One Democrat voting in Rep. Cheney’s Wyoming town says she changed parties to support her. In Alaska, Sen. Murkowski tries to defend her seat.

Liz Cheney didn’t come right out and say she expects to lose her primary. But in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on July 24, it was pretty easy to read between the lines of the Wyoming Republican’s answers.

“I am working hard here in Wyoming to earn every vote,” Cheney said at one point. “But I will also say this. I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to say things that aren’t true about the election. My opponents are doing that, certainly simply for the purpose of getting elected.

Asked by Tapper whether her service as vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection will have been worth it even if she loses in her primary, Cheney responded that it was “the single most important thing I have ever done professionally.”

If it sounds to you like Cheney is framing her primary for Wyoming’s at-large House seat as a sort of fait accompli, and as not the end of the story but as a part of a broader narrative, well, then, you are right.

The simple fact is that Cheney is very unlikely to beat Harriet Hageman in Tuesday’s primary. Hageman has the support of former President Donald Trump, as well as a number of top Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

While Cheney has tried to recruit Democrats to cross party lines and support her – and some undoubtedly will – it’s hard to see that making a real difference in the outcome of the race in such an overwhelmingly Republican state.

Simply put: Cheney looks likely to lose – and she knows it.

What she also knows is that, at least in her mind, this isn’t the end of her political career.

Read more here about how Cheney answered a question from Tapper on whether she is interested in running for president in 2024.

There’s a special general election in Alaska to fill the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young’s term and also a primary election to decide who will compete in November for the seat’s next full term starting in January.

While four candidates advanced to Alaska’s special general, only three candidates are on the ballot, after independent candidate Al Gross withdrew from the race.

On the ballot are: former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin; Republican Nick Begich III, who won the Alaska Republican Party’s endorsement in April and is the product of a powerful Alaska political family; and former Democratic state Rep. Mary Peltola.

Palin’s attempt at a political comeback comes 13 years after she resigned the Alaska governor’s office in 2009 during her only term. Since then, she has been a conservative media figure and has endorsed and campaigned with various Republican candidates, but she has been largely detached from Alaska politics.

Rival candidates and political observers in the state say the ranked choice voting process could hurt Palin’s chances in the general election. She’s the best-known candidate in the race by far, and has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, who carried Alaska by 10 points in 2020. But Palin also faces opposition from voters still angry that she quit the governor’s office.

For the regular primary on Tuesday, Palin, Begich and Peltola are also on the ballot, along with 19 other candidates.

Read more about Alaska’s elections on Tuesday here.

GOP Rep. Liz Cheney voted this morning at the Teton County Library, choosing to cast her ballot at a polling place in nearby Jackson, Wyoming, rather than at a location less than two miles from her home.

There was a wide expectation among residents in her hometown of Wilson that she would vote at the Old Wilson Schoolhouse. Some people — and many reporters — have been waiting for hours for Cheney to vote, but she chose to do so away from cameras rather than have a traditional photo opportunity on Election Day.

A Cheney adviser confirmed that she voted, but had no explanation for why she avoided the press at her neighborhood polling place.

Voters in Alaska on Tuesday are voting in two separate elections for the same US House seat — the state’s at-large congressional district seat.

That’s because there’s both a special general election to fill the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young’s term and a primary election to decide who will compete in November for the seat’s next full term starting in January.

It’s a complicated process. Beyond voting for the same seat twice in one day, different rules apply to the special general and primary elections.

What will happen in the special general election? The special general election will be the first time that Alaska will use ranked choice voting — which will see voters rank their preferred candidates, with the votes for the lowest-finishing candidates coming into play if no one tops 50% — to determine who will fill the remainder of Young’s term. If no one reaches that threshold, it’ll be a while until we know the winner, with the ranked choice voting tabulation scheduled to begin on Aug. 31.

What will happen in the primary? The primary will use a top-four system, which means that candidates of all parties, and those with no party affiliation, run on the same primary ballot — just as candidates did for the special election’s primary earlier this year. The top four performing candidates will then advance to the November general election for the full term.

Why is this happening? Young’s death led to the special election. He held the seat for 49 years, and following his death, there was a crowded field of 48 candidates who competed in the June special primary election for the seat.

Alaskan officials set the special general election to take place on the same day as the already scheduled primary.

Continue reading here.

Harriet Hageman proudly wears Wyoming on her sleeve – and wields it like a hammer against Liz Cheney.

“I know Wyoming. I love Wyoming. I am Wyoming,” Hageman told audiences as she traveled across the state during the closing days of a bitter Republican duel in one of the highest-profile congressional races in the country.

These days, signs of trouble for Cheney are easy to spot here in Wyoming. Hageman holds a commanding lead in the final weekend of a primary election that stands as yet another reminder of the Republican Party’s evolution in the era of Donald Trump.

A University of Wyoming poll released last week found that Cheney is trailing Hageman by 29 points. Yet one question looming over the Republican primary is how many Democrats and independents will switch parties and vote for Cheney, which even her supporters acknowledge is her only chance to stay competitive.

