primary election
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishRelated topics: Votingprimary electionˌprimary eˈlection noun [countable] PPVan election in the US at which people vote to decide who will be a party’s candidate for a political position in the main electionExamples from the Corpusprimary election• So, 18 months before the primary election, their being together was news.• One of the contests on Tuesday was the primary election for Illinois's next governor.• Nine of those will be chosen in a state-wide primary election on March 12, the traditional date for delegate selection.