- Longtime lawmakers Charlie Rangel and Thad Cochran are fighting for political survival
- Their rates will be determined in two of the biggest primary contests
- Seven states hold primaries
- Other big races include a tea party vs. establishment showdown in Oklahoma
Jackson, Mississippi (CNN) -- Polls have closed in Mississippi and New York, where two of the longest serving members of Congress are fighting for their political lives.
The primary contests involving Republican Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and New York Rep. Charlie Rangel are two of the marquee races Tuesday as seven states from the East Coast to the Mountain West held primaries. Results are trickling in.
Also in the spotlight is a high-profile tea party vs. establishment Republican race in the GOP Senate primary in Oklahoma.
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Neither Cochran, nor his tea party challenger, Chris McDaniel, secured 50% of the vote in the Republican primary three weeks ago, which forced the race into a runoff. McDaniel, a state senator, edged out Cochran by less than 1,500 votes.
To clinch the GOP nomination, both sides and their allies have spent a lot of money to gin up more support. Cochran's backers are turning to Democrats, especially African-Americans who make up 37% of the state's population.
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Cochran's supporters have been actively reminding voters of the senator's work to secure federal funds for program relied upon by African-Americans, like Head Start and certain medical centers in the state.
It's the kind of message that Republicans barely tout these days, given the renewed focus on fiscal conservatism. But Cochran supporters view Democrats as key to their strategy to knock out McDaniel.
One precinct in a predominantly African-American area showed promising signs for Cochran: Voter turnout had tripled in the area compared to three weeks ago. But the question is whether McDaniel will get a boost, as well.
Mississippi law allows anyone to vote in the runoff, meaning Democrats can go to the polls so long as they didn't vote in the Democratic primary and they don't plan to support their party candidate in the general election.
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To make sure Democratic voters weren't voting illegally, conservative groups supportive of McDaniel dispatched volunteers to observe poll workers and whether they're turning away those who already showed up in the Democratic primary.
But that effort raised eyebrows from groups like the NAACP, which sent out their own volunteers to look for any signs of voter intimidation or interference.
Efforts to get-out-the vote among Democrats in the Republican runoff reflect the high stakes locally and nationally in the Cochran-McDaniel showdown, and illustrate the unscripted political realities of particular states that play out on Election Day.
Will Charlie Rangel lose his seat? 
Inside Mississippi Senate runoff Inside Mississippi Senate runoff It's unclear who will be crowned victor in this circus of a contest, but it's likely the race will be close.
Rangel's last dance
Win or lose, Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York says this is his last campaign.
The Korean War veteran, who was first elected to the House of Representatives 44 years ago, is trying keep from getting pushed out office by his main primary challenger, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, who came within around 1,100 votes of ousting Rangel in the Democratic primary two years ago.
Rangel, the former chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, was forced to step down from his post in 2010 and later that year he was censured by the House for ethics violations.
Just as damaging for Rangel was the redrawing of New York's 13th Congressional District after the 2010 election, from a Harlem-based, African-American-dominated district to one that now has a Hispanic majority, thanks to shedding parts of Harlem and adding other neighborhoods in northern Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.
Rangel, the "Lion of Harlem" and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said he didn't put up much of a fight in 2012.
"I didn't have a campaign last time. When he told me he was running, I was in Columbia Presbyterian with a viral infection in my spine."
This time, Rangel said he's ready.
"Well, I don't have a walker. I don't have a spinal injury."
Espaillat says Rangel is emblematic of all that ills Congress.
"This is a coalition of victory that is completely convinced that Washington is broken and that at the center of that dysfunction is a gentleman called Charles Rangel," he said Saturday.
Rangel's confidence was buoyed by a nonpartisan poll last week that indicated he held a 13-point lead over Espaillat, who if elected in November would become the first member of Congress born in the Dominican Republic.
But some political analysts say it's difficult to poll in the district and feel the race is much closer. Plus, Rangel suffered the embarrassment of failing to win endorsements from President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Tea party vs. establishment battle with a twist
Sen. Tom Coburn's announcement in January that he would step down at the end of the year -- with two years left in his term -- sparked a competitive primary in Oklahoma to replace the conservative senator.
There are seven candidates in the race, but the contest is really a battle between the two frontrunners: Rep. James Lankford and former state House Speaker T.W. Shannon.
For a party looking for more diversity, the 36-year old Shannon, who was the youngest speaker ever of the Oklahoma House, is an attractive choice.
He's part Native American and African-American. He's been backed by such tea party heroes as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
And some national anti-establishment organizations have pumped big bucks into the race in support of Shannon.
But many local tea party groups are keeping their distance, with some questioning Shannon's outsider credentials. In fact, Shannon's no stranger to politics. He worked for Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole and former congressman J.C. Watts before launching his own political career.
Lankford, who has risen through the ranks to become Republican Policy Committee Chairman -- the fifth-ranking House Republican -- in just two terms in Congress, is criticized by many on the right for his vote to raise the debt ceiling.
But labeling the Baptist minister with strong social conservative backing as an establishment candidate is a hard case to make.
The most recent polling in the contest gave Lankford the slight edge over Shannon. But with former state Sen. Randy Brogdon and the four other candidates grabbing some support, this race could be headed to an August 26 runoff.
CNN's Dana Davidsen, Alexandra Field and Julian Cummings contributed to this report.
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1lPWbdX
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