Where are the Democratic and Republican parties going next? Watch these primaries to find out

Hotly contested primaries for Congress and governor next year will not only choose new candidates for important midterm races, but also serve as early battlegrounds in the fight for the future of both parties, as Democrats and Republicans navigate with how to move forward after the 2024 election.

Although Democrats have celebrated victories up and down the ballot this year, they are still searching for definition and direction after their 2024 loss to President Donald Trump. The party is divided over which strategies and ideologies to embrace, as well as the question of elevating and embracing a new generation of leaders at the expense of older, entrenched incumbents.

Republicans are also weighing what the future of their party should look like, following Trump’s takeover of the GOP. Loyalty to the president continues to define Republican contests, and some 2026 primaries will test whether Trump can exact revenge against Republicans who have crossed him. Others will test just how much Trump’s "Make America Great Again" movement is redefining the GOP.

All of those ideas and outcomes could play into the next presidential race, too. And there are plenty of ways in which next year’s primaries will also be early tests for leaders in both parties considering 2028 campaigns for the White House, with some already taking sides in key contests.

Here are the key themes to watch in the primaries as next year's midterm elections get going.

Democratic voters and candidates are divided over a lot right now, including strategy, ideology and style. Ultimately, the conflict is about what is most appealing to voters, from some who have left the party to the idea of bringing in new voters who may be disillusioned with politics altogether.

That fight is playing out in the first major primary March 3 in Texas. Rep. Jasmine Crockett launched her race for Senate by taking direct aim at Trump and suggesting she can turn out new voters and build a “multiracial, multigenerational coalition.” State Rep. James Talarico, meanwhile, is pitching himself as a candidate who is willing to stand up to his party and appeal to voters in both parties who are “hungry for sincerity and honesty and compassion.”

The party’s ideological divides are also playing out in two Democratic Senate primaries in Michigan and Minnesota, testing different theories for how to win traditional “blue wall” states where Republicans have made gains in recent years.

In Michigan, former Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed is running as an unapologetic progressive, supporting "Medicare for All" and backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow launched her race calling for a “new generation of leadership” and is a self-described “pragmatist.” And Rep. Haley Stevens, who flipped a Republican-held district in 2018 and is a leader of the “center-left” New Democrat Coalition, launched her race by slamming Trump’s tariff policies.

In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is running as a staunch progressive in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, and she has endorsements from Sanders and other liberal leaders. Rep. Angie Craig, who has represented a swing district, has said the Democratic Party must be a “big tent,” pushing back on far-left calls to decrease police funding.

A battle for the soul of the party is also brewing in the primary for governor in California, where the top two candidates, regardless of party, move on to a general election.

The top Democratic candidates are all staking out lanes with varied theories of how to win over party voters on their home turf. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is running a health care-centric campaign; former Rep. Katie Porter is leaning into the progressive populism that helped her win competitive House races; billionaire Tom Steyer is pivoting away from his focus on climate and embracing a campaign centered on affordability and confronting big business; Rep. Eric Swalwell is leaning on his clashes with Trump; and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is highlighting his executive experience.

Questions about loyalty to Trump loom over just about every Republican primary contest up and down the ballot. But in a handful, it’s the dominant debate.

Trump has endorsed Navy veteran Ed Gallrein against Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie in the GOP primary, after Massie repeatedly drew Trump’s ire for criticizing the president's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and opposing key pieces of his domestic and foreign policy agenda.

The president also threw his weight behind Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ bid for governor, elevating him in a crowded primary that includes a handful of other prominent Georgia elected officials. That blessing came years after Jones controversially signed on to a slate of pro-Trump electors who falsely attested that Trump won the 2020 election.

Another key race dominated by loyalty to Trump is Louisiana’s Senate race, where Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the few remaining GOP members of Congress who voted to convict Trump after his second impeachment, is running for re-election.

Cassidy’s well-funded Republican opponents, including state Treasurer John Fleming and state Sen. Blake Miguez, have bear-hugged Trump and framed Cassidy’s conviction vote after the Jan. 6 riot as a betrayal.

Cassidy, a physician, has made a series of overtures to Trump as chairman of the Senate health committee, including green-lighting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination despite Cassidy’s concerns about Kennedy’s anti-vaccine activism.

For many Democrats, the path forward involves bucking party leaders and elevating younger ones after former President Joe Biden's tenure as party leader — and its abrupt and damaging end for the party in 2024.

Democrats’ anti-establishment angst is fueling primaries across the Senate map, especially in Maine, where Gov. Janet Mills, 77, is facing off against military veteran Graham Platner, 41, in the primary to take on GOP Sen. Susan Collins.

Mills, whom Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged to run, has pitched herself as the Democrat best positioned to defeat Collins, but has pledged to only serve one term if elected, acknowledging “age is a consideration.”

Platner, a progressive also backed by Sanders, has decried Schumer, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998, and Democratic leaders, arguing that “people don’t want establishment politicians.”

Platner also blamed “the establishment” for spreading unflattering information about his past, amid revelations that he had a tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol, which he has since covered up, and past Reddit posts that included a slew of controversial and offensive comments. Platner apologized for many of the posts, saying he was “disillusioned” after his military service.

