On May 14th, voters in two states with opposed political ideologies determined primary elections that would have significant ramifications for the upcoming struggle for the Senate majority this fall. In West Virginia, Republican Gov. Jim Justice secured the GOP nominee for the Senate.
In preparation for the upcoming autumn elections, three states—Maryland, Nebraska, and West Virginia—conducted statewide primary elections. Maryland and West Virginia’s Senate primaries were the most important since Republicans have been trying to take over the Senate.
The primary election between Justice and Rep. Alex Mooney, who was running to succeed Sen. Joe Manchin, was likely to go down to the wire. The wealthy millionaire and Trump supporter Justice has widespread support in the Tar Heel State. In 2017, Justice made his transition from Democrat to Republican public during a Trump rally.
The candidates for governor of West Virginia are also being decided.
The Republican candidate for Senate, Patrick Morrisey, who ran against Joe Manchin in 2018, is seeking reelection. His opponent is former state representative Moore Capito (son of Senator Shelley Moore Capito).
Some leftists in Maryland were upset with Joe Biden’s stance on Israel and wanted people to choose “uncommitted” instead of Biden as their presidential candidate. However, this choice wasn’t available in West Virginia and Nebraska.
Former Capitol police officer Harry Dunn, who sought to capitalize on his presence during the January 6th demonstrations for a political and media career, lost the Maryland Congressional primary. There has never been any evidence to back up his assertion that Trump fans yelled the “N-word” at him, as Dunn claimed in his testimony before the US House. Dunn was behind Sarah Elfreth, the state senator from Maryland, by over ten percentage points.
It is unusual for a state to have its two senators up for election at the same time, but that is exactly what happened in Nebraska, where Republican Deb Fischer and Democratic Pete Ricketts are facing only minor challenges in their respective primaries.
Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Representative Don Bacon is up against a Republican opponent in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.
Brad Knott, who had been backed by Trump, was the winner of North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District Republican primary.
