ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Voters in Maryland and West Virginia will decide Tuesday in key primaries that will have large implications for the fight for the Senate majority this fall.
At the same time, Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump are hoping to show strength in the low-stakes presidential primary, while as the vote continues, two congressional candidates on opposite sides of the 2021 attack on the Capitol serve as a stark reminder that the nation remains deeply divided over the deadly uprising.
In total, statewide primaries are taking place in three states on Tuesday – Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia – as Republicans and Democrats select their candidates for the fall elections. None are more consequential than the Senate primaries in Maryland and West Virginia, where Republicans are eyeing opportunities to lose control of the upper chamber of Congress for at least two years.
A Trump critic is vying for the Republican nomination in Maryland
In Maryland, Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan expects to dominate the state’s Republican Senate primary despite his years of criticism of Trump, whom Hogan calls 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 loyalists will ultimately embrace Hogan. A total of six other Republicans are challenging the 67-year-old former governor.
On the Democratic side, Rep. David Trone has been locked in a contentious — and pricey — battle with Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
Trone, the co-founder of national liquor chain Total Wine & More, has poured more than $61 million of his own money into the race. That’s just shy of the national record for self-funding for a Senate campaign, with much of it going toward a months-long TV ad campaign. The three-term congressman says he is better positioned to beat Hogan in November as a progressive Democrat who doesn’t align with special interests.
Race was an issue in the primary, and Alsobrooks worked to become Maryland’s first black U.S. senator. Trone apologized in March for what he said was an inadvertent exploit of a racial slur during a budget hearing.
Alsobrooks, who serves as executive director of Maryland’s second-largest judicial district with the largest 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 lawmakers.
She has advocated for increasing economic opportunity, investing in education and protecting abortion rights.
THE BATTLE IN WEST VIRGINIA TO REPLACE MANCHIN
Meanwhile, in West Virginia, the Republican Senate primary will likely decide who will replace Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who is retiring, given the overwhelming majority of Republicans in the state.
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-backed judge, a former billionaire with a folksy personality that has made him extremely popular in the state, is the front-runner against Mooney and five other lesser-known Republicans. Justice, a former Democrat, switched to the Republican Party in 2017. He announced the move at a Trump rally.
Mooney has tried to win over conservatives by describing the justices as a “RINO” — which stands for “Republican in Name Only” — who would support Democratic policies. Justice backed Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, saying West Virginia couldn’t afford to reject the money offered in the bill. Mooney voted against it.
On the other side, Democrats are choosing between Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, who enjoys Manchin’s support, and Marine Corps veteran Zach Shrewsbury, who has the backing of the Progressive Democrats of America. Also in the Democratic primary: former Republican Don Blankenship, who was convicted of violating safety standards after a coal mine explosion killed 29 people in 2010.
West Virginia is also deciding on its gubernatorial candidates.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican nominee in the 2018 Senate race against Manchin, is seeking the Republican nomination. He is running against the sons of two members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation: car dealer Chris Miller, whose mother is Rep. Carol Miller, and former Rep. Moore Capito, whose mother is Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner is also in the Republican race.
On the Democratic side, Huntington Mayor Steve Williams has no opponent.
POWER TESTS IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
There’s far less drama in Tuesday’s presidential primary.
Biden and Trump have already amassed enough delegates to clinch the presidential nominations at their respective national conventions this summer. Still, voters on both sides are hoping to record a significant protest vote on Tuesday that will express their dissatisfaction with the rematch between Biden and Trump.
Progressives in Maryland are particularly dissatisfied with the Biden administration’s support for Israel in the war against Hamas and are encouraging voters to choose “no presidential candidate” over Biden. There is no non-binding option in West Virginia or Nebraska.
Everett Bellamy, a Democrat who voted early in Annapolis, said he voted “non-committally” instead of Biden in protest against the killings of women, children and civilians in Gaza.
“I have to make a decision in November, but as violence rages in Gaza and people are being killed and starving every day, I wanted to send a message,” Bellamy, 74, said after leaving an early voting center. “Hopefully I’ll have a better choice in November.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s Republican critics can’t choose “non-committal,” but they can choose his former Republican rival Nikki Haley, who will appear on the ballot in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia despite officially suspending her campaign more than two months ago. Last week, Haley received nearly 22% of the Republican primary vote in Indiana.
Trump has shrugged off his Republican critics, but his weakness toward the party’s moderate wing could endanger him in the general election.
TWO SIDES OF THE UPRISING
Two candidates who were closely involved in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 are also taking part in Tuesday’s election.
In West Virginia, Derrick Evans, a former member of the House of Representatives, is running for the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District. The 39-year-old Trump supporter served a three-month prison sentence after livestreaming his participation in the storming of the US Capitol. He describes himself as the only elected official who “had the courage” to get behind the effort to temporarily stop the certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Evans is trying to oust incumbent Republican Rep. Carol Miller.
In Maryland, former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn is one of nearly two dozen Democrats running in the state’s 3rd Congressional District. The 40-year-old Democrat was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 working to repel the violent mob.
Also on Tuesday, North Carolina voters will make their final choice in a one-person Republican primary in the state’s 13th Congressional District. Trump endorsed Brad Knott this month, prompting his opponent to abandon her campaign.
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A false reference to an election in California on Tuesday has been deleted in this story. California’s elections are next week.
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Willingham reported from Charleston, West Virginia. Peoples reported from Washington.
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