DDHQ Morning News Spotlight: A Recap of the Nebraska and West Virginia Primaries

Welcome to this morning’s Decision Desk HQ Morning News Spotlight on Elections Daily as part of the Decision Desk HQ News Network.

You can find full results from yesterday’s primaries in Nebraska and West Virginia at results.decisiondeskHQ.com

Morning Headlines

• West Virginia Rep. Alex Mooney emerged victorious over fellow Congressman David McKinley in the newly drawn 2nd Congressional District. Mooney continued the streak of candidates endorsed by former President Trump winning primaries. David McKinley had been endorsed by West Virginia US Senator Joe Manchin. The state’s other representative, Carol Miller, easily fended off four primary challengers in her contest. West Virginia lost one of its congressional seats in redistricting. David McKinley’s district was primarily the one that was split, and it looks like he will be the odd man out.
• Nebraska saw the closest high-profile contest of the night. The Republican primary for governor saw many lead changes within the top three candidates. University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen ended the night on top though, ending the streak of Trump endorsees winning their contests. Trump’s choice, Charles Herbster, finished in second but had been dogged throughout his campaign by allegations from 8 women, including a sitting state senator, of sexual assault. Brett Lindstrom had a lead early but eventually fell to third. Pillen will face Carol Blood, who easily won yesterday’s Democratic primary, in the November general election.
• In Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, state Senator Mike Flood easily won the open seat left vacant after former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry resigned following his conviction of lying to the FBI. Fortenberry’s resignation and ceasing of campaigning came too late for him to be removed from the ballot. He finished the five-way race in second place with just over 11% of the vote. The state’s two incumbent Congressmen Don Bacon and Adrian Smith both easily won over their primary challenges. Bacon will take on Tony Vargas, who emerged from the 2nd Congressional District’s Democratic primary, in the November general election for a district that could be competitive.
• A federal judge in New York has ordered the state to push its Congressional and state senate primaries back to August 23. It was a final effort by Democrats trying to keep their redistricting plan alive by arguing the primary needs to take place on its original scheduled date in June. The judge instead ruled that the maps will be redrawn by a special master and that pushing back the date of the primary just for those contests that will be affected is necessary to give them the proper time. Democrats were hoping to net a three-seat gain out of the New York redistricting process, but that will likely not be the case now.
• New York Republican Rep. Tom Reed announced on the House floor yesterday that he will be resigning from Congress effective immediately. Reed had previously announced he would not seek reelection after allegations were made against him of sexual misconduct that he did not deny. The immediate resignation leaves seven months left in his term that will now need to be filled by a special election. New York Rep. Antonio Delgado has also announced he will leave Congress to be the state’s next Lt. Governor but has yet to announce the date of his departure. That vacancy will also need to be filled by a special election, and with New York’s primary just being split into two dates, the state has a busy election season ahead.

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