(The Epoch Times)—Voters in Florida, Alaska, and Wyoming head to the polls on Aug. 18 to cast their ballots in key primary races that could determine control of Congress. In California, a special election is being held to replace Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned his seat in April.
Multiple states also have gubernatorial races in which President Donald Trump has offered his endorsements.
Here are the races to watch.
Florida
In the Sunshine State, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) is the prohibitive favorite to get the GOP nomination for governor.
Donalds, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, faces nine other candidates in the primary, including investor James Fishback, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, and former Florida House of Representatives Speaker Paul Renner.
Donalds has campaigned on making Florida more affordable, fighting illegal immigration, improving infrastructure, preserving the environment, and stopping government waste.
A central part of Fishback’s platform is banning data centers in Florida.
“Data centers raise electric bills, jeopardize our water supply, and crater property values in surrounding communities,” his campaign website states. “They consume enormous amounts of land, water, and power, and Floridians get nothing in return.”
The Democratic primary includes former Rep. David Jolly, state Rep. Dotie Joseph, and four other candidates.
Jolly, a former Republican, has run on tackling property insurance costs, investing in public schools, reforming campaign finance and ethics rules, and reducing gun violence.
The winner in November will succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who is term-limited.
In addition to the gubernatorial contest, there are races for the House. This comes after Florida redrew its congressional map to give Republicans an advantage following other states doing the same.
The GOP primary in the 19th Congressional District to succeed Donalds is competitive as it includes two former out-of-state members of Congress: Madison Cawthorn and Chris Collins. Cawthorn represented North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District between 2021 and 2023, while Collins held New York’s 27th Congressional District seat between 2013 and 2019.
However, the apparent frontrunner is Catalina Lauf, who worked in Trump’s first administration and has drawn his endorsement. Her campaign issues include cutting wasteful spending, cracking down on illegal immigration, and championing the Make America Healthy Again movement.
The Cook Political Report rates the district as “Solid Republican.”
Over in the 20th, a district that the Cook Political Report rates as “Solid Democratic,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) is looking to stay in Congress by running in that district instead of her current 25th Congressional District, which was redrawn to make it a toss-up.
Wasserman Schultz faces four other candidates, including former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who represented this district between January 2022 and April 2026. Cherfilus-McCormick resigned as she faced a House Ethics Committee probe over her allegedly stealing $5 million in disaster relief money to fund her congressional campaign. The Department of Justice indicted Cherfilus-McCormick in November 2025.
The 25th Congressional District went from a reliably Democratic district to a competitive one. The Democratic primary between Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), who now represents the 23rd Congressional District, and Democratic Socialists of America member Oliver Larkin is a test of the Democratic Party on how it views Israel. Moskowitz is pro-Israel, while Larkin is critical of the Jewish state. The frontrunner on the GOP side is former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer.
Alaska
Two men named “Dan Sullivan” are running for Senate in the Last Frontier. Both are Republicans: incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and former U.S. Forest Service employee Dan J. Sullivan.
The notable Democrat running for the seat is former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), who occupied Alaska’s at-large U.S. House seat between 2023 and 2025. Peltola was recruited by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to flip the seat and help Democrats take back the Senate. This race, which the Cook Political Report rates as a toss-up, could determine which party controls the upper congressional chamber.
Twelve Republicans are running for governor, including former state Attorney General Treg Taylor, former state Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum, former state Sens. Click Bishop, Shelley Hughes and Lesil McGuire, Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries, business owner and conservative activist Bernadette Wilson, and former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson. Whoever wins the primary is likely to win in November as the Cook Political Report rates the race as “likely Republican.”
The two Democrats running for governor are former Alaska Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich and former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins. Begich is the uncle of Rep. Nick Begich (R-Alaska).
The winner will succeed Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited.
Wyoming
In Wyoming, the races to watch are for governor and U.S. Senate.
The gubernatorial race to succeed Gov. Mark Gordon, who is term-limited, includes these Republicans: Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, state Sen. Eric Barlow, retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Brent Bien, and rodeo-production professional Curt Blake. Trump has endorsed Degenfelder, while the state GOP has endorsed Bien.
The Cook Political Report rates the race as “Solid Republican.”
Meanwhile, the Senate race, which the Cook Political Report rates as “Solid Republican,” is all but guaranteed on the Republican side to be won by Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), who has Trump’s backing. She faces four other Republicans. The Democrats running are former state Rep. James Byrd and Billy Benavidez.
The winner in November will succeed Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who declined to run for reelection.
California
There is a special election in the Golden State’s 14th Congressional District to serve the remainder of the term of former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell.
State Sen. Aisha Wahab and Bay Area Rapid Transit Board President Melissa Hernandez, both Democrats, were the top two vote-getters in the June 16 special primary and advanced to a runoff.
Wahab placed first in both the special primary and the June 2 primary. She and Hernandez will also face off against each other in the fall.
The special election runoff winner will finish Swalwell’s term. Wahab and Hernandez will face off against each other again in the fall to fill the seat in the new term. Swalwell resigned in April following allegations of sexual assault by numerous women, including former staffers.
Whoever wins the special election will narrow the Republican majority in the House. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will be able to lose only two Republicans on party-line votes.
