Tuesday’s House Primary Results

Nebraska In last night’s Nebraska Senate primary, Midland University president Ben Sasse easily won the GOP nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Mike Johanns (R).  Sasse impressively scored 50 percent of the vote, followed by Sid Dinsdale's distant second place finish with 22 percent, and Shane Osborn's 21 percent. Mr. Sasse now becomes the overwhelming favorite to win the general election against attorney David Domina who won the Democratic nomination with two-thirds of the vote. In House races, veteran Rep. Lee Terry (R), who has experienced close calls in two of the last three general elections, won re-nomination with 54 percent of the vote against businessman Dan Frei. State Sen. Brad Ashford easily won the Democratic nomination, breaking 80 percent among his party's voters. The Omaha district will likely be competitive this fall, particularly with Terry putting forth a less than desired showing. In the other primary challenges, Reps. Jeff Fortenberry (R) and Adrian Smith (R) easily won re-nomination to new terms. Fortenberry topped 85 percent, while Smith scored 68 percent. West Virginia Both U.S. Senate nominations were foregone conclusions. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R) and Secretary of State Natalie Tennant (D) captured the overwhelming share of their respective party votes, as predicted. Capito topped 87 percent, while Tennant hit 80 percent. The general election will lean decidedly to Capito, at least in the early going. Since Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D) is retiring, converting West Virginia is one of the most important factors in the Republican quest and plan to capture the Senate majority. In the open 2nd Congressional District, former Maryland state Senator and Republican Party chairman Alex Mooney successfully became the Republican nominee in the adjacent state. Mooney scored 36 percent of the vote within the field of seven candidates.  On the Democratic side, former West Virginia Democratic Party chairman Nick Casey won a 60-40 percent victory over state Delegate Meshea Poore. While Nebraska Republicans turned out in far greater numbers than Democrats in the nation's only other primary of the evening, such was not the case in the Mountaineer State. In this district, both parties found virtually the same number of voters going to the polls, approximately 33,000 voters a piece. Mooney is considered the early favorite, but a competitive race is likely in the offing. In the 3rd District, veteran Rep. Nick Rahall (D) won a 66 percent victory in his Democratic primary, a race that saw over 45,000 voters cast ballots. He will face state Sen. Evan Jenkins who was unopposed in the Republican primary. This could become one of the premier congressional contests in the nation and ranks near the top of the GOP's national target list. For more information, please contact David Ashinoff at (202) 547-4733 or ashinoffd@agc.org.