Primary election: Trump’s candidate will win in West Virginia but fall short in

On May 11, 2022

West Virginia Rep. Alex Mooney, who made Trump’s endorsement the centerpiece of his campaign in the first incumbent vs. incumbent primary of the year, will win the GOP nomination for the state’s 2nd Congressional District, CNN projects. But Nebraska Republican Jim Pillen, a hog farmer and University of Nebraska Board of Regents member who ran with the support of term-limited Gov. Pete Ricketts, will defeat a Trump-backed candidate for the state’s GOP gubernatorial nod, CNN projects.

Trump had backed Charles Herbster, a businessman, farmer and rancher who is facing allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied. The former President traveled to the state earlier this month to defend Herbster at a rally, claiming that he was a “fine man” who “had been badly maligned.”

Trump’s influence has been felt throughout May’s GOP primaries as candidates clamor for his support, especially after his pick won in the Ohio Senate race last week. The candidates he backed in Tuesday’s marquee contests stood beside him throughout his baseless campaign to raise doubts about the 2020 presidential election.

Mooney, a former Maryland state senator, had faced six-term Rep. David McKinley after the Mountain State lost a district in the post-census reapportionment process.

West Virginia, a state Trump has twice won overwhelmingly, tested the significance of his support. Mooney had won Trump’s endorsement in part because he objected to the Pennsylvania electoral count as Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

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Speaking on Tuesday night, Mooney touted the importance of the former President’s endorsement and said he might have to interrupt his victory speech at any moment to take a call from Trump.

“Donald Trump loves West Virginia and West Virginia loves Donald Trump,” Mooney said. He nodded to Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s backing of McKinley, which had included an ad the senator cut attacking Mooney. “We won anyway,” Mooney said.

Mooney teased a potential bid for US Senate against Manchin, who’s facing reelection in 2024. “This is the second time Joe Manchin has done a TV ad attacking me. I’m 2-for-0 against him. Maybe I should make it 3-and-0,” he said to cheers.

McKinley had voted to certify Biden’s win and had backed the formation of an independent commission to investigate the January 6, 2021, insurrection — an effort that was ultimately spiked in the Senate but nonetheless earned Trump’s wrath. He also supported the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, which Trump railed against.

Mooney, who was first elected to the House in 2014, had attacked McKinley as “a liberal” for supporting that bipartisan legislation, but there was no subtlety in his ads as he touted the former President’s endorsement.

One of them framed as a “MAGA Alert” accused McKinley of supporting “(House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi’s anti-Trump, January 6th witch hunt.” And a radio ad running throughout the district in the closing days featured Trump calling Mooney “a warrior.”

Mooney described his victory on Tuesday as a win against Pelosi and government officials who he said had overreached with mask and Covid-19 protocols.

Besides Manchin, who had praised McKinley for opposing…

Primary election: Trump’s candidate will win in West Virginia but fall short in

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