TOP OF THE TICKET

Tuesday’s top elections are the Republican primaries to pick U.S. Senate nominees in Kentucky, Georgia and Oregon. Oregon Republicans select a challenger to first-term Sen. Jeff Merkley, who only recently emerged as a GOP target. Georgia is a crowded race, and a July runoff is likely. The biggest noise, although probably not the biggest suspense, will come in Kentucky.

GOP SHOWDOWN: KENTUCKY

There’s probably no one tea party conservatives would rather knock off than Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader who they view as too ready to compromise with Democrats. Their hopes were once high for Matt Bevin, a businessman making his first run for office.