That angst on the left is also leading to challenges against sitting Democratic lawmakers, as progressive groups have banded together to oust incumbents who they say aren’t doing enough to fight Trump.

Some of those primaries include Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam’s race against North Carolina Rep. Valerie Foushee, in a 2022 primary rematch; state Sen. Donavan McKinney’s challenge against Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar; state Rep. Justin Pearson’s race against Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen; and lawyer and barista Melat Kiros’ challenge to Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette.

New York’s House Democratic primaries next year have also become a hot bed for anti-establishment angst, as challengers against Reps. Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman have taken aim at the support they’ve received from pro-Israel groups in past elections.

In a launch video for his primary bid to unseat Goldman earlier this month, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander pointed specifically to donations to Goldman from the pro-Israel lobbying group, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

Former Missouri Rep. Cori Bush is also making a run for her old seat by challenging Rep. Wesley Bell in a primary. Bell defeated Bush in a primary last year as he got a boost from an AIPAC-affiliated group.

Some Democrats challenging older lawmakers with an argument for generational change, meanwhile, are already raising significant funds.

California Rep. Mike Thompson, 74, and Connecticut Rep. John Larson, 77, are each facing Democratic primary challengers who raised more than $1 million in the third quarter of this year. In Georgia, Rep. David Scott, 80, who has served his district since 2003, has faced concerns about his age and health for years, and multiple primary challengers have raised the issue.

In Massachusetts, Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton earlier this year launched a primary challenge against 79-year-old Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., framing his candidacy around the push for a younger generation of Democratic leaders.

Markey, who served in the House before he was first elected to the Senate in 2013 and has long been considered a progressive champion, fended off a younger primary challenger in 2020, when he defeated then-Rep. Joe Kennedy III.

Apart from the races mentioned above that specifically center on Trump, a slew of other GOP primaries will test how he has reshaped the Republican Party.

The most consequential may be in Texas, where the GOP civil war that’s dominated state politics for the last decade has culminated in multiple primary opponents challenging Sen. John Cornyn.

Trump, who hasn’t endorsed, is a central theme in this race. While Attorney General Ken Paxton has hammered Cornyn’s past criticisms of the president, Cornyn has raced to frame himself as one of Trump’s top lieutenants in the Senate, and Rep. Wesley Hunt has touted his early support for Trump’s 2024 campaign. But the dividing lines extend beyond Trump, into issues such as guns and immigration.

Kentucky’s Republican primary to replace the retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell features three major Republican candidates racing to defend themselves from charges they aren’t pure enough to be the new GOP standard-bearer.

The GOP primary for governor in Arizona features longtime Trump loyalist Rep. Andy Biggs and former state Board of Regents member Karrin Taylor Robson, who has rebranded herself as a stalwart Trump ally four years after running a more establishment-aligned gubernatorial bid against Trump’s chosen candidate. Trump decided to endorse both candidates, months before Rep. David Schweikert launched his own gubernatorial bid.

Another heated statewide Republican primary worth watching is the South Carolina gubernatorial contest, which features a crowded group of prominent Republicans scrapping for the pro-Trump lane.

A handful of House Republicans are facing primary challenges from opponents challenging their place in Trump’s GOP.

Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, who narrowly defeated a hard-line Republican challenger in a runoff last year, is set for a rematch against pro-gun YouTube personality Brandon Herrera, though Gonzales clinched a Trump endorsement earlier this month. Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw is also running for re-election in a field that features conservative state Rep. Steve Toth, with fault lines emerging on issues such as Ukraine and government spending.

Potential presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle are also eyeing primaries as opportunities to shape their own political future and test their sway over the parties’ faithful supporters.

In Illinois, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who is running for a third term next year but is also widely viewed as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, has endorsed Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in the crowded Senate Democratic primary to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin.

Meanwhile, at least five national Democratic heavyweights, and potential presidential contenders, have taken sides in Minnesota’s Senate race.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., have backed Craig. Meanwhile, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy and Chris Van Hollen have endorsed Flanagan, signaling the divisions about the party’s future already emerging among potential 2028 presidential candidates.

Gallego, who is openly weighing a run for president, also jumped into the contentious Michigan Senate Democratic primary by endorsing Stevens shortly after she launched her campaign.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro earlier this month waded into a crowded primary in one of the most tightly divided battleground House districts in the country. Shapiro endorsed firefighter union leader Bob Brooks, who is running against four other well-funded Democratic opponents in the primary and has also earned support from Sanders.

On the other side of the aisle, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is widely viewed as a potentially formidable candidate in 2028’s GOP presidential primary.

Kemp passed on a Senate run despite being recruited by Republican leaders. Instead, he backed former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley in the state’s GOP Senate primary, which has gotten tense in recent weeks.

Dooley faces GOP Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, two of Trump’s allies in the House, for the chance to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in the general election.

The president hasn’t yet endorsed in this race, but if Dooley wins the primary after sustained support from Kemp, it could be a major signal of the governor’s sway and popularity with the GOP electorate in a significant battleground state.