Voters have been pictured on their way to the ballot box in the states of New York and Florida - where some of today's closely-watched primary contests are taking place.

Let's take a look:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

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Image source, Getty Images

Sam Cabral
in Washington

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The snowbird flies south in the autumn and returns north in the spring.

It’s a centuries-old tradition for American retirees - fleeing chilly locales like New York and spending the winter on the balmy Florida coastline, boosting the latter's population by the hundreds of thousands.

And while the Empire State continues to consolidate years of Democratic leadership, the Sunshine State - once considered a "swing state" - has moved in the opposite direction in recent years, with Republicans establishing a firm grip on its politics.

When Donald Trump was ousted from the White House in the winter of 2020, he moved to Florida rather than return to New York - and unlike most snowbirds, he is staying put for good.

If he runs for president again in 2024, he might go head-to-head with another Florida Republican: Governor Ron DeSantis.

Drawing on the growing differences between the two states’ politics, New York City Mayor Eric Adams even launched a campaign earlier this year urging LGBT Floridians unhappy with a new law, labelled the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by its critics, to relocate.

On billboards in five Florida cities, the message was loud and clear: “Come to the city where you can say whatever you want.”

A spokeswoman for Governor DeSantis laughed off the measure with this retort: "Florida has absolutely no reason to do a counter-campaign encouraging New Yorkers to relocate to Florida. They are relocating here in massive numbers anyway.”

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Election observers expect Florida's Republican governor Ron DeSantis to coast to re-election, but two Democrats - Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried - are vying for a chance to take him on this November.

Crist began his career as a Republican and has held the state's top two positions before, serving as attorney general from 2003 to 2007 and as governor from 2007 to 2011.

But images of him hugging Barack Obama, a Democrat, in 2009 when the then-president visited the state to pitch his economic stimulus plan, struck a death knell for Crist's future as a Republican.

Choosing not to run for re-election, Crist ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate as an independent, then ran as a Democrat in 2016 for the US House of Representatives seat he currently holds.

"I didn't leave the Republican Party; it left me," he said in 2012, saying the party had gone "extreme right" on on several key issues.

Fried, on the other hand, is a lifelong Democrat and suggested in a recent advert that her rival's affiliations depended on "which way the wind's blowing".

The former cannabis lobbyist was the only Democrat to win state-wide in 2018, the same election cycle in which DeSantis ascended to the governor's mansion.

From her perch as Florida agriculture commissioner, she has championed liberal policy positions and criticised DeSantis as "an authoritarian dictator who is borderline fascist".

Fried has also criticised her opponent Crist's Republican past and positioned herself as a candidate with strong pro-choice views on abortion - but polls show Crist may have the edge tonight.

Image source, Reuters

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Voters in Florida, New York and Oklahoma are currently deciding who will be on the ballot for the November midterm elections.

The midterms take place every four years, at the halfway point of a president’s term.

Candidates will stand for office all across the country on 8 November, and voters will determine who represents them in government.

Before November, every candidate must first compete in a primary election to determine who will contest in the autumn.

Primaries have been taking place around the country since March and will conclude next month.

Candidates typically run under one of the two major party banners - Democrat or Republican - but some compete as unaffiliated independents.

Polls are open for a little while longer yet. Once they close, we'll bring you the key results as and when we get them.

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Several issues are on the ballot this November, but two in particular are expected to motivate voters to head to the polls in their individual states: election denialism and abortion.

Early last year, supporters of ousted former President Donald Trump participated in a riot at the US Capitol, many believing unsubstantiated claims by Trump and his top allies that the 2020 election was stolen from him through mass voter fraud.

Many Republican candidates in the midterms have publicly stated without evidence that the election was fraudulent and they would have thrown out Joe Biden’s victory.

If these candidates win their races, then some of them would have the power to run and oversee future elections in their states, most crucially during the 2024 presidential election.

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Then, earlier this year, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the decades-old ruling that granted Americans nationwide the right to access abortion care, effectively turning the matter over to states.

Several states have imposed abortion bans since.

Candidates around the country - from governors to state legislatures - are broadcasting their anti-abortion and pro-choice credentials to argue to voters they will fight to restrict or expand abortion rights in their states.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from New York

It feels like a normal summer Tuesday in Brooklyn - which it is, of course. The streets aren’t crowded, thanks to a combination of heat, the workday, and the fact that everyone who can escape New York City in August has likely done so.

