10 primaries beyond the presidential race to watch Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday isn’t just the biggest day on the presidential primary calendar. It’s also the first major down-ballot primary day of the year, setting up matchups for critical races for Senate, House and governor across the country.

Voters in five states — California, Texas, North Carolina, Alabama and Arkansas — will head to the polls to decide the Democratic and Republican nominees in a slew of notable contests.

In some cases, those primaries could continue after Tuesday — all but California have runoff provisions if a candidate does not win a certain percentage of the primary vote. And California has a primary system in which candidates from all parties compete on the same ballot and the top two vote-getters advance to the November election.

Here are 10 key races beyond the presidential contest to watch Super Tuesday:

1. California’s primary for a rare open Senate seat

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s retirement announcement before her death last year sparked a competitive race to replace her, with three Democratic House members jumping into the race: Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.

Schiff has led the field in fundraising and ad spending. And he’s even used some of his campaign cash to boost Republican Steve Garvey, a former Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman, in an apparent attempt to prevent another Democrat from advancing to the November ballot.

Polls show Schiff is well-positioned to advance to the November election. But it’s unclear whether he’ll face Garvey or Porter, who is using her formidable war chest to try to advance. Progressives, who count Porter and Lee as members of their congressional caucus, could risk locking themselves out if they split their votes between those two candidates.

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