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Trump-Backed Candidates Split Results In Key Republican Primaries In West Virginia, Nebraska

   DailyWire.com
UNITED STATES - MAY 4: Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., leaves the Capitol after the House passed the Republicans' bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on May 4, 2017.
Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call.

Republican voters went to the polls on Tuesday night to decide their nominees for key races in West Virginia and Nebraska. 

West Virginia Republicans chose Trump-backed Congressman Alex Mooney by a wide margin over Congressman David McKinley in the primary for the state’s 2nd Congressional District. Mooney took 54.2% of the vote, while McKinley earned 35.6%. 

The two incumbent Republicans ended up in the same district after West Virginia lost one congressional seat following the 2020 Census. McKinley was heavily criticized by Trump for his vote in favor of President Biden’s infrastructure bill, and the former president chose to endorse Mooney saying he “will always protect our Second Amendment, and of particular importance is the fact that Alex fights for energy and beautiful clean coal — and he will never stop.”

The two faced off in a bitter campaign with McKinley calling Mooney a “carpetbagger” for being a prominent figure in the Maryland GOP before moving to West Virginia in 2014. Mooney had described his fellow Republican as “a total RINO.”

“He voted for the January 6th commission to investigate Donald Trump and his allies,” Mooney said at a rally in Pennsylvania. “He was one of 13 so-called Republicans to vote for the Joe Biden-Pelosi non-infrastructure $1.2 trillion spending package.”

McKinley had the support of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Republican Governor Jim Justice. Mooney will face Democratic nominee Barry Wendell, a former Morgantown official, in November. 

Nebraska Republicans chose a University of Nebraska official to be their gubernatorial nominee over a Trump-endorsed candidate and another moderate. 

University of Nebraska regent Jim Pillen took 33.9% of the vote, while Trump-endorsed Charles Herbster finished second with 30.2%, and state Senator Brett Lindstrom earned 25.8%. Pillen’s campaign benefitted from the support of outgoing GOP Governor Pete Ricketts, who paid for millions of dollars of TV ads for the 66-year-old Pillen. 

Herbster’s campaign was damaged by groping allegations, and he was the first Trump-backed candidate to go down this election cycle while Lindstrom separated himself from Trump and focused on urban voters. 

Pillen, who played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, said he would focus on investing in the state’s youth.

“We all agree, we’re all in unison, we never ever, ever, give up on kids,” he stated. “We’re going to invest the farm in our kids, so all of our kids know, the grass is greenest in Nebraska.”

Pillen has also taken action to target Critical Race Theory in the classroom and opposed males who identify as females from participating in women’s sports. 

He will face Democratic state Senator Carol Blood in November.

According to The New York Times, Democrats have not won statewide in Nebraska since 2006. 

In Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District primary, incumbent Trump critic Rep. Don Bacon defeated challenger Steve Kuehl, who was not endorsed by the former president, but was wished “good luck.” Bacon will face Democrat state senator Tony Vargas in what is expected to be a competitive race.

State senator Mike Flood won the GOP nomination to represent Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District. It is the seat that was held by former Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who stepped down in March after being convicted of lying to the FBI. Flood is expected to defeat the Democrat nominee in November’s general election.

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