The midterm elections officially began Tuesday with primaries in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas. As war with Iran breaks out, Democrats and Republicans are figuring out who they want to lead their party into November’s general election, when control of Congress and statehouses around the country will be up for grabs.

Texas

Two of the nation’s most consequential Senate primaries are playing out in Texas, a political behemoth that Democrats have been fighting to flip for decades.

Is this the year? Republican leaders in Washington openly fret that a victory by conservative firebrand Ken Paxton, who has well-documented personal baggage, over four-term incumbent Sen. John Cornyn would give Democrats a rare shot of winning the seat come November. The contest has already cost Republicans tens of millions of dollars, and there will be much more spent ahead of a May 26 runoff if no one gets 50% in the three-way primary that also includes Rep. Wesley Hunt.

Democrats, meanwhile, are picking between two rising stars with conflicting styles. There’s U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who made a name for herself through confrontation, and state Rep. James Talarico, a former middle school teacher who is working toward a divinity degree.

In the race for governor, incumbent Greg Abbott faces 10 Republican challengers in his run for a fourth term. The Democratic field includes former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa and six other active candidates.

Further down the ballot, U.S. House candidates compete in new congressional districts that state Republicans redrew at President Donald Trump’s urging as part of an effort to maintain control of the chamber.

There’s no guarantee the new map will have the effect its designers intended, but the impact on some Democrats is immediate. U.S. Reps. Christian Menefee and Al Green will face each other and two others in the redrawn 18th Congressional District. In the new 33rd Congressional District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson faces former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred and two others in the primary.

North Carolina

While former Gov. Roy Cooper has mostly cleared the field of well-known candidates in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Thom Tillis, former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, who has Trump’s endorsement, still must get through a contested Republican primary.

Whatley previously was the N.C. GOP chairman, but this is his first time running for elected office. He faces challenges from former Navy JAG Officer Don Brown and Michelle Morrow, who was the 2024 Republican nominee for state superintendent, losing in the general election.

In the U.S. House, Rep. Valerie Foushee faces a challenge from Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District. Foushee is seeking her third term in Congress and previously spent years in the General Assembly. Allam is in her second term as a commissioner and ran for the 4th District in 2022, losing to Foushee by 9 points. The district, however, has been redrawn under redistricting, which could change the dynamics of the race.

A slew of Republicans is running to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis, who is vulnerable in the newly redrawn 1st Congressional District. The candidates are longtime Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck; state Sen. Bobby Hanig, who represents some of the district currently in the General Assembly; Laurie Buckhout, who lost to Davis in 2024 and recently served as acting assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy in the Trump administration; family law attorney Ashley-Nicole Russell, who has offices throughout the state; and Eric Rouse, who is a Lenoir County commissioner.

Arkansas

Arkansas voters will choose nominees for a full slate of federal, state and local offices in primary elections Tuesday. The winners will face off in November’s midterm elections in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2010. Republicans also occupy the state’s four U.S. House seats.

Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton faces two primary opponents in his bid for a third term. The Democratic nominee will be either Lewisville Mayor Ethan Dunbar or farmer and small business owner Hallie Shoffner.

Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders seeks a second term in 2026, but she is running unopposed in the primary. The state’s Republican lieutenant governor, attorney general, auditor and treasurer also face no primary challengers in their reelection bids.

State Sen. Fred Love and magazine publisher Supha Xayprasith-Mays seek the Democratic nomination to unseat Sanders in November. Xayprasith-Mays also ran in 2022 but placed a distant fourth in the Democratic primary.

Contested primaries will also be held for secretary of state, commissioner of state lands, two U.S. House seats and more than two dozen state Senate and state House seats.