From Nebraska to West Virginia to New Jersey: Primary clashes set stage for fierce midterm fight

Tuesday is primary day in red-leaning Nebraska, where party showdowns for the House and Senate will tee up general election matchups in the battle for Congress.

Meanwhile, in GOP-dominated West Virginia, establishment Sen. Shelley Moore Capito faces five Republican primary challenges, but enjoys the backing of President Donald Trump.

And in New Jersey, Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, who grabbed national attention last year as he was arrested during an anti-ICE protest outside a federal immigration detention center, is facing seven challengers as he seeks a fourth term steering the Garden State's largest city.

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Tuesday's contests come with less than six months to go until the 2026 midterm elections, when Republicans aim to hold their razor-thin House and slim Senate majorities, and Democrats hope to ride a blue wave to escape the political wilderness.

Here's a closer look at Tuesday's ballot box showdowns.

Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, who was appointed in 2023 to replace Ben Sasse, and who won a 2024 special election to fill out the final two years of Sasse's term, is running for a full six-year term. Ricketts faces four primary challengers on Tuesday, but is expected to capture his party's nomination.

Ricketts is already eyeing the general election, when he'll face off against independent candidate Dan Osborn, the industrial mechanic and military veteran who gave Republican Sen. Deb Fischer a scare in her 2024 re-election.

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Even though the Nebraska Democratic Party supports Osborn in the general election, community college instructor Cindy Burbank and pastor Bill Forbes are running for the Democrats' nomination in the primary.

Both candidates were last-minute filers, and some Nebraska Democratic leaders alleged that Forbes jumped into the race so that a Democrat would be on the fall ballot and siphon votes away from Osborn to help Ricketts.

Forbes has denied the claims.

Burbank says she jumped into the race to keep Forbes off the ballot in November.

In the gubernatorial primary, GOP Gov. Jim Pillen faces five nomination challengers. Former state Sen. Lynne Walz and perennial candidate Larry Marvin face off for the Democratic nomination.

The primary in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, an Omaha-based competitive seat, is grabbing national attention, in the race to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Don Bacon. The seat is a top target for Democrats as they try to retake the House.

Omaha City Councilmember Brinker Harding is unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Two major Democrats, state Sen. John Cavanaugh and Denise Powell, are vying for their party's congressional nomination.

Nebraska is the only state in the nation, along with Maine, to split their electoral votes in presidential elections. And the electoral vote up for grabs in Nebraska's 2nd District, known as the 'blue dot,' was carried by then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

Powell argues that if Cavanaugh wins the primary and then the general election, and steps down from his state Senate seat, GOP Gov. Pillen would replace him with a Republican, which could potentially lead to the GOP-dominated legislature scrapping the 'blue dot' and making Nebraska's electoral votes winner-take-all.

Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey is not on the ballot in Tuesday's primary, but the first-term governor's clout in state politics is on the line, as the governor is targeting several GOP state lawmakers running for re-election.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. Senate race, five Democrats are seeking their party's nomination.

In Charleston, West Virginia's capital city, Democratic Mayor Amy Goodwin faces a primary challenge as she seeks a third term. Republican Brian Hunt is unopposed for the Republican nomination.

While Baraka is a Democrat, mayoral elections in Newark are technically nonpartisan.

If no candidate tops 50% of the vote, a runoff between Tuesday's top two finishers will be held in early June.

The charges against Baraka were dropped, and he later ran for governor, coming in second to then-Rep. Mikie Sherrill in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Sherrill ended up winning election as New Jersey governor.