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© Reuters. A view exhibits the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., April 27, 2022. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
By Andy Sullivan and Jason Lange
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Voters in Republican-leaning Nebraska and West Virginia picked candidates for U.S. Congress and different state races on Tuesday, with a number of matchups once more testing former President Donald Trump’s sway with voters.
The contests are a part of a sequence of primaries that can set the stage for Nov. 8 elections by which Republicans are favored to win management of at the very least one chamber of Congress, which might give them the ability to deliver Democratic President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda to a halt.
In West Virginia, Alex Mooney, Trump’s most popular candidate, led David McKinley by 44.9% to 43.7% with 14% of the vote counted in an uncommon race that pits two incumbent Republican members of Congress in opposition to one another. The mountain state has misplaced a congressional seat as a result of its shrinking inhabitants.
Voting is because of proceed in Nebraska till 8:00 p.m. Central time (0100 GMT).
Trump has endorsed greater than 150 candidates this yr as he lays the groundwork for a doable presidential bid in 2024, amongst them “Hillbilly Elegy” creator J.D. Vance, who secured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Ohio final week.
Trump has additionally endorsed candidates in high-profile Senate primaries in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, set to happen later this month.
The congressional race in West Virginia pits Mooney, who has backed the previous president’s false accusations of fraud within the 2020 election, over McKinley, who’s backed by Governor Jim Justice.
McKinley has campaigned on his assist for Biden’s infrastructure package deal, which can ship billions of {dollars} in new spending for roads, bridges and different tasks to the low-income state. Mooney, like most Home Republicans, voted in opposition to the package deal.
In Nebraska, Trump has endorsed enterprise government Charles Herbster within the governor’s race. A number of ladies have accused Herbster of sexual harassment, a cost he denies. Herbster has filed a defamation lawsuit in opposition to one of many accusers, state Senator Julie Slama. Slama has filed a countersuit alleging battery.
Trump, who additionally faces a number of accusations of harassment and sexual assault, stated at a Could 1 rally that he believed Herbster is harmless.
Herbster faces Jim Pillen, a hog farmer and college board member who has drawn the backing of the present governor and lots of different political figures within the Midwestern farm state.
At that rally, Trump additionally urged his supporters to “vote like hell” in opposition to Republican Consultant Don Bacon, who has criticized Trump’s position within the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump stated he backed challenger Steve Kuehl. The winner of that main contest will face a aggressive November election within the Omaha-based district in opposition to the Democratic nominee, both Tony Vargas or Alisha Shelton.
Additionally in Nebraska, Republican voters within the jap a part of the state will choose a nominee to succeed former Consultant Jeff Fortenberry, who resigned in March after being convicted of mendacity to federal investigators about unlawful marketing campaign contributions.
State senator Mike Flood is favored to win that contest, which might put him in line for victory in November within the solidly Republican district. Flood has already gained the Republican endorsement for a June 28 particular election to fill Fortenberry’s vacant seat by way of January 2023.
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