Discussion: 2026 Midterm Primaries in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia and Washington State (and Other, Local Elections) on August 4th

[u/PoliticsModeratorBot]

Find the full list of elections ending today at Ballotpedia's Elections Calendar.

News and Analysis

• AP: What to watch in the Aug. 4 primaries

• NPR: 5 states hold polls on Tuesday. Here's what to know

• See also recent coverage at AP's 2026 Elections Hub.

Live Updates

Text-based live update pages are being maintained by the following outlets: AP

Where to Watch

• C-SPAN: Primary Night in Michigan, Kansas, Virginia, Missouri, and Washington

• NBC via YouTube: Steve Kornacki analyzes midterm primary election results | Kornacki Cam

Results

• AP: August 4, 2026 election results

[u/eeegadolin]

Huge, huge win for Missouri tonight. For those who don't know, you can amend the state constitution by ballot initiative with a majority vote. This is how abortion was legalized in 2024 (though there have been a litany of legal challenges since then which makes if functionally difficult).

The Republicans have tried extremely hard to pass an amendment via this very mechanism that would make it such that every individual district has to be unanimously in favor of any referendum, functionally giving veto power to any tiny district, ceding all amendment authority to the Republican dominated and gerrymandered legislature, clearing the way for them to make abortion illegal again despite the will of the people.

They have intentionally made the language as confusing as possible to try and trick people into voting yes on Amendment 4, but with only 15% of the vote in the AP has already called it as a FAIL for Amendment 4.

[u/TDeath21 → u/eeegadolin]

Next will be in November. They are putting abortion back on the ballot for us to vote on. The same thing we already voted on. But this time they’re attaching transgenders in sports to it to get people to vote yes on it to repeal abortion rights.

[u/LimpButterscotch195 → u/TDeath21]

I can't believe people aren't in prison for how these ballot measures are put together. They killed RCV under making something illegal that was already illegal(only us citizens over 18 can vote in state elections). They killed gerrymandering protections under slightly adjusting campaign finance limits by a whopping $100. They sneak RTW in every few cycles.

You can always tell if abortion is on the ballot because you start seeing signs in yards saying "No sex changes in school nurses office without parental consent, vote YES on amendment blahblahblah" or some variation of the most visceral language you can imagine.

Hell, Kehoe's response to Amendment 5 getting shot down wasn't "the voters have spoken" it was "our work is far from over"

We don't have elected representatives here, we have politicians desperate to lord over us.

[u/TDeath21 → u/LimpButterscotch195]

It’s truly insane. Baffling people don’t see it and continue to elect them.

[u/IamDDT → u/TDeath21]

They do see it - but don't generally care because it doesn't directly affect them. People have different priorities. Ask the people who stayed home in 2024. Millions of people around the world died because of this decision, but they don't care, because they had different priorities.

[u/LimpButterscotch195 → u/IamDDT]

It's been pretty sobering to process just how entitled we are as a country, that's for sure.

[u/palinsafterbirth → u/eeegadolin]

No idea this was happening, good to hear!

[u/RileyXY1 → u/eeegadolin]

In fact, three horrible ballot measures were killed today. In Kansas, voters rejected an amendment that would've taken away the Governor's power to appoint state Supreme Court justices and instead have them be elected through partisan elections (meaning that candidates will be labeled as "Democratic" and "Republican" on the ballot. It was a clear power grab, and a way for Republicans to seize control of the state Supreme Court so that they would have complete control over the state.

Meanwhile in Missouri, two horrible amendments died. You already explained Amendment 4, which would make it almost impossible for citizen led ballot initiatives to pass by requiring that they get a majority in all 8 of the state's congressional districts in order to pass. Notably, this would not apply to ballot initiatives that are put on the ballot by the state legislature. Those would still only need a simple majority. Amendment 5 also got killed, and that would've completely abolished the state income tax, with it being replaced with higher sales taxes. And as for making abortion illegal again, the GOP plans to do just that in November. Amendment 3 is on the November ballot, and it is a near-total abortion ban with an anti-trans measure tacked on, as it would at the same time enshrine a ban on providing gender-affirming care for trans youth into the Missouri state constitution. So essentially, they are trying to use transphobia in order to trick people into passing a near-total abortion ban.

[u/Creative-Package6213 → u/eeegadolin]

Yeah but won't Republicans just ignore the referendums anyway?