But every so often you catch a hint of the tumultuous elections playing out today.

A pedestrian hurries by sporting a large “I Voted” sticker, or a pickup truck decked out with posters for a congressional candidate drives by. A few canvassers are outside polling places trying to persuade people to choose their favoured candidate.

Tony Torres, 63, is one such canvasser. He is scurrying around a busy intersection, making last minute appeals. Not everyone is receptive to his pitch. “I had one guy come over and insult me,” he said.

“It’s tough, with the sun, with the rain. But I will go on."

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Today's primaries will reveal which candidates can compete for various important political roles during November's midterm elections.

You'll be reading a lot about state governors, as well as senators and representatives who are sent to Congress in Washington.

But what powers do they have?

• A governor (elected in a gubernatorial vote) acts as the chief executive of their state, approving or vetoing the creation of laws at that level. They could, for example, allow or block a ban on abortion following the decision by the US Supreme Court to hand that issue back to individual states
• Senators are elected to the US Senate: the 100-strong upper chamber of Congress. Their power comes from their role in voting for and against bills as they work to shape new laws
• Representatives sit in the House - the lower chamber of Congress with 435 members - and, like senators, have a part to play in creating legislation. The House wields certain specific powers, for example the ability to impeach a president

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from New York

Image source, Getty Images

We mentioned earlier how the redrawing of New York's districts had created some unusual - intriguing - contests.

Take the 12th district, where two long-serving members of Congress are in the race but only one will leave with a House seat.

Jerry Nadler, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and had a primetime role in Trump’s first impeachment, will square off against Carolyn Maloney, who is chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

They were both elected in the same year– 1992 – and have seen their careers grow in tandem. Combined, they’ve spent a half a century in Congress.

They’ve worked together for decades, but the sudden merging of their districts this year has turned the two into bitter political rivals. The race has divided Manhattan’s political establishment, and many local politicians have stayed quiet on the race.

In a surprise move, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who represents New York state, endorsed Nadler over Maloney last week.

Meanwhile, Maloney has the backing of powerful groups that support women in politics, including Planned Parenthood Action Fund and EMILY’s List.

Meanwhile, a 38-year-old attorney and organiser named Surej Patel is also running, emphasising his youth and arguing it’s time for new blood in Congress. “Both incumbents in this race are defending the status quo, power defends power and they think everything is fine,” his campaign said earlier.

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A Trump endorsement is coveted by many Republicans - but two anti-Trump Democrats in New York recently found themselves on the receiving end of mock endorsements from the ex-president.

Daniel Goldman was the chief counsel to House Democrats during the first Trump impeachment trial in 2020.

Now he is the frontrunner in a crowded primary contest for New York’s 10th congressional district.

On Wednesday, Trump called it “a great honour to Strongly Endorse him” on his Truth Social platform, writing: “While it was my honour to beat him, and beat him badly, Dan Goldman has a wonderful future ahead.”

Goldman quickly dismissed the statement as a “pathetic” attempt to “meddle” in his election - but not before one of his opponents tweeted: “Donald Trump just endorsed my multi-millionaire opponent, in case you needed a reminder of what the stakes are.“

His involvement didn’t end there, with Trump also targeting long-time Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who has led many investigations into the former president as chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

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“A vote for Carolyn Maloney in NY-12 is a vote for the future! She is a kind and wonderful person, who has always said terrific things about me, and will support me no matter what I do, just as I supported her very early on,” Trump wrote, adding Maloney once “begged for a check”.

“This is laughable and I reject any endorsement from Donald Trump,” replied Maloney, who is in a tough primary race that pits her against an influential colleague.

“Thanks but no thanks, I’ll pass.”

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from New York

After a brief stint in Florida, let's travel about 1,000 miles northwards and turn our attention to New York.

The state was originally slated to hold primaries for all of its offices in June, but an 11th-hour change to congressional district maps upended the entire process.

Existing House seats were merged and their boundaries redrawn as part of a once-a-decade process known as redistricting, which every state must go through.

To give politicians time to recalibrate, the House primaries were postponed until today.

The shakeup meant some sitting members of Congress were suddenly forced to compete against each other, or decamp to new territory.