The venom in the Cheney-Hageman race comes alive in conversations with voters, dueling television ads and reports of stolen yard signs. Their relationship wasn’t always acrimonious, when Hageman stood alongside Cheney and showered her with praise during Cheney’s first bid for Congress in 2016.

Keep reading here.

The Republican nominee in at least 20 of this year’s 36 gubernatorial races is someone who has rejected, declined to affirm, raised doubts about, or tried to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

And the list will almost certainly get longer when the last batch of Republican primaries is completed over the coming weeks.

The 20 candidates on the list so far have expressed varying views about the 2020 election. Some have falsely proclaimed the election stolen; some others have been evasive when asked if Biden’s victory was legitimate. Some incumbents endorsed a 2020 lawsuit that sought to overturn Biden’s win but have said little about the election since; some first-time candidates made false election claims a focus of their successful 2022 primary campaigns.

Regardless, the presence of a large number of 2020 deniers, deceivers and skeptics on general election ballots in November raises the prospect of a crisis of democracy in the 2024 presidential election in which former President Donald Trump is widely expected to run again. Governors play a major role in elections – signing or vetoing legislation about election rules, sometimes unilaterally changing those rules, appointing key election officials, and, critically, certifying election results.

It is possible that some swing states will have their 2024 elections run by both a governor and elections chief who have vehemently rejected Biden’s victory.

In Arizona, for example, both Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and secretary of state nominee Mark Finchem are conspiracy theorists who want to overturn Biden’s 2020 win in the state. In Pennsylvania, where the governor gets to nominate the election chief, the Republican gubernatorial nominee is Doug Mastriano, a fervent election denier who has taken various steps to try to reverse the 2020 result. Both Republican nominees in Michigan, Tudor Dixon for governor and Kristina Karamo for secretary of state, have falsely claimed Trump won the state in 2020.

Read about them here.

The doors opened at the Old Wilson Schoolhouse shortly after sunrise, with voters trickling in to cast their ballots in the small Wyoming town that GOP Rep. Liz Cheney calls home.

Libbe Burchfield, who has lived in Wilson for four decades, is a Democrat. But she said she switched parties today to vote for Cheney, as a sign of respect for her leadership on the Jan. 6 House select committee.

Burchfield said she realizes it’s an uphill battle for Cheney, but added, “I hope enough of us changed parties to get behind her and she still has a chance.”

A University of Wyoming poll released last week found that Cheney is trailing Harriet Hageman — backed by former President Donald Trump — by 29 points.

Throughout the morning, a steady stream of voters arrived at the polling place, which is one of four in Teton County. 

The school, which serves as a community center for this small town outside Jackson, is close to Cheney’s house. Several residents said they expect her to cast her ballot here before day’s end.

Resident John Grant did not have to change his parties to cast his vote for Cheney. He said he’s a longtime Republican, and he’s frustrated the party is still in the grips of Trump.

“It certainly is a tough race for Liz. She does a good job and works hard at what she does,” Grant said. “She stood up for what she believes in. It took a lot of courage to step against the Republican Party and Donald Trump and Republicans in general.”

Alaska will hold a ranked choice special general election for its House seat to fill the remainder of the late GOP Rep. Don Young’s term.

While four candidates advanced to the special general, only three candidates are on the ballot, after independent candidate Al Gross withdrew from the race.

Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee, Republican Nick Begich III, who won the Alaska Republican Party’s endorsement in April and is the product of a powerful Alaska political family and former Democratic state Rep. Mary Peltola are on the ballot.

What is ranked choice voting and how does it work? It literally rank their choices in order of preference, marking candidates as their first, second and third choice picks (and so on).

The winner must have a majority (more than 50% of the votes) rather than a plurality (simply the most votes).

In Alaska’s special general election, only first choice votes will be reported on election night.

The ranked choice voting tabulation will be conducted on Aug. 31. That means that, except in the unlikely event that one candidate gets a majority of the initial preference votes, we won’t be able to project a winner until the end of the month.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized former President Donald Trump as a “threat to our republic” and a “coward” in a campaign ad for his daughter, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who’s facing a competitive Republican primary today.

“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” the former vice president said in the 60-second spot released earlier this month. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.”

He said he “proudly voted” for his daughter, who is the vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

“There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office,” Cheney added.

Though Cheney has occasionally criticized Trump and his administration’s policies, the ad underscored his deep opposition to the former President, who has made defeating Liz Cheney a top political priority after she voted to impeach him last year and has remained a vocal critic.

The Cheney campaign purchased a series of national ad spots on Fox News to run the spot.

Trump has endorsed Harriet Hageman in the primary, who’s one of four challengers taking on the three-term congresswoman for the nomination for the at-large House seat. Her rivals have attacked Cheney over her role as one of two Republicans on the Jan. 6 panel and have dismissed that probe’s importance.

Like Trump, Hageman has made false claims about the 2020 election, citing the “2000 Mules” film that peddles conspiracy theories about ballot drop boxes and “Zuckerberg money” – a reference to donations from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, through a nonprofit to help local elections officials navigate the coronavirus pandemic.

CNN’s Eric Bradner and David Wright contributed to this report.