How to watch the West Virginia and Nebraska primary elections

By Rachel Janfaza, Ethan Cohen and Melissa Holzberg DePalo, CNN

It’s Election Day in West Virginia and Nebraska, where key primary races of the 2022 election cycle are taking place. The races, which will test former President Donald Trump’s influence over the Republican Party, include this year’s first US House member-vs.-member matchup in West Virginia and a controversial, Trump-backed candidate facing off with the