Jeff Sessions’ run-off and a Bush's loss: Super Tuesday races you may have missed
While all the attention of Super Tuesday focused on the presidential nomination race among the Democrats and the fight between the former vice-president Joe Biden and the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, other races and dramas across the US also played out.
Here are five things you may have missed:
A Bush loses in Texas
Pierce Bush was aiming to advance in the Republican primary for a Texas congressional seat in Houston. But the grandson of president George HW Bush and relative of president George W Bush and ex-Florida governor Jeb Bush, lost his race – the first Bush to lose in Texas in 40 years. A dynasty ends, not with a bang but a whimper.
Broadcaster Cenk Uygur flames out
Famed leftist broadcaster Cenk Uygur has a strong following thanks to his founding of the Young Turks progressive politics show. But that did not translate into meaningful support for his bid to fill the California congressional seat vacated by Katie Hill. He came in fourth with just 5% of the vote.
Jeff Sessions heads for a run-off
Donald Trump’s former attorney general is aiming to win back his old Senate seat after falling out of favor with the president and leaving the administration. After failing to win a knockout blow, he now faces a run-off later this month against the former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville. Despite Sessions continuing to embrace Trumpism on the trail, his old boss stuck the knife in. “This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt,” the president tweeted.
An anti-abortion Democrat survives
The Texas congressman Henry Cuellar, one of the few anti-abortion Democrats in the House, fended off a primary challenge from Jessica Cisneros, a 26-year-old immigration attorney, in a defeat for progressives. Cuellar has held the seat since 2005 and also maintains an A rating from the National Rifle Association. Cuellar voted with Trump nearly 70% of the time during the president’s first two years in office.
Republican Kay Granger fends off a rightwing attack
One of the few prominent Republican women in the House fended off an attack by a male tech executive to oust her. Chris Putnam went to war with her in a bitter primary battle in Texas as outside groups spent millions and Trump weighed in behind her. Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group, spent more than $1m running attack ads against her record on spending issues but Granger prevailed.
