Jim Pilon won the Republican nomination primary in Nebraska, defeating Trump-backed candidates Charles Herbster and Brett Lindstrom.
Pilen, a businessman and regent at the University of Nebraska, had the approval of current Gov. Pete Ricketts and longtime Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne. Herbster’s defeat is the most significant loss of Trump’s endorsement since he left office for the first time in 2022, although he also backed a candidate for Congress in Texas who lost a race in 2021.
Trump’s election swept the primaries last week in Ohio, but this week brought another test of his influence – with a candidate tainted by scandal.
Herbster was accused of groping many women, including two, who spoke openly about their experiences. He categorically denied the allegations, and his campaign manager told The Nebraska Examiner, which was the first to report the allegations, saying it was a “political hit based on 100% false and baseless allegations.”
Posters of the campaign in support of Nebraska’s candidate for governor Charles Herbster adorn the I-80 Speedway before a rally with former President Donald Trump on May 1, 2022 in Greenwood, Nebraska. Scott Olson / Getty Images
At a rally in Nebraska on May 1, Trump called Herbster a “good man.”
“He was badly abused and it’s a shame,” Trump told Herbster. “I protect people when I know they are good.”
On Tuesday night, Herbster called the campaign “one of the worst Nebraska gubernatorial contests,” adding that “none of us want to go home tonight, realizing that this may have played a very, very important role in the results.” “. However, he called on the Republican Party to unite in the future.
“We have to try to unite the Republican Party in Nebraska. Some work will be needed,” Herbster said. “We have to do it. It’s necessary. I’ll go to the event tomorrow and I’ll have a chance to shake Jim Pylen’s hand.”
Ricketts hailed Pilen’s victory in a statement, saying: “Jim is a true conservative who will bring his experience to the private sector to make the government run more like a business. Nebraska families and agricultural producers should feel happy to call him “Governor Pilen” next January. “
Pilen focused on unity and the future in his victory speech Tuesday night, saying “we will focus on what is best for Nebraska.”
“We will invest the farm in our children so that all our children know that the grass is the greenest in Nebraska,” he said. He also reaffirmed his desire to “end abortions in Nebraska” and spoke of his desire to focus on agriculture and education.
Pilen is the big favorite in November against Democratic Sen. Carol Blood, who won her party’s nomination Tuesday night.
So far, with closed elections in both Nebraska and West Virginia, the two states holding primary elections on Tuesday night, a Trump-approved candidate has already prevailed.
Trump saw one of his candidates win on Tuesday. In the second congressional district of West Virginia, Trump-backed Republican Alex Mooney defeated fellow Republican David McKinley. The two congressmen were brought to the same seat in the House after the state lost a congressional district after the 2020 census.
McKinley, a Republican congressman with six seats and a seventh generation from West Virginia, had the support of popular Gov. Jim Justice and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. In an unusual development, one of the key issues was infrastructure costs – but in this case, the preferred candidate was the one who voted against the two-party infrastructure bill, Mooney and McKinley, who voted for the package, lost. Trump, who won every county in the state in 2020, backed Mooney over the vote.
McKinley said in a statement Tuesday night that he was “proud to have always stood up for what is right for West Virginia – even when it hurts me politically”, alluding to his vote on infrastructure.
“The foundation we’ve laid over the last twelve years has paved the way for a more prosperous and diverse West Virginia economy,” McKinley said.
David Mackintosh, president of the Club for Growth PAC, an outside GOP group that backed Mooney, said in a statement that Mooney’s victory was “a clear sign that Republicans want their members of Congress to be true conservatives, unlike moderate RINOS.”
The meeting between the incumbent against the incumbent president between McKinley and Mooney is one of five this year.
In Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, former Sen. Mike Flood won the seat of former Jeff Fortenbury, who resigned in March after being convicted of lying to federal officials about illegally donating to a foreign campaign. Flood, who had three contenders, had received approval from the Ricketts and former Nebraska Gov. Dave Heinemann.
He faces Democrat Sen. Patti Pansing Brooks, who won the Democratic primary on Tuesday night. The two are also running in a separate race on June 28 to fulfill the rest of Fortenberry’s term.
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