The process was especially disruptive for Democrats, who dominate the seats in and around New York City.

As many as five incumbents could lose their seats in Tuesday’s election, which could have serious consequences for the party as it tries to maintain control of the House of Representatives in the midterms.

At least one long time member of Congress will be on the outs after Tuesday’s game of musical chairs.

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent, reporting from Florida

Hello from Miami, Florida, where voters – the ones who haven’t already voted early or by mail – are heading to the polls to select party nominees who will compete in the general election in November.

The Republican side is fairly quiet, with Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Ron DeSantis - who will appear on stage together this evening here - running unopposed. The former ran for president in 2016. The latter may have his eyes on a 2024 bid, and could use a victory in November as a spring-board to national prominence.

DeSantis has been leaning in to cultural issues – gay rights, education, perceived media bias and what he views as excessive Covid restrictions – to drum up support among the conservative grassroots. I’ll be watching to see if he starts to moderate his message tonight as part of a pivot to the general election or keeps pounding the political hot-buttons.

On the Democratic side, the biggest contest is to determine who will be DeSantis’ opponent in November. As has frequently been the case in recent years, the party’s voters have a choice between a moderate, establishment-backed veteran politician, and a younger, more liberal candidate.

In this case, it's Congressman and (former Republican governor) Charlie Crist, and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is the only Democrat to have won a Florida state-wide race in a decade.

The winner in this race could tell us more about what the party’s voters value most in this often-pivotal presidential swing state - and may be the Democrats' only hope to nip a potential DeSantis 2024 presidential campaign in the bud.

Sam Cabral
in Washington

Image source, Getty Images

Poll after poll indicates that, if Donald Trump does not run for president in 2024, one Republican rises above the rest as the party’s most likely nominee: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Raised in a blue-collar home, DeSantis was a baseball standout at Yale, graduated from Harvard Law School and served in the US Navy in Iraq.

The Republican cemented his conservative credentials during his time in Congress from 2012 to 2018, as a founding member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, who identify as champions of small government and individual liberty.

But it is as the chief executive of America’s third most populous state - a position he secured in large part thanks to his rock-solid support for then-President Trump - that DeSantis has made a name for himself.

Most notably, he resisted imposing mask mandates and vaccine requirements on Floridians during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He has also courted controversy in other ways, often showing Trumpian levels of disregard for public opinion and the media.

Under his tenure, however, Republicans have surged past Democrats in terms of active voters in the state for the first time. The governor is also sitting on $130m in campaign cash and is expected to easily sail to re-election this November.

And, from the world’s richest man Elon Musk to star podcaster Joe Rogan, public figures are lining up to show their support for a potential presidential candidate that New Yorker magazine characterised as "Trump with a brain" - even if the divisive ex-president does run again.

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Florida has historically been considered a swing state - a key electoral battleground sometimes won by Democrats but also by Republicans.

Led by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, a top contender for the 2024 presidential nomination, that is no longer the case. Republicans have dominated recent elections there.

On Tuesday, Democratic voters will nominate DeSantis' opponent this November as they look to defy that losing streak.

They will choose between Charlie Crist, a Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat who ran the state from 2007 to 2011, and Nikki Fried, the agriculture commissioner and only Democrat to win a state-wide vote in 2018.

Beyond the governor's race, primary elections for Florida's 28 House seats are also taking place.

In the most competitive seat, a heavily Latino district in Miami, Democrats will choose a challenger to Maria Elvira Salazar, a Cuban-American who just completed her first term in office.

Young gun safety activist Maxwell Alejandro Frost is hoping his progressive credentials will see him beat a crowded 10-person field in the Orlando-based 10th district. Democrats are tipped to retain the seat in November.

And controversial Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz faces a tough test to hold his seat amid a federal investigation against him on sex trafficking charges. He has denied any wrongdoing.

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While New York and Florida will be the main focus today, voters are also heading to the polls in Oklahoma. The winner of the Republican primary there is heavily favoured to win election to the Senate in November.

The vote comes after 87-year-old Republican Jim Inhofe announced he was stepping down.

The retirement of Inhofe, a staunch conservative who once famously brought a snowball onto the Senate floor in an effort to show climate change was not real, has opened the door to a contest between two Trump loyalists.

