Vermont primary: Christine Hallquist makes history as transgender candidate becomes Democrat governor nominee as Bernie Sanders is also victorious
The state boasts a number of unique — many of them progressive — candidates
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Your support makes all the difference.Christine Hallquist has become the first transgender candidate to win a major political party's nomination for governor.
As part of the primaries in Vermont, Ms Hallquist beat three other Democrats to secure the victory.
The 62-year-old Ms Hallquist is part of a wave of LGBTQ candidates seeking higher office across the US. Ms Hallquist is being supported by The Victory Fund, a political action committee that backs LGBTQ candidates across the country. The committed labelled her a “game changer.”
Before Vermont's election, only four transgender candidates had won primaries in 2018, all for house and senate seats in state legislatures, and have a general election ahead. Seventeen have lost primary or general elections and 21 have yet to face voters
Elsewhere, Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic Senate beating Folasade Adeluola as he seeks a third term in office.
With 98 per cent of precincts reporting, Mr Sanders had 94 per cent of the vote. It was not immediately clear which Republican he will face in the general election in November, given a close race between Brooke Paige and Lawrence Zupan that had just hundreds of votes in it.
Mr Sanders' win does not come as a surprise. The self-described Democratic Socialist won re-election in 2012 with about 71 per cent of the vote. Before that, in 2006, he carried about 65 per cent of the vote.
While Mr Sanders won the Democratic nomination, he is widely expected to reject it. Doing so has become a regular move for the notably independent senator over the years.
Phil Scott, the Republican governor in the reliably Democratic state, has won the GOP primary as he seeks re-election and will face Ms Hallquist.
Ethan Sonneborn is another candidate worth mentioning. He’s a 14-year-old progressive who decided to launch his campaign after violence erupted last year during a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina. State law allows anyone who has lived in Vermont for four years to run for governor after securing enough signatures to get on the ballot, making Mr Sonneborn legally qualified despite his age. He secured more than 4,000 votes for an eight per cent share of the ballots.
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Vermont isn’t the only state that held a primary on Tuesday — Minnesota, Wisconsin and Connecticut also had elections to determine which candidates will face off come November.
Connecticut has closed primaries - meaning the only people who can vote in its Democratic and Republican primaries are those who are registered with that party. Polls close at 8pm
On the Democratic ballot, voters will have the option of choosing between Mayor Joe Ganim and businessman Ned Lamont. Mr Ganim was Mayor of Bridgeport from 1991 to 2003, when he resigned after being convicted on corruption charges. He then launched a remarkable political comeback after serving seven years of a nine-year prison sentence, becoming Bridgeport's mayor once again in 2015.
Although Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton has won the endorsement of the state's Republican party, he still has to fend off a number of other business leaders for the nomination.
State representative Ilhan Omar is hoping to make history in Minnesota.
Vermont, where polls close at 7 p.m., has a competitive gubernatorial race ahead. Four Democratic candidates and two Republican candidates are vying for the Vermont governor seat. On the Republican side, incumbent Gov. Phil Scott is looking to secure his party's nomination once again.
Through a loophole in Vermont's laws, 14-year-old Ethan Sonneborn is running for the office as a Democrat. Vermont's Constitution doesn't have an age requirement, it just requires candidates to have lived in the state for four years.
"I think Vermonters should take me seriously because I have practical progressive ideas, and I happen to be 14, not the other way around," the 14-year-old said in a recent gubernatorial forum. "I think that my message and my platform transcend age."
Here is a piece on a candidate in Wisconsin, who has had to tell local media he is - in fact - not dead and is has been campaigning hard.
In Minnesota's very competitive 2nd District in the suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, incumbent Republican Representative Jason Lewis is facing a slew of controversy over comments he made on a radio show he hosted prior to serving in Congress, including complaining that women could no longer be called “sluts” and equating gay marriage to rape.
"I believe Wisconsin is ready for a black governor," said gubernatorial candidate Mahlon Mitchell according to Vox.
Democrat Mr Mitchell, a black firefighter union president, is vying to take on Republican Scott Walker in the governor's race.
Democrat Randy Bryce, ironworker and union organizer vying for Paul Ryan's seat in Wisconsin shares photo encouraging people to make it to the polls before they close at 9pm local time.
One of the four Democrats standing in Vermont's governor race is Christine Hallquist, who would be America's first transgender governor.
Ms Hallquist was the first CEO to transition while in her job, according to political action committee the Victory Fund.
States such as Wisconsin and Minnesota helped drive Donald Trump's 2016 election win two years ago. The results of today's primaries will be a good marker for how the Democrats will fair in November's midterm elections.
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