A primary election is an election that narrows the field of candidates before the general election. Presidential and statewide primary elections are partisan. Local elections are often non-partisan. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election.

Primaries are common in the United States, where their origins are traced to the progressive movement to take the power of candidate nomination from party leaders to the people.

Other methods of selecting candidates include caucuses, conventions, and nomination meetings. Historically, Canadian political parties chose their candidates through nominating conventions held by constituency riding associations. Canadian party leaders are elected at leadership conventions, although some parties have abandoned this practice in favor of one member, one vote systems.

Most countries in which primary elections are organized by parties, not the administration, generally distinguish only two types of primaries:

Eric Ivan Cantor (pronounced /ˈkæntɚ/; born June 6, 1963) is the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district, serving since 2001. A member of the Republican Party, he became House Majority Leader when the 112th Congress convened on January 3, 2011. He previously served as House Minority Whip from 2009 to 2011.

His district includes most of the northern and western sections of Richmond, along with most of Richmond's western suburbs and portions of the Shenandoah Valley. Cantor is the only Jewish Republican currently serving in the U.S. Congress, and the highest-ranking Jewish member of Congress in its history.

Cantor, the second of three children, was born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Mary Lee (née Hudes), a schoolteacher, and Eddie Cantor, who owned a real estate firm. His paternal family immigrated from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s and his maternal grandfather was born in Romania. His father was the state treasurer for Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. Cantor was raised in Conservative Judaism. He graduated from the Collegiate School in 1981. He enrolled at George Washington University (GW) in 1981, and as a freshman he worked as an intern for House Republican Tom Bliley of Virginia and was Bliley's driver in the 1982 campaign. Cantor was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity while at GW and received his Bachelor of Arts in 1985 He earned a Juris Doctor degree from William & Mary Law School in 1988, and received a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Columbia University in 1989.

Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for President of the United States in the 2012 election. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts (2003–07).

The son of Lenore and George W. Romney (Governor of Michigan, 1963–69), he was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In 1966, after one year at Stanford University, he left the United States to spend thirty months in France as a Mormon missionary. In 1969, he married Ann Davies, and the couple had five children together. In 1971, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Brigham Young University and, in 1975, a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University as a Baker Scholar. He entered the management consulting industry, which in 1977, led to a position at Bain & Company. Later serving as Chief Executive Officer, he helped bring the company out of financial crisis. In 1984, he co-founded the spin-off Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm that became highly profitable and one of the largest such firms in the nation. His net worth is estimated at $190–250 million, wealth that has helped fund his political campaigns. Active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served as Ward Bishop and later Stake President in his area near Boston. He ran as the Republican candidate in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, losing to long-time incumbent Ted Kennedy. In 1999, he was hired as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics; and he helped turn the fiscally troubled games into a success.

Addison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr. (born February 20, 1942), a Republican American, is the senior United States Senator from Kentucky and the Minority Leader. He is the longest serving U.S. Senator in Kentucky history.

McConnell was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama to Julia (née Shockley) and Addison Mitchell McConnell.

McConnell was raised in southern Louisville, Kentucky, where he attended the duPont Manual High School, and in 1964 he graduated with honors from the University of Louisville with a B.A. in political science. He was student body president and a member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. McConnell has maintained strong ties to his alma mater, and "remains a rabid fan of its sports teams." He graduated in 1967 from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was elected president of the Student Bar Association.

McConnell became a member of the 100th Division (Training), U.S. Army Reserve, in Louisville, Kentucky, during his final semester of law school; and he reported for his six months of active service, primarily for training, in July 1967. After induction at Fort Knox, Kentucky, McConnell was released early from his active-duty military service in August 1967. McConnell received a medical discharge for optic neuritis, which is a common manifestation of multiple sclerosis.

Bill de Blasio is a New York City elected official, holding the citywide office of New York City Public Advocate, which serves as an ombudsman between the electorate and the city government. De Blasio previously served as a New York City Council member representing the 39th District in Brooklyn (Borough Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, and Windsor Terrace).

As Public Advocate, de Blasio is first in line to succeed the New York City Mayor.

De Blasio was then elected to the New York City Council in 2001, and was subsequently re-elected in 2003 and 2005 to represent District 39, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, and Windsor Terrace. In the Council, de Blasio chaired the Committee on General Welfare, and is a member of the Education, Environmental Protection, Finance, and Technology in Government Committees.

In 1999, De Blasio was elected a member of Community School Board 15.