John McCain, Debbie Wasserman Schultz face tough primary elections Tuesday

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last updated 30 August 2016

Voters go to the polls Tuesday in Florida and Arizona, and two powerful incumbents — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) — face unusually strong primary challenges. McCain is expected to survive a long-shot bid to unseat him by State Sen. Kelli Ward (R), but is hoping for a big enough win to assuage doubts about his general election fight against Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a moderate Democrat with national party backing who is competitive with McCain in the polls. With the volatile electorate, and a GOP base that chose Donald Trump, McCain is expecting a clear win but bracing for a tighter-than-expected result. That has led to talk of this being the fight of his political life, which daughter Meghan McCain shot down on Twitter.

Wasserman Schultz, who stepped down as Democratic National Committee chairwoman amid leaked emails suggesting DNC favoritism for Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders, faces Tim Canova, a law professor endorsed by Sanders. Canova has raised $3.3 million, outpacing Wasserman Schultz. Florida Democrats will also choose between Rep. Patrick Murphy and Rep. Alan Grayson to determine which one faces Sen. Marco Rubio (R), expected to win his GOP primary on Tuesday. Democratic leaders are hoping Murphy wins.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.