Vox Sentences - AOC 2.0?

Voters go to the polls for primaries in Kentucky, New York, and Virginia; Saudi Arabia imposes strict limits on traveling for the hajj.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Cameron Peters.

• Voters are heading to the polls this Tuesday for primaries in three states — Kentucky, New York, and Virginia — as well as runoffs in Mississippi and North Carolina. [NPR / Domenico Montanaro and Elena Moore]
• In New York, a slate of progressive challengers are looking to follow in the footsteps of first-term Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to unseat longtime Democratic House members. Reps. Eliot Engel and Yvette Clarke are thought to be two of the most vulnerable incumbents. [Politico / Zach Montellaro, Sarah Ferris, and Ally Mutnick]
• Educator Jamaal Bowman, who has garnered endorsements from Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and the New York Times, is Engel’s main challenger in New York’s 16th District. At least one recent poll has shown Bowman with a double-digit lead over the 16-term incumbent. [NYMag / Alex Carp]
• New York’s deep-blue 15th District, meanwhile, lacks an incumbent on the ballot. Twelve candidates are seeking the open Democratic nomination for the seat — and despite the district’s politics, a homophobic, pro-Trump city council member is one of the leading contenders. [CBS News / Grace Segers]
• And there’s a special election in New York’s 27th District, where voters will pick a replacement for former Rep. Chris Collins, who was convicted on charges of insider trading in January. Republican state Sen. Chris Jacobs will face 2018 Democratic candidate Nate McMurray for the seat. [Roll Call / Bridget Bowman, Niels Lesniewski, Stephanie Akin, and Chris Cioffi]
• The Democratic primary for Kentucky Senate will pit a progressive against the party establishment: Though Amy McGrath leads the primary with the backing of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, state Rep. Charles Booker has begun to close the gap in recent weeks. [NYT / Jonathan Martin]
• Whoever wins in Kentucky Tuesday will still have their biggest challenge ahead of them: taking on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the general election this November. As Vox’s Ella Nilsen writes, McGrath’s and Booker’s candidacies represent two very different potential challenges to McConnell. [Vox / Ella Nilsen]
• Across the board, it might take a while to find out who won Tuesday’s contests. The coronavirus pandemic means that many more people than usual are likely to vote absentee, slowing the vote-tallying process. [CNN / Gregory Krieg and Alex Rogers]
• For up-to-the-minute primary night coverage, you can follow along with Vox’s live results tracker for Tuesday’s primaries. [Vox / Ella Nilsen, Emily Stewart, Li Zhou, and Cameron Peters]

• In 2020, Saudi Arabia's annual hajj pilgrimage will look very different. A Saudi official said Tuesday that the country hopes to limit participation in the event, slated to begin July 28, to “1,000 or less, or a little more” as a public health precaution amid the coronavirus pandemic. [AP / Aya Batrawy]
• The remarks follow a Monday announcement by Saudi Arabia that only residents of the kingdom or foreigners already inside the country would be allowed to participate in the pilgrimage, which frequently draws millions of Muslims seeking to visit the city of Mecca. [NYT / Ben Hubbard]
• The hajj is central to Islam, which makes its near-cancellation especially difficult. Completing the pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam; every Muslim must do so at least once in their lifetime if they are able. [Washington Post / Sarah Dadouch]
• To date, Saudi Arabia has reported about 160,000 cases of the coronavirus, as well as 1,300 deaths. The country’s lockdown was just lifted on Sunday, though umrah, another pilgrimage to Mecca, is still suspended. [Financial Times / Ahmed Al Omran]

[NYT / Matina Stevis-Gridneff]

• How the NYPD protects its own and evades accountability. [ProPublica / Eric Umansky]
• “We’re criminalized simply because of who we are”: Why Black trans Americans are disproportionately afflicted by police brutality. [Vox / Katelyn Burns]
• A Washington Post reconstruction shows how two National Guard helicopters used war-zone tactics against DC protesters. [Washington Post / Alex Horton, Andrew Ba Tran, Aaron Steckelberg, and John Muyskens]

[Journalist Wesley Lowery on role race plays in the idea of objectivity in the media / NYT]

One of Netflix’s biggest mistakes helped build its weird culture.

On the first episode of Land of the Giants: The Netflix Effect, hosts Rani Molla and Peter Kafka dive into the company's culture. [Spotify / Peter Kafka and Rani Molla]

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