Both men have embraced the former president's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

But it was Congressman Markwayne Mullin, who represents Oklahoma's second district in the US House of Representatives, who picked up the coveted Trump endorsement. He is the favourite to win Tuesday night's primary.

Not to be outdone, his opponent TW Shannon, a bank executive and former speaker of the Oklahoma House, has leaned in hard on issues like abortion. In one campaign ad, Shannon claimed that the Planned Parenthood non-profit was the "true face of white supremacy".

About 13% of Oklahoma's population is Native American, a voting demographic that could help either Mullin or Shannon in November. Both men are enrolled members of Native American tribes and could make history if elected as the lone Native member of the Senate.

Historically, the party that holds the White House tends to lose ground in the midterms.

Two years into his term, President Joe Biden has shown his hand in terms of policy and temperament, and voters unhappy with his tenure can restrain him over his remaining two years by lodging what is effectively a protest vote.

Since the end of World War Two, the president’s party has lost on average 26 seats in the House and four seats in the Senate. And almost no president is immune.

George W Bush’s Republicans took what he called a “thumping” in 2006, Barack Obama’s Democrats took a “shellacking” in 2010 and Donald Trump’s Republicans lost as many as 38 House seats in 2018.

Signs point to this being a so-called "wave election", in which the Republicans make major gains on the back of frustration with rising inflation and a sluggish economy under President Biden.

But political fortunes have shifted slightly in recent weeks, with Democrats notching a few legislative victories and Republicans adopting divisive positions on key issues.

Some election observers, however, predict the latter’s “red wave” may not be as large as initially anticipated.

We'll be watching for early signs of how the two parties are performing throughout the day.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from New York

I’m Kayla Epstein, a senior reporter with the BBC in New York City.

It’s primary day here – again – and I'll be making my way across town to interview voters as they choose their candidates.

The winners here will be on the ballot for election to the House of Representatives in November, which is the lower chamber of Congress.

New York elections are some of my favourites to cover, because they always feature dramatic rivalries, fascinating characters, and a ton of snappy soundbites. This year is no exception.

Thanks to a once-a-decade redistricting process that saw congressional seats radically altered, what was set to be a pretty straightforward batch of races has become an intense showdown among Democrats.

Stay tuned for updates, photos, and voices from the ground here in the city.

Image source, Getty Images

As we gear up for an intriguing election day, let's take a look at the basics. These primaries will decide who is on the ballot for the midterms.

Voters determine who represents them in government during midterm elections every four years.

Americans are represented at the federal level by 535 lawmakers, known as members of Congress.

Congress is made up of two chambers - the Senate and the House of Representatives. The two work together to make laws.

The Senate is the 100-strong upper chamber. Each US state - regardless of size - sends two representatives. These senators are elected for six-year terms. Every two years, a third of the Senate faces re-election.

The House has 435 members. Each one represents a particular district in their state and serves a two year term. All seats are up for election in November.

Also up for election this autumn are 36 out of 50 state governors. Governors are the chief executives and commanders-in-chief of their respective states.

They serve four-year terms, except in Vermont and New Hampshire, where a term only lasts two years.

Several local- and state-level positions will also be on the ballot. This includes crucial roles such as the Secretary of State, who is the chief elections official for any given state, and seats in the state legislature, where laws are introduced and passed at the state level.

There are a number of interesting races we'll be watching.

In Florida, Democrats are competing to run against state Governor Ron De Santis as well as Senator Marco Rubio. Both are considered potential Republican presidential candidates in 2024.

In New York, there are a host of highly-competitive primaries that will decide which Democrats can stand for election to Congress in the autumn.

There’s also a special election in one evenly divided district in upstate New York - meaning a Republican v Democrat race - that’s being viewed as a measure of how the two parties are performing more generally.

We have reporters on the ground in both states and they’ll be bringing you updates and analysis here throughout the day.

Voters in New York, Florida and Oklahoma are heading to the polls today to decide who will be on the ballot for November’s midterm elections.

The midterms will determine who controls Congress - and significantly shape the final two years of President Joe Biden’s term.

This is the last big election day after almost six months of primaries.

So with November looming ever nearer, we’ll take stock of what we’ve learned so far and explore some of the key issues that are driving voters to the polls.

As always, thank you for joining us.