By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

After a fortnight of incessant coverage of the back-to-back Democratic and Republican presidential conventions, the races for Congress and governor are beginning to reclaim some of the political spotlight.

Primary elections in seven states on Tuesday will nearly complete the intraparty voting prior to Election Day on Nov. 4. Three states have yet to hold primary elections — Massachusetts (Sept. 16), Hawaii (Sept. 20) and Louisiana (Oct. 4).

Here’s a quick roundup of the major races on Tuesday’s ballot that are worth watching through Election Day. Poll closing times are noted parenthetically and refer to eastern time. Clicking on a poll closing time will yield a list of candidates who are running in that state’s primary.

Please consult CQ Politics Tuesday night for comprehensive coverage of the vote returns.

• New Hampshire (Most close at 7 p.m.). In the 1st District, which includes Manchester and other communities in southeastern New Hampshire, a four-candidate Republican primary will determine an opponent for freshman Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter . She was a big upset winner in 2006 over Republican Rep. Jeb Bradley, who is seeking to reclaim his seat. This is a fairly competitive race, CQ Politics rates it Leans Democratic.

Five Republicans are vying to oppose freshman Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes in the 2nd District, which includes Nashua and Concord and is more Democratic-leaning than the 1st.

• Vermont (7 p.m.). There’s no Senate race in Vermont this year, and freshman Democratic Rep. Peter Welch should easily beat one primary opponent en route to winning re-election in November in the state’s at-large U.S. House district. There aren’t any contested primaries in the race for governor, which will pit Republican incumbent Jim Douglas against Democratic state House Speaker Gaye Symington.

• Delaware (8 p.m.). Democrats will be choosing either Lt. Gov. John Carney or state Treasurer Jack Markell as their candidate for governor. The Republicans almost certainly will nominate Bill Lee, a former state judge who ran a credible but losing campaign for governor in 2004 against Democratic Gov. Ruth Ann Minner , who’s not seeking re-election this year because of a state term limits law.

• Minnesota (9 p.m.). A system of pre-primary nominating conventions helped to thin the candidate fields in Minnesota. In the race for Senate, Democrats have a crowded primary field but are likely to nominate Al Franken, the comedian and author, to oppose Republican incumbent Norm Coleman , who has one minor primary opponent. Franken in June won the endorsement of the state Democratic party organization.

In the 3rd District, which takes in some politically competitive suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, neither Democratic lawyer Ashwin Madia nor Republican state Rep. Erik Paulsen is opposed in the primary. They are vying to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad . In the 6th District, a more Republican-leaning collection of suburbs, Democrat El Tinklenberg is unopposed in the Democratic primary as he prepares to challenge freshman Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann , who has one opponent in the GOP primary.

• New York (9 p.m. In the 10th District, a black-majority and overwhelmingly Democratic area of Brooklyn, 13-term Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns is opposed in the primary by political activist Kevin Powell. Towns in 2006 was renominated with less than a majority of the primary vote against two opponents.

Democrats have a crowded field in the 21st District, a decidedly Democratic-leaning district in and around Albany where the primary election winner surely will succeed retiring 10-term Rep. Michael R. McNulty .

The Democrats are staging serious takeover bids in four Republican-held districts: the 13th, where Republican Rep. Vito J. Fossella is retiring after more than a decade representing Staten Island and southwestern Brooklyn; the 25th, a mildly Democratic-leaning area in and around Syracuse that Republican Rep. James T. Walsh is giving up after 10 terms; the 26th, a Republican-leaning area near Buffalo and Rochester where Republican Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds is retiring; and the 29th, where Republican Rep. John R. “Randy” Kuhl Jr. is seeking a third term in the state’s Southern Tier. The Democrats have competitive primaries in the 13th and 26th Districts, while Republicans have a multi-candidate primary only in the 13th (which is also the toughest district in this quartet for the GOP to hold.)