All the seats up for grabs in Tuesday’s primaries

Republican voters will effectively pick the next member of Congress for a handful of open, deep-red congressional seats in Tuesday’s primaries — including a Senate seat in Alabama that’s been the subject of one of the strangest and most dramatic races of 2022.

There, the fight to replace retiring GOP Sen. Richard Shelby has come down to Rep. Mo Brooks and Katie Britt, Shelby’s former chief of staff — and, as often happens in GOP primaries these days, Donald Trump. A handful of safely Republican House districts in Georgia and Alabama will also see voters choose brand-new nominees.

And in Virginia, Republicans in two swing seats will get the chance to shape the broader House landscape, selecting their contenders to go after vulnerable Democratic districts.

Here’s what to watch for in Tuesday’s elections:

Trump and Mitch McConnell on the same page

Tuesday’s marquee race is the Alabama Senate runoff between Britt and Brooks.

Trump’s mercurial temperament has hung over the entire race. The former president first endorsed Brooks, a longtime ally, back in April 2021. But Brooks’ campaign never took off, and Trump un-endorsed him in March, citing Brooks’ unwillingness to harp on Trump’s full suite of falsehoods about the 2020 election.