Overall, this was a separate decision for Trump. And while his ownership of the Republican Party remains strong, the results in Nebraska show that they are not complete – especially when he supports a candidate like wealthy businessman Charles Herbster, who faces numerous allegations of sexual misconduct (all of which he denied).
The clear winner in Nebraska, however, was the state’s Republican Establishment.
University of Nebraska board member Jim Pilan, the predicted winner of CNN’s primary, was backed by limited-term Gov. Pete Ricketts, and Republican incumbent Don Bacon, who took a few blows from Trump, also won a nomination. Former MP Jeff Fortenberry, a Republican who resigned earlier this year after being convicted of a federal crime but remained on the ballot, was blown away by a Ricketts-backed candidate.
Here are four excerpts from Tuesday night’s primary – and a look ahead to more stress tests for Trump next week.
Trump’s winning victory lies in Nebraska
Trump’s midterm election ended Tuesday night in Nebraska.
A week after the former president entered the state and spoke for two hours at a rally for Herbster in the Republican gubernatorial primary, a large majority of voters rejected his advice and elected Pilen, a Republican-backed candidate.
Trump has presided over an era in which all politics is increasingly nationalized, but a century-old proverb prevails in the fierce competition of gubernatorial primary elections: All politics is still local.
In one of the most costly and vicious political campaigns in Nebraska’s recent memory, Ricketts’ approval was paramount. Rickett not only supported Pilen and led his campaign from the start, he also invested millions of his own money to defeat Herbster.
Trump called on voters to ignore allegations of sexual misconduct against Herbster, saying eight women’s allegations were “malicious.” At a rally on May 1, Trump said, “He was badly abused and it’s a shame. That’s why I came here.”
In the end, words of support for the former president and his visit to Nebraska did not save Herbster, a wealthy agribusinessman with close ties to the Trump family. He did not reach Pilen, but seems to have received more votes than an alternative Republican candidate, Senator Brett Lindstrom.
For Trump, this was not his only failure of the night.
Nebraska GOP gets the games it wants in home competitions
Representative Don Bacon, a Republican who angered the former president for supporting the two-party infrastructure plan, easily won Tuesday’s primary election despite calls for Trump to defeat him.
Bacon lightly criticized the former president during the riots in the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 and voted for Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure legislation. Speaking in Nebraska earlier this month, Trump called Bacon a “bad guy” and called out his rival, businessman Steve Kuhl.
“Good luck, Steve,” Trump said, “who the hell you are.”
In the end, even those kind words were not enough. Trump did not support the race, and Bacon already has a meeting in November with the predicted winner of the Democratic primary, CNN Senator Tony Vargas. Highly valued in democratic circles, Vargas is expected to legitimately challenge Bacon in the Omaha-centered county that Biden won in the 2020 presidential election.
While Trump won Nebraska with 58% of the vote in 2020 – and will almost certainly win again if he decides to run for president in 2024 – the result of the state’s primary election showed the limits of the strength of his approval. And even greater trials for Trump are yet to come this month in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and beyond.
Meanwhile, the political fate of former MP Jeff Fortenberry, who resigned in late March after being convicted of lying to the FBI, was sealed by Republican primary voters in the state’s 1st Congressional District.
Fortenberry did not run a campaign, but Trump publicly defended him and his name was locked in the ballot – and if he had won, he would have started a complex GOP process in a solid red area. In the end, however, State Senator Mike Flood, backed by both current Gov. Pete Ricketts and former Gov. Dave Heinemann, easily won the nomination, CNN predicted Tuesday night. He will be a big favorite against Democrat Patti Pansing Brooks in the general election.
Trump heads the judiciary, Manchin in the West Virginia primary
If Nebraska most often ignores the former president, at least for one night, West Virginia has doubled on Trump’s advice.
MP Alex Mooney, the Trump-backed candidate in the first primary election of the year against the incumbent, chaired MP David McKinley in the Republican Party’s primary election for the 2nd Congressional District of West Virginia on Tuesday night. The race quickly became one of the fiercest in the country, with Mooney attacking McKinley for voting in favor of a two-party infrastructure plan, and McKinley accusing Mooney, who had previously run for the Maryland post, of being a carpet seeker.
A bipartisan group of power centers in West Virginia has tried to save the more pragmatic McKinley, including Republican Gov. Jim Justice and Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin. But in a country that backed Trump by nearly 40 percentage points in 2020, Mooney made the former president’s support the focal point of his campaign so McKinley could overcome it.
The victory further strengthened Trump’s power over the Republican Party and his desire for revenge. Trump backed Mooney mainly as a means of removing McKinley, who angered the former president for supporting infrastructure legislation that won President Joe Biden’s victory, and for supporting a bipartisan investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Senate Republicans killed the idea.
Even so, Trump remains largely the only approval that matters in the Republican primary, forcing candidates, especially those in controversial contests, to continue campaigning to his liking.
Democrats with big decisions and a key test for Trump is ahead
The first few rounds of the 2022 primary election doubled as a testament to Trump’s ability to subdue the Republican Party to his will. This theme will continue on the list next week, especially in Pennsylvania, where his approved Senate nominee, Dr. Mehmet Oz, is locked in what is being shaped as a tripartite race, with David McCormick and Cathy Barnett, for the GOP nomination. .
Trump is also seeking a diversion to North Carolina, where his approved Republican Senate nominee, Ted Bud, has led former Gov. Pat McCrory, former U.S. envoy Mark Walker and Marjorie Eastman in polls.
But the May 17 primaries will also ask big questions of the Democratic Party, which will choose its own candidate for the open seat in the Keystone State Senate. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a progressive stableman, is the front-runner in the race, and moderate Connor Lamb is his closest rival, according to recent studies.
Pennsylvania, Oregon and North Carolina are also home to a handful of Democratic primarys that pit the Progressives against the Moderates, which in several races have been boosted by remarkable amounts of external spending.
Most of the contested primary is open, but in Oregon’s redesigned 5th Congressional District, MP Kurt Schroeder faces a severe challenge from Jamie McLeod-Skinner, whose local supporters clashed with the Democratic leadership in Washington.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly pointed to the county seat, where Republican Alex Mooney defeated MP David McKinley in Tuesday’s Republican primary. This was the 2nd district of West Virginia.
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