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Ohio and Indiana are holding primary elections today and President Trump will be keeping an eye on at least some of them. CBS News political director Fin Gomez joins us now to break down some of the big races President will watch and the rest of us will keep a close eye on. Fin, good morning. Great to see you this Tuesday. Why is President Trump paying such close attention to state level races in Indiana? What's key there? Yeah, that's right, Errol. Happy election day for all those who celebrate, especially in Indiana and Ohio. Yeah, of course. But last December, if you recall, eight Republican state senators in Indiana defied President Trump and his national
Republican allies in their push to redraw the state's congressional map and a map he wanted to in order to flip two Democratic-held seats and pad the Republicans' razor-thin House majority. They have a four-seat majority right now. When these eight state senators pushed back, Trump vowed payback and tonight is what many in the Republican Party expect that to be that payback to happen. He's endorsed primary challengers against the majority of those senators and his entire and very um impactful political operation is all in against these state Republican senators. National groups are pouring millions, Errol, into ads in these races
that you know, typically you don't really see a lot of spending on this front. Uh this year has been record-breaking. You know, we saw some PACs, one of them tied to Trump's close ally Senator Jim Banks, a conservative from Senator from Indiana. So, Errol, these are technically, yes, state Senate races, but the president has turned them into really an example of, you know, somewhat of a loyalty test on redistricting and I think that the big question tonight is whether the MAGA movement in Indiana will still have the muscle to punish these Republicans who crossed him on redistricting or will they, you know, will they be rewarded for them pushing back and believing this was an example of federal overreach, Errol?
And which races in the Buckeye State are we watching? Yeah, Errol, all eyes are on the Senate race in Ohio and the expected winners tonight are, of course, the incumbent Republican John Husted who was appointed in that position. Remember, that was to fill the vacancy of J.D. Vance left to become vice president. But on the Democratic side, former Senator Sherrod Brown is the expected is the frontrunner in that race in the primary race and that's a matchup that most Ohio Democrats that I spoke to have been waiting for. They feel that he's getting a lot of national attention. If you recall, Ohio went to Trump by 11 points in 2024, but Democrats genuinely believe, Errol, that Brown can pull off the upset in November.
He's a three former three-term senator, blue-collar brand, progressive, big deep name recognition and the latest polling has him within the margin of error. So, if you see that, they feel pretty bullish. Of course, it's gone pretty Republican the last few cycles. And of course, we're also watching the gubernatorial race there of Vivek Ramaswamy, the former 2024 presidential candidate, Republican presidential candidate. He's running in that open race against Amy Acton, the Democrat in that race. Most polls show it to be a very it's shown to be a very competitive race. So, we're keeping an eye on that one as well, Errol. And you mentioned redistricting. Tennessee and Alabama are moving to redraw their
congressional maps. Are they likely to be successful? I mean, I think the big question is the why now comes to this big ruling that happened last week by the Supreme Court gunning the Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and that the court struck down that Louisiana majority-black congressional district and Republican governors across the South immediately saw this as an opportunity to in implement their own redraws, right, before the 2026 deadline. And you saw that movement in Tennessee and Alabama this started this week as well. So, and we're also keeping an eye on some of the other some of the other Republican-held states, Tennessee. So, you know, Florida, of course, moved
very quickly after following the ruling. Some Republicans believe that this ruling could net them as much as 13 or at least double digits in new congressional districts. However, Democrats say this is constitutional and immediately block these congressional districts who've been represented by important voices, underrepresented communities. And so, that's why it's been a big controversy and a big narrative leading into the into these midterms, Errol. The pollen count is extremely high, Fin. My allergies were killing me yesterday. I appreciate you powering through despite the congestion. Thank you so much. Thanks for joining us this polleny Tuesday.
