Primary elections - LIVE: Results for Michigan, Missouri, Kansas and Washington and Ohio polls near as voting enters final hours
Four US states are holding primary elections today, with a fifth having a special House vote. A number of the races are a test for Donald Trump and the amount of sway he holds with voters ahead of crucial midterm elections.
Michigan, Missouri Kansas and Washington have a mixture of governor and senate races, preparing the states for the November polls
Voters in Ohio's 12th district will also be choosing a replacement for resigning Republican Representative Pat Tiberi. That race is a key test for President Trump, who will be a key part of the Republican playbook in the midterms.
Republicans are scrambling to avoid an embarrassing defeat in a seat that the party has held for decades. Mr Trump has backed Republican Troy Balderson, who is facing Democrat Danny O'Connor in the last special congressional election before the midterms. A win for Democrats would signal further danger for Republicans in November.
In Ohio, outgoing congressman Pat Tiberi won the district with a margin of about 37 percentage points in 2016. Today, Emerson, which has published the most recent poll of the battle between Troy Balderson and Danny O'Connor, scores it Balderson 46 and O'Connor 47.
Will be interesting to see turnout tonight. Special elections and primaries often see a pretty low number of voters, but there's evidence some people feel fired up
In addition to the power of Mr Trump's endorsement, pundits will be watching to try and determine whether Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democrats latest star after she won the primary New York's 14th congressional district - also has it. She has been campaigning for progressives across the country. She's campaigned for James Thompson in Kansas and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Everyone will want to see if she has the power help outsider candidates in areas outside of New York
The most watched race tonight is the special congressional election in Ohio. Republican Troy Balderson is fighting to defeat Democrat Danny O'Connor. Republicans have held the seat for three decades. If Democrats win tonight in the state's 12th congressional district, many will believe it could signal a so-called 'blue wave' in November.
Republicans have been hoping for Democratic discord in Kansas' 3rd Congressional District, a suburban Kansas City district where several candidates were fighting for the chance to take on Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder in November.
The five-way Democratic primary featured labor lawyer Brent Welder, who campaigned recently with self-described democratic socialists Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and ascending political star, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York congressional candidate.
Also in the race: Native American attorney Sharice Davids and former school teacher Tom Niermann.
Donald Trump Jr has tweeted his support for Troy Balderson, the Republican in Ohio's special election. He's the last of the Trump men to get onboard, with his father and brother tweeting their support earlier today.
A reminder as exit polls start coming in that results in most races won't be finalised tonight. A number of states allow voters to mail in their ballots all the way up until election day, so final results could take days to tabulate. Still, we'll start getting a pretty good picture as polls close around 8pm local time.
Austin Petersen, a Republican Senate candidate in Missouri whose primary is today, once got kicked off of Facebook for running an AR-15 giveaway as a campaign fundraiser. Read about it here.
Michigan could see its highest primary voter turnout in four decades today, according to the Detroit News. Fifty per cent more Michiganders had requested a ballot last week, and 39 per cent more had returned them, than at the same time in the 2014 primary cycle. Political consultant Mark Grebner told the paper as many as 1.8m people could vote today.
A fun fact about Michigan's gubernatorial primary is that Donald Trump endorsed Attorney General Bill Schuette in the Republican race – in a tweet misspelling his name. The president forgot the "c" in Mr Schuette's last name in his first endorsement attempt, but quickly corrected it.
It doesn't seem to have hurt the attorney general too much, because he's still leading the pack of Republican contenders. Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley is also running, along with state Senator Patrick Colbeck.
You can read up here on Fayrouz Saad, whose primary is today in Michigan's 11th. She's a millennial who's worked for the Obama administration – and if elected, she'll be the first Muslim woman in US Congress.
Michigan has another exciting gubernatorial race, this time on the Democrats' side. State Senate Democratic leader Gretchen Whitmer – the establishment favourite – is facing off against up-and-comer Abdul El-Sayed, who's scored the coveted endorsement of progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders and House candidate Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.
Entrepreneur Shri Thanedar is also running, at the same time a stage play based on his life debuts in Detroit.
Voters in Kansas will determine just how powerful an endorsement from Donald Trump can be: They're choosing between current Governor Jeff Colyer and current Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach – the Trump-backed option – in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Mr Kobach led the president's ill-fated voter fraud commission last year, and secured an endorsement from Mr Trump just 24 hours before polls opened. The two men appear to be neck-in-neck in the primary race right now – but some Republicans are reportedly worried that Mr Kobach won't be able to hold off a Democratic challenger in November. Stay tuned!
The GOP previously lost a similar race in Pennsylvania and saw one in Arizona get too close for comfort.
In the Republican race to pick a candidate for Kansas governor, Mr Trump has backed Kris Kobach, a conservative agitator for strict immigration and voter ID laws.
He is facing Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer, who raised more money than Kobach, received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, brandished his anti-abortion credentials and has the backing of Kansas political legend Bob Dole.
While some White House advisers had reportedly asked the president to stay clear of the race, amid fears Mr Kobach would lose in the midterms, Mr Trump's tweet endorsement could tip the scales in a competitive race, as some other recent Trump endorsements have done. Mr Trump's tweet backing Georgia Republican governor hopeful Brian Kemp vaulted him to an easy primary runoff win two weeks ago. Trump also has recently given a boost to GOP primary candidates in Florida, South Carolina and Alabama.
Mr Trump also endorsed in two Michigan primaries: state Attorney General Bill Schuette in the gubernatorial contest and John James for Senate.
For the Democrats, the battle between progressive candidates and the establishment will continue on Tuesday. Both Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a round progressive who surprisingly beat an establishment candidate earlier this summer, have endorsed Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for governor in Michigan, and Brent Welder, who is running in Kansas’ 3rd District. Mr El-Sayed has trailed the establishment-backed Gretchen Whitmer in polling, but progressives are pushing for an upset.
With many of the races too close to call, we will give you all the latest on the elections, with results expected to come in late this evening.
Additional reporting by Reuters and AP.
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