How far can football take you in Alabama?

Voters go to the polls in Alabama, Maine, and Texas; the federal government carries out its first execution in 17 years. Tonight's Sentences was written by Cameron Peters. TOP NEWS Voters weigh in on 3 high-profile Senate races Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images - On Tuesday, voters will pick Senate candidates in three states: Maine, Alabama, and Texas. All three races could have implications for which party controls the chamber when a new Congress is sworn in next year. [[Vox / Ella Nilsen, Jane Coaston, and Cameron Peters](] - In Maine, incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins will get an official challenger. Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon is considered the favorite to win in a three-way Democratic primary and take on one of the GOP’s most vulnerable members in November. [[Portland Press-Herald / Kevin Miller](] - Collins is running unopposed in her primary and hopes to win a fifth Senate term in November, but more than three years of Trump have taken some of the shine off her reputation for independence, and her support has slipped too, putting her seat in toss-up territory. [[The Cut / Rebecca Traister](] - In Alabama, meanwhile, former Sen. Jeff Sessions is looking to become GOP Senate nominee Jeff Sessions once again. The onetime attorney general will face former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville in a runoff for the chance to challenge Sen. Doug Jones in November. [[Politico / James Arkin](] - Jones is the rarest of things in Alabama: a Democrat elected statewide. He beat out Roy Moore for the seat in 2017, but reelection will be harder: The Cook Political Report rates the race as “Lean R” this time around, and neither Sessions nor Tuberville has Moore’s vulnerabilities. [[Cook Political Report](] - Lastly, a runoff in Texas Tuesday will decide whether Sen. John Cornyn faces Air Force veteran MJ Hegar or state Sen. Royce West in November. Polls suggest that Hegar, who is backed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, has the edge over West. [[Texas Tribune / Alex Samuels](] - Beyond Tuesday’s contests, Democrats are eying an increasingly favorable, expanded Senate map come November. As Trump’s poll numbers sag nationally, Republicans in states like Iowa and Georgia are beginning to look vulnerable. [[Washington Post / Amber Phillips](] - Elsewhere — in anticipated Senate battleground states like Arizona, Colorado, and Maine — Democrat candidates are raking in massive fundraising hauls that in some cases tower over those of Republican incumbents. [[NPR / Domenico Montanaro](] - In Arizona, for example, Mark Kelly collected almost $13 million in Q2 2020. According to Politico’s John Bresnahan, that leaves him with close to $24 million in cash on hand in his race to unseat Sen. Martha McSally. [[Twitter / John Bresnahan](] - For more on Tuesday’s primaries, including a handful of interesting House contests, you can follow along with Vox’s live results hub [here](. [[Vox / Ella Nilsen, Jane Coaston, and Cameron Peters](] - Vox’s explanatory journalism plays a vital role in helping many understand this developing story. [Make a contribution today](. For the first time in 17 years, a federal execution - Early on Tuesday morning, the federal government carried out its first execution in 17 years. Daniel Lewis Lee, convicted of murdder, was put to death by lethal injection in Indiana. [[CNN / Ariane de Vogue, Chandelis Duster and David Shortell](] - The execution had been scheduled for Monday but was delayed by a court order and subsequent appeal. That order was eventually reversed by the US Supreme Court Tuesday in a 5-4 vote to allow the execution to proceed. [[Reuters / Jonathan Allen](] - In a dissenting opinion, however, justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg both cautioned directly that the constitutionality of executions is questionable, with Breyer urging that “the solution may be for this Court to directly examine the question whether the death penalty violates the Constitution.” [[SCOTUS](] - Lee, a white supremacist convicted of murdering three people in Arkansas, maintained his innocence until his execution Tuesday. His last words, according to NPR, were “you're killing an innocent man.” [[NPR / Carrie Johnson](] - The practice of executing federal prisoners was resumed only last year by Attorney General Bill Barr, and Lee is the first to be executed since then. Two more prisoners are set to be executed by the federal government this week. [[Washington Post / Mark Berman and Tim Elfrink](] - Lee’s death was also opposed by the family of the victims, who instead pushed for Lee to be sentenced to life in prison. Family members also protested that the coronavirus pandemic made it unsafe for them to travel to Indiana in order to witness the execution. [[AP / Andrew DeMillo](] MISCELLANEOUS Facing public pressure and multiple lawsuits, the Trump administration Tuesday rescinded a policy that would have forced some international students out of the US. [[Twitter / Hamed Aleaziz](] - The Obama administration cracked down on nursing homes with infection control problems. Dylan Matthews explains how Trump reversed course. [[Vox / Dylan Matthews](] - In a single day of protests following the death of George Floyd, police around the US partially blinded at least eight people. [[Washington Post / Meg Kelly, Joyce Sohyun Lee and Jon Swaine](] - On Monday, California reimplemented a partial lockdown as coronavirus cases there surge. German Lopez traces how things spun out of control. [[Vox / German Lopez](] - The UK is banning China telecom manufacturer Huawei from its 5G network [[CNN / Hadas Gold](] - Why everything is cake now [[NYT / Taylor Lorenz](] VERBATIM "Focusing on charging Amy Cooper lets white people off the hook from all that. They can scream for her head while leaving their own prejudices unexamined. They can push for her prosecution and pat themselves on the back for having done something about racism, when they’ve actually done nothing." [[Christian Cooper on why he has chosen not to participate in a criminal investigation into a racist police call / Washington Post](] LISTEN TO THIS [How an "opinion loophole" is enabling the spread of climate change misinformation.]( How an "opinion loophole" is enabling the spread of climate change misinformation. [[Spotify / Arielle Duhaime-Ross](] [Read more from Vox](#) [Some Covid-19 survivors have long-term complications. Doctors are struggling to treat them.]( [The Democratic Party’s most hated startup can’t change what happened in Iowa. But it can change its name.]( [Trump reduced fines for nursing homes that put residents at risk. Then Covid-19 happened.]( [Clean-energy technology isn’t ready to solve the climate crisis]( [How the pandemic scrambled Democrats’ campaign to retake statehouses]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving all emails from Vox. If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring [contribution](. View our [Privacy Notice]( and our [Terms of Service](. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved.