This is Election Night in America.

And thus we have this special edition of the beat, with voters hitting the polls in five states, Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington.

Steve Kornacki is breaking it down live for us in just moments.

You see him there with the first polls closing in just two hours.

Voters weighing in amidst these very busy times. The issues

range from, well, just this week's foreign policy breakthrough over Al-Qaeda to the first

midterm referendum since the Supreme Court struck down those Roe v. Wade protections. Indeed, I can tell

you that issue is alive in Kansas, where Republicans are now doubling down, pushing this vote

that would green light

full abortion bans. We're tracking that tonight, while some of the Democratic Party's most

outspalcan liberals are trying to fight off more moderate challenges. That's a dynamic recently on display,

where progressives saw some losses in San Francisco, which is known as a progressive place.

Then there's the future of democracy itself today. With the Republican Party in some places like Arizona deciding through its voters

tonight whether the party's nominees for top jobs are backers of the big lie of baseless election

fraud claims, of attacks on the way we do nonpartisan democracy

in this country, with Trump endorsed candidates currently viewed as frontrunners, including

a MAGA governor candidate who's already pushing baseless claims of fraud, Kerry Lake.

And then there's the GOP's ongoing internal battle over its few members who do stand up to Trump, including

three Republicans who voted to impeach then President Trump facing now primaries tonight.

There is just a lot more at stake than a typical off-year primary night and a lot more

issues. As the political gurus de la Soe put it, issues closed like an elevator door,

but reopened once we get to the next floor. The stakes is high. You know them stakes is high.

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