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The Latest: Trump tweets support for GOP primary candidates

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on primaries being held Tuesday in Alabama, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota (all times local):
10:02 a.m.
President Donald Trump is urging Californians to vote Republican in the state's gubernatorial and congressional primaries.
Trump tweeted Tuesday: "In High Tax, High Crime California, be sure to get out and vote for Republican John Cox for Governor. He will make a BIG difference!"
The president also plugged California's GOP congressional candidates, specifically naming Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the No. 2 House leader, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes.
Trump tweeted: "Keep our country out of the hands of High Tax, High Crime Nancy Pelosi."
Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, hopes to reclaim the speaker's gavel if her party regains control of the chamber in November.
Trump also encouraged voters in Mississippi to "get out and vote" for Sen. Roger Wicker. In a tweet, Trump said Wicker "has done everything necessary to Make America Great Again!"
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9:28 a.m.
For years sidelined on the national political fringe, California has lurched to the center of the fight for control of Congress.
No state will be more consequential to the success or failure of a prospective blue wave this fall. Before then, Democrats must avoid self-inflicted wounds in Tuesday's so-called jungle primaries that feature a swarm of candidates who could cannibalize their own party's chances. Republicans face the embarrassing prospect of failing to nominate any candidates in Senate and gubernatorial races.
California tops a list of eight states holding primary contests on Tuesday.
With the possibility of a Democratic wave on the horizon, the elections from Montana to Alabama to New Jersey will test voter enthusiasm, candidate quality and President Donald Trump's influence as the 2018 political battlefield begins to settle.