Five takeaways from the Nebraska, West Virginia primaries

Nebraska and West Virginia held high-profile primaries that served as tests of former President Trump’s lingering sway among GOP voters. 

University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen won the GOP nod over businessman Charles Herbster, who ran with Trump’s endorsement, and state Sen. Brett Lindstrom, who cast himself as a more pragmatic Republican. In West Virginia, hard-liner Rep. Alex Mooney (R) defeated Rep. David McKinley (R) in an incumbent-on-incumbent primary sparked by redistricting. 

Here are five takeaways from the primary results. 

Trump suffered his first big loss this cycle… 

Trump notched a prominent loss in Nebraska as Pillen dispatched his chosen candidate, whom the former president had made an eleventh-hour push to boost. 

Pillen ended up defeating Herbster despite Trump’s endorsement, a victory that was in part due to a late wave of accusations by nine women accusing Herbster of sexual misconduct. Of the women, two came forward publicly to say that Herbster groped them at a political event in 2019.