Meet the Candidates: Congressional primaries in Maine, North Dakota and Virginia today

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By Congresspedia assistant editor Avelino Maestas

We've moved past the presidential primary season, and through the summer and early fall we'll be focusing these election-day posts on congressional races. States holding nominating contests for House and Senate seats today include Maine, North Dakota and Virginia, and there are a few interesting match-ups to note.

Virginia should play a pivotal role in the 2008 election cycle, since Democrats have been making inroads there — especially on the congressional level — for the past few years. Still, only a few of the state's congressional districts have comptetive primaries today. At the top of the ballot, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner is unopposed by other Democrats in the U.S. Senate race. Virginia Republicans, meanwhile, decided to nominate their candidate via convention, and chose Warner's predeccesor Jim Gilmore two weeks ago. Most of the activity is in House races, especially in the 8th and 10th districts.

Click through for more on the congressional primaries)

On the Democratic side, Matthew Famiglietti is trying to oust 8th district incumbent Rep. James P. Moran. The Republicans have two choices in that district: Mark Ellmore and Amit Singh. In the 10th district, incumbent Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R) is fending off a primary challenege by Vern McKinley, and the Democrats will nominate Judy Feder or Mike Turner. In the 11th District, four Democrats are vying for the chance to replace retiring Rep. Tom Davis (R). They are Lori P. Alexander, Leslie Byrne, Gerald E. Connolly and Douglas Denneny. Republican Keith Fimian is unopposed.

Maine features an open House seat this cycle: Rep. Tom Allen (D) is abandoning his 1st district seat to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins (another Democrat, Tom Ledue, is also in the race). Six Democrats and two Republicans are now angling for Allen's seat. Two front runners have emerged for the Democratic nod: Adam Cote and Chellie Pingree. Others seeking the Democratic nomination include Michael Brennan, Mark Lawrence, Steve Meister and Ethan Strimling. The Republicans are Dean Scontras and Charlie Summers.

In North Dakota, the board for November is already set: neither senator is up for re-election, and the candidates for the state's At-Large district have no primary competitors. Incumbent Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D) will therefore face presumptive Republican nominee Duane Sand.

Our citizen-journalists are busy updating Congresspedia’s Wiki-the-Vote project, but you can help inform your fellow citizens by adding information to candidate profiles. We have portal pages for every state, and we welcome your knowledge if you’ve got information that can be added. Here’s a quick guide to getting started, and you can always contact one of the staff editors for help.