ANAPOLIS, Maryland – Voters in Maryland and West Virginia will decide key primary elections on Tuesday, with major implications for the fight for the Senate majority this fall.
At the same time, Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump hope to project strength in the low-stakes presidential primaries, while later in the vote, two congressional candidates on opposite sides of the 2021 Capitol attack serve as a stark reminder of that the nation remains deeply divided over the deadly insurrection.
In all, three states will host state primary elections on Tuesday — Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia — as Republicans and Democrats choose their nominees for a series of fall elections. None are more consequential than the Senate primaries in Maryland and West Virginia, where Republicans are looking for comeback opportunities that could shift control of Congress’ upper chamber for at least two years.
In Maryland, former Republican governor Larry Hogan hopes to dominate the state Senate’s GOP primary despite his years-long criticism of Trump, who Hogan describes as a threat to democracy. The former two-term governor would be the blue state’s first Republican senator in more than four decades.
It’s unclear whether Trump supporters will ultimately embrace Hogan. In total, six other Republicans are challenging the 67-year-old former governor.
On the Democratic side, Rep. David Trone is locked in a contentious — and expensive — battle with Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
Trone, the co-founder of Total Wine & Another national liquor store chain invested more than $61 million of its own money in the race. That’s slightly less than the national record for self-funding a Senate campaign, with much of that going toward a months-long TV ad campaign. The three-term congressman says he is best positioned to defeat Hogan in November as a progressive Democrat who is not tied to special interests.
Race has been an issue in the primaries, with Alsobrooks working to become Maryland’s first black U.S. senator. Trone apologized in March for what he said was his inadvertent use of a racial slur during a budget hearing.
Alsobrooks, who serves as chief executive of Maryland’s second-largest jurisdiction with the highest number of registered Democrats in the state, has been endorsed by many of the state’s top officials, including Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Rep. Steny Hoyer and a long list of state legislators.
She campaigned on increasing economic opportunities, investing in education and protecting the right to abortion.
Meanwhile, in West Virginia, the Republican Senate primary will likely decide to retire Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s replacement, given the state’s overwhelming Republican lean.
Republican Gov. Jim Justice and U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney are the Republican Party’s leading candidates. With Manchin gone, the seat will almost certainly turn red in November.
The Trump-endorsed judge, a former billionaire with a folksy personality that has made him wildly popular in the state, is the favorite against Mooney and five other lesser-known Republicans. A former Democrat, Justice switched to the Republican Party in 2017. He announced the switch at a Trump rally.
Mooney tried to win over conservatives by labeling Justice a “RINO” – meaning “Republican in Name Only” – who would support Democratic policies. Justice backed Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, saying West Virginia could not afford to turn down the money offered in the project. Mooney voted against.
On the other hand, Democrats are choosing between Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, who has Manchin’s support, and Marine Corps veteran Zach Shrewsbury, who has the support of Progressive Democrats of America. Also in the Democratic primary: former Republican Don Blankenship, who was convicted of violating safety regulations after 29 people died in a 2010 coal mine explosion.
West Virginia is also deciding its gubernatorial candidates.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican candidate in the 2018 Senate race against Manchin, is running for the Republican nomination. He faces the children of two members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation: car dealer Chris Miller, whose mother is Rep. Carol Miller, and former state Rep. Moore Capito, whose mother is Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner is also in the Republican Party race.
On the Democratic side, Huntington Mayor Steve Williams is unopposed.
There is much less drama in Tuesday’s presidential primary.
Biden and Trump have already gathered enough delegates to claim presidential nominations at their respective national conventions this summer. However, voters on both sides are hoping to cast a significant protest vote on Tuesday that demonstrates their dissatisfaction with the Biden-Trump rematch.
Maryland progressives, especially unhappy with the Biden administration’s support of Israel in its war against Hamas, are encouraging voters to select “uncommitted to any presidential candidate” over Biden. There is no noncommittal option in West Virginia or Nebraska.
Everett Bellamy, a Democrat who voted early in Annapolis, said he voted “non-committal” instead of Biden to protest the killing of women, children and non-combatants in Gaza.
“I have to make a decision in November, but for now, as violence rages in Gaza and people are killed every day and starve to death, I wanted to send a message,” Bellamy, 74, said after leaving a statement. early voting center. “Hopefully I will have a better choice in November.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s Republican critics cannot choose “uncommitted,” but they can choose his former Republican rival, Nikki Haley, who will appear on the ballot in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia despite having formally suspended her campaign more than two years ago. months. Last week in Indiana, Haley won nearly 22% of the Republican primary vote.
Trump has ignored his Republican critics, but his weakness with the moderate wing of the party could threaten him in the general election.
Tuesday’s elections also include two candidates who were closely involved in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
In West Virginia, a former member of the House of Delegates, Derrick Evans, is running for the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District. The 39-year-old Trump loyalist served three months in prison after live-streaming himself participating in the storming of the US Capitol. He calls himself the only elected official who “had the courage” to support efforts to temporarily halt the certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Evans is trying to unseat current Republican Rep. Carol Miller.
In Maryland, former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn is among nearly two dozen Democrats running in the state’s 3rd Congressional District. The 40-year-old Democrat was at the Capitol working to repel the violent mob on Jan. 6.
Also on Tuesday in North Carolina, voters will finalize their choice in what has become a one-person Republican primary in the state’s 13th Congressional District. Trump endorsed Brad Knott this month, prompting his opponent to suspend his campaign.
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This story deleted an incorrect reference to a California election on Tuesday. The California elections are next week.
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Willingham reported from Charleston, West Virginia. People reported from Washington.
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