Tuesday’s primaries include tight races, controversial candidates and even a few celebrity hopefuls. 

Voters in five states — Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania — are heading to the polls. All five are deciding on both U.S. House and Senate seats, while three are voting on governors.

Pennsylvania

The race to replace retiring Sen. Pat Toomey is packed with drama. 

On the Republican side, former TV host Dr. Mehmet Oz, former Treasury Department official David McCormick and conservative activist and commentator Kathy Barnette have distanced themselves from the rest of the seven-candidate pack.

Oz has the key endorsement of former President Donald Trump, but the far-right Barnette, backed by several prominent conservative groups, has made an eye-opening late charge in the polls. 

Barnette has seized on the abortion debate by highlighting her story of being born to a 12-year-old mother who was a victim of rape. Barnette, however, also is facing criticism over past Islamophobic and homophobic comments she made. 

She claims reports about the remarks have lacked context. The comments include tweets saying “The enemy is #Islam,”  and that Islam “should be banned in the USA.” And on her radio show in 2015, she said, "Two men sleeping together, two men holding hands, two men caressing, that is not normal.”

There are four Democrats vying for the nomination, including Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb. A Franklin & Marshall College poll earlier this month had Fetterman with nearly a 40-point lead over Lamb, his top competitor. But the primary was dealt a jolt this past weekend when Fetterman, 52, revealed he learned Friday he suffered a stroke. 

Fetterman said he’s feeling better, that doctors told him he didn’t suffer any cognitive damage and that "our campaign isn’t slowing down one bit" – but his campaign announced Tuesday, as Pennsylvanians headed to the polls, that he was undergoing a "standard procedure" to have a pacemaker implanted to address the underlying issue of his stroke, atrial fibrillation.

Pennsylvania is as purple a state as there is: It has one Republican senator and a Democratic one, and its 18 House members are split evenly between the two parties as well. Trump shocked the political world by winning the oft-reliably blue state by 44,000 votes in 2016, and Biden won it by 80,000 votes four years later.

So it should come as no surprise that three of Pennsylvania’s House races are considered toss-ups by the Cook Political Report. All three seats are currently held by Democrats. Susan Wild is seeking reelection in the 7th District, and Matt Cartwright is running for another term in the 8th. Lamb currently represents the 17th District, but opted to run for the Senate instead.

Nine candidates are running for the gubernatorial nomination in the Keystone State. An Emerson College poll Monday found that state Sen. Doug Mastriano has opened a wide lead in the Republican field. Trump has endorsed Mastriano, a far-right candidate who who was outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and worked to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. 

The state's Attorney General Josh Shapiro is running uncontested for the Democratic nod.

North Carolina

In North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who at 26 is Congress’ youngest member, is trying to survive an avalanche of negative headlines that have prompted harsh criticism from some of his fellow Republicans.

Cawthorn has come under fire for claiming Washington elites invited him to drug-filled sex parties and for calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “thug.” He’s gotten in trouble with the law in recent months for allegedly driving with a revoked license and for, police said, trying to bring a loaded gun through airport security in Charlotte, N.C. There also have been ethical questions raised about Cawthorn involving possible insider trading and payments he made to his chief of staff.

Sen. Thom Tillis and Republican leaders in the General Assembly have endorsed one of Cawthorn’s seven challengers in Tuesday’s GOP primary, state legislator Chuck Edwards. Trump, however, has backed Cawthorn.

Meanwhile, there are robust primaries to replace two retiring Democratic congressmen — G.K. Butterfield in the 1st District and David Price in the 4th District. “American Idol” star Clay Aiken is among the candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the 4th District.

North Carolinians also are voting for a new senator to replace Richard Burr, who is retiring after three terms. It’s a crowded field, with 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats in the race.

Bolstered by an early nomination from Trump, U.S. Rep. Ted Budd enters Tuesday as the favorite to win the GOP nod. A poll last week by The Hill and Emerson College had Budd with 43% support, followed by former Gov. Pat McCrory at 16%.

Among the Democrats, Cheri Beasley, former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, has had a commanding lead in the polls. If elected, would become the state’s first Black U.S. senator.

Idaho

Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little faces an unusual challenge for reelection from the state’s GOP lieutenant governor, Janice McGeachin. 

Little is a staunch conservative who opposes abortion and supports gun rights and lower taxes. McGeachin’s views are farther to the right.

At different times while Little was out of the state last year, McGeachin, as acting governor, signed executive orders banning mask mandates by government entities and vaccine requirements by employers. She also sent a letter to the commanding general of the Idaho National Guard seeking information about sending troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. 

While some Republicans have criticized Little’s pandemic response, the governor has never tried to implement such mandates.

McGeachin was widely rebuked for in February addressing the America First Political Action Conference, which has ties to white nationalism. She said she simply wanted to speak about Trump’s “America First” agenda and that the “media wants us to play a guilt-by-association game.”

Trump has endorsed McGeachin.

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Mike Crapo faces a handful of challengers as he seeks a fifth term. 

Kentucky

Five little-known Republican challengers are taking on Sen. Rand Paul, who is running for a third term. 

If fundraising is any indication, Paul should coast to victory Tuesday. He raised $20.4 million this cycle. Only one other candidate reported raising more than $20,000 — Democratic favorite Charles Booker, a former state legislator, at $3.4 million.

A general election between Paul and Booker would be a competition between two polar opposites. A libertarian conservative, Paul favors limited government, spending and foreign aid.

Booker is a progressive who supports programs such as Medicare for All and universal basic income. He’s made his case by sharing his stories about once being homeless and about rationing the insulin for his diabetes because he couldn’t afford the medication. 

All five Republican House incumbents are seeking reelection, while the state’s only Democratic member of Congress, Rep. John Yarmuth, is retiring. 

Oregon

With Democratic Gov. Kate Brown term-limited, nearly three dozen Republicans and Democrats are running to replace her.

An FM3 Research poll shows former state House Speaker Tina Kotek and state Treasurer Tobias Read leading the field of 15 Democrats. Kotek is a staunch liberal, while Read has positioned himself as a more moderate choice. 

Among the 19 Republican hopefuls, ex-state legislators Christina Drazan and Bob Tiernan stand atop a Nelson Research poll.

Oregon has not been represented by a Republican governor since Victor Atiyem left office in January 1987.

Meanwhile, two challengers are taking on incumbent Ron Wyden in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary. Wyden was first elected in a special election in 1996 and is now seeking his fifth full term.

The Democratic primary for Oregon’s new 6th Congressional District has seen a whopping $18.3 million spent — $13.2 million of it coming from outside groups, according to the nonpartisan, nonprofit group OpenSecrets.

A political action committee backed by Sam Bankman-Fried, a 30-year-old American cryptocurrency billionaire, has spent $10 million supporting Carrick Flynn, a government contractor and political newcomer.

That, unsurprisingly, has sparked questions.

One Democratic candidate, Matt West, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging Flynn and Bankman-Fried’s PAC were breaking the law by coordinating. A Flynn spokesman says the candidate has never met Bankman-Fried and their connection is very limited. The PAC, Protect Our Future, also denies the allegation.

In the 4th District, eight Democrats are vying for the nomination in the race to replace Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Democrat who is retiring after serving 36 years in Congress.

Alek Skarlatos, a former National Guardsman who helped stop an armed gunman on a Paris-bound train in 2015, is the lone Republican running in the 4th District. Skarlatos competed on “Dancing With the Stars” later that year.