At the top of the September 2024 election calendar are the last scheduled primaries of the current election cycle.
Four more American states will head to the polls this month to choose their candidates for the November general election. In many ways, the general election campaign has already begun, but a few more states need to select their candidates for federal, state, and local office before we make it official.
September 2024 Election Calendar: US Primaries
September 3: Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts heads to the polls on September 3, the day after Labor Day.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) is seeking a third term. She has no opponent in the Democratic primary. However, three Republicans are running to replace her. One of the contenders is Ian Cain, the president of the Quincy City Council.
Not only do most House races not feature primaries, most incumbents are set for unopposed re-election. Six of Massachusetts’ nine Democratic incumbents will face no challengers at all. Aside from that, no incumbent has a primary challenger this time. The sole House primary is for the Republicans in the 8th District, a Boston-based seat which is extremely unlikely to elect the GOP, anyway.
September 10: Delaware, New Hampshire, & Rhode Island
The final primaries of the 2024 election cycle take place on Tuesday, September 10. Those will take place in the Mid-Atlantic and New England: Delaware, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
Delaware has a competitive primary in the race for governor. John Carney (D) cannot run for re-election, and two top Democrats, Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long and New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer are running to replace him. Polling has been all over the place with high numbers of undecided voters, so the result on September 10 may be a surprise to us all.
There are no contested primaries in the Delaware Senate race, with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) seen as the favorite.
In the Delaware US House race, as Blunt Rochester runs for the Senate, three Democrats and two Republicans are running to replace her. One Democratic candidate is Sarah McBride, a state senator. Should McBride win the primary and then the general election, she would become the first transgender member of Congress.
New Hampshire has wide-open primary fields for governor and both US House seats. Governor Chris Sununu (R) is not running for re-election, which set off a frenzy. Former US Senator Kelly Ayotte leads the GOP field, while Manchester’s former mayor, Joyce Craig, is among the notable Democratic candidates.
Of the House races, the 2nd District has more candidates, as Rep. Annie Kuster (D) is retiring. Democrats have two candidates in the race, but Republicans have a whopping field of 13. Kuster won the seat in 2012 and it has been blue ever since.
Rhode Island’s primaries are much quieter in comparison, and look similar to those of Massachusetts. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D) has a token primary challenger, and the GOP primary has two contenders. Rhode Island has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 2000 – and that former senator, Lincoln Chafee, is no longer a Republican.
Neither Rep. Gabe Amo nor Rep. Seth Magaziner, both Democrats, have primary challengers. Their respective Republican opponents do not, either.
September 18: New Jersey 10th Special Election
New Jersey will hold a special election for the vacant 10th District on September 18. Incumbent Democrat Donald Payne passed away in April. The Democratic nominee and heavy favorite is LaMonica Iver, while the GOP is running Carmen Bucco.
The 10th District includes parts of Newark, Jersey City, and The Oranges.
September 2024 Election Calendar: International
September 29: Austria
Austria will hold its federal legislative election at the end of this month.
The Austrian People’s Party, or ÖVP, is the right-leaning incumbent government. With the exception of a caretaker government in 2019, they have been in power since 2017. The past seven years have been rocky and scandal-plagued, as since Sebastian Kurz became chancellor for the first time, there have been five different chancellors.
Leading in the opinion polls are the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), though these leads are narrow. The FPÖ are no upstart party: They have been around since 1956, as long as the Eurovision Song Contest has existed, and have been part of some prior coalition governments. However, there has never been an FPÖ chancellor – though that might change in 2024.
German State Elections
Speaking of the far-right, Europeans will closely watch state-level developments in Germany as well.
On September 1, Saxony and Thuringia will each elect a new Landtag, or state parliament. Brandenburg will elect theirs on September 22. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) enters those elections in second place in all three states. Not much of a vote shift would be required in order for them to become the largest party in at least one state.
In Saxony, the governing Christian Democrats (CDU) and AfD are believed to be neck-and-neck. The Left (Die Linke) governs in Thuringia, but AfD has opened up a first-place lead. Finally, in Brandenburg, the AfD is also believed to be ahead, though very little separates them from the other main parties.
German elections utilize a variance of a mixed-member proportional system.
September 16: Canadian Federal By-Elections
Canadians in two federal ridings will head to the polls on September 16 to elect their members of the House of Commons.
LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, QC and Elmwood—Transcona, MB have vacancies which will now be filled. The Liberals previously held LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, while Elmwood—Transcona has mostly been an NDP seat for the past few decades.
The Conservatives are well ahead in national opinion polls, which likely will not affect the Quebec riding, but might in Manitoba. During the 2011 CPC majority win, the Conservatives narrowly won Elmwood—Transcona, but lost it four years later.
Meanwhile, in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, a Montreal riding, the unpopularity of the Liberals is on the ballot. This is a seat that they would win with ease under ordinary circumstances, and the only time they’ve lost this or its predecessor seat was in the 2011 Orange Wave in Quebec. A Liberal loss here, which is not impossible, would be another black eye for the party that already suffered one in urban Toronto earlier this year. Should the Liberals lose, it would be to the New Democrats or possibly even the Bloc Quebecois, though the latter have not had much success in the past.
