(Bloomberg) -- Illinois headlines several primaries taking place on Tuesday, with its Republican gubernatorial contest between a candidate backed by billionaire Ken Griffin and another recently endorsed by former president Donald Trump.

Leading the Illinois GOP polls are Darren Bailey, a Bible-quoting state senator who was endorsed by Trump at a Southwestern Illinois rally over the weekend and Richard Irvin, the Black mayor of the state’s second-largest city who has received about $50 million from Griffin, who recently announced that he was moving Citadel, the financial giant he founded in Chicago, to Miami. 

Bailey and Irvin are among six Republicans vying to challenge Governor J.B. Pritzker, the overwhelming favorite to win the Democratic primary, in the November general election. Pritzker, himself a billionaire scion of the Hyatt hotel fortune, faces retired Army Major Beverly Miles on Tuesday. Illinois polls close at 8 pm New York time. 

There are primaries in Colorado, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah, with a gubernatorial primary in New York. New York’s incumbent Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to handily win the party’s primary. US Representative Lee Zeldin is the front-runner among Hochul’s Republican challengers. 

Tuesday’s primaries take place amid a political environment marked by recent US Supreme Court rulings overturning abortion, and an expansion of gun rights. Earlier Tuesday, a former White House aide provided gripping testimony to the House committee hearings on Jan. 6 that offered a vivid portrait of a violent and out-of-control Trump in his presidency’s final weeks. 

In other Illinois primary contests, Representative Rodney Davis is up against fellow Republican Representative Mary Miller to represent a redrawn congressional district. Trump’s rally over the weekend was on behalf of Miller, whom he endorsed. 

US Representative Danny Davis faces a challenge from progressive Kina Collins and US Representative Marie Newman is up against fellow Democrat US Representative Sean Casten. Newman has publicly said that she got an abortion when she was 19 years old. 

Nebraska has a special election Tuesday to replace former US Representative Jeff Fortenberry. 

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