

    Connecticut voters are considering whether to authorize no-excuse absentee voting, joining most states that already allow it.

    Measures in Montana and South Dakota would create open primary elections in which candidates of all parties appear on the same ballot, with a certain number advancing to the general election. Measures in Colorado, Idaho and Nevada also propose open primaries featuring candidates from all parties, with a certain number advancing to a general election using ranked choice voting. An Oregon measure would required ranked choice voting in both primaries and general elections.

    Ranked choice voting is currently used in Alaska and Maine. But Alaska voters are considering whether to repeal provisions of a 2020 initiative that instituted open primaries and ranked choice general elections.

    Arizona voters are deciding between competing ballot proposals that would require either open primaries with candidates of all parties or the state’s current method of partisan primaries. If conflicting measures both pass, the provision receiving the most votes takes effect, but that could be up to a court to decide.

    Redistricting

    An Ohio initiative would create a citizens commission to handle redistricting for U.S. House and state legislative seats, taking the task away from elected officials.

    Minimum wage

    Ballot measures in Missouri and Alaska would gradually raise minimum wages to $15 an hour while also requiring paid sick leave. A California measure would incrementally raise the minimum wage for all employers to $18 an hour.

    A Nebraska measure would require many employers to provide sick leave but would not change wages.

    A Massachusetts measure would gradually raise the minimum wage for tipped employees until it matches the rate for other employees. By contrast, an Arizona measure would let tipped workers be paid 25% less than the minimum wage, so long as tips push their total pay beyond the minimum wage threshold.

    Assisted suicide

    West Virginia voters are deciding whether to amend the state constitution to prohibit medically assisted suicide. The measure would run counter to 10 states and Washington, D.C., where physician-assisted suicide is allowed.