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Voters went to the polls in Nebraska and West Virginia on Tuesday, with Democrats vying for the chance to run in an open seat in Nebraska that the party has long been eyeing.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon is retiring in January, leaving a seat open in a district that has voted for Democrats in three of the last five presidential elections. Several Democrats are vying for the chance to take on Republican nominee Brinker Harding, a member of the Omaha City Council who ran unopposed in the GOP primary.
Also in Nebraska, GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts defeated a slew of primary challengers. and Cindy Burbank won the Democratic nomination, CBS News has projected — but the state Democratic party has endorsed Dan Osborn, who is running in November as an independent.
And in West Virginia, Capito fended off five primary challengers, and five Democrats are on the ballot to secure the nomination for November.
Nebraska 2nd District
The leading Democratic hopefuls in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District have been battling over whether one candidate’s campaign damages the party’s competitiveness in the area.
Nebraska state Sen. John Cavanaugh and political organizer Denise Powell are leading a crowded Democratic primary for Bacon’s Omaha-area seat, which he has held for five terms. But Mr. Trump has lost the district in his last two presidential elections, and Democrats have long viewed it as an opportunity to pick up a seat.
Also at issue in the race is how deep-red Nebraska splits its electoral college votes in presidential elections. The state currently awards most of its votes by congressional district, giving Democratic presidential candidates a chance to deny Republicans of at least one vote in the 2nd Congressional District.
Powell argues that Cavanaugh’s potential success gives Republicans an opportunity to change how the state awards its electoral college votes to a winner-take all system because, if Cavanaugh leaves the state legislature, GOP Gov. Jim Pillen will be able to appoint an interim replacement.
Nebraska Senate seat
Ricketts was nominated in 2023 to finish the rest of former GOP Sen. Ben Sasse‘s term, and he won a special election the following year to finish the term. He is now running for his first full term.
Ricketts, a former governor and the son of Nebraska billionaire Joe Ricketts, defeated four primary challengers on Tuesday, with Ricketts having been backed by President Trump and the Nebraska Farm Bureau. Ricketts is already focusing on a matchup against Osborn in November.
Osborn, a former labor leader from Omaha, is running as an independent, but he has been endorsed by the Nebraska Democratic Party for the general election. Osborn took on Republican incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer in 2024 and came up less than 7 points of her in a state that Mr. Trump won by over 20 points. But Ricketts was also on the ballot that year, and won his race by more than 25 points against a Democratic challenger.
Nebraska has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2006, when Sen. Bill Nelson defeated Ricketts.
Two Democrats were on the ballot on Tuesday, although Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen in March had sought to remove the projected winner — Burbank — from the ballot for not being a “good-faith” candidate because she has said she will back Osborn for the general election. The Nebraska Supreme Court later reinstated her candidacy, saying Evnen’s complaint had been filed too late.
Burbank’s campaign website accused the other Democrat on the ballot, pastor William Forbes, of trying to get on the ballot in November to divert votes from Osborn. Her campaign website said Osborn deserves a “fair shot against Ricketts.”
“William Forbes is a Ricketts plant,” Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb posted on social media last week. “Don’t let the MAGA Republicans mess with our primary. Vote for Cindy Burbank.”
Both Ricketts and Forbes have insisted that Forbes’ candidacy is in good faith. Forbes, who is anti-abortion, told CNN he voted for Mr. Trump multiple times but said he is a lifelong Democrat.
There are also two Legal Marijuana NOW party candidates running on Tuesday, although one candidate, Early Starkey, and the former party chair have accused the other candidate, Mike Marvin, of being a “Dan Osborn plant,” which Marvin denied to the Nebraska Examiner. The Examiner also reported that Burbank paid Marvin’s filing fee, which she said was because “Mike’s check was for ten dollars too much.”
Osborn, who is not on the primary ballot Tuesday since he is running as an independent, has raised over $3.8 million this year and faces an Aug. 3 deadline to get enough signatures to be on the ballot in November. Ricketts has raised over $4.8 million.
Other races
Pillen defeated five GOP primary challengers in the Nebraska gubernatorial race, and former state Sen. Lynne Walz won the Democratic primary, CBS News projected.
And in West Virginia, two-term incumbent Sen. Capito, a Republican, defeated state Sen. Tom Willis and four other challengers on Tuesday, CBS News has projected. Moore Capito has received Mr. Trump’s endorsement. Five Democrats are running for the Democratic nomination to the Senate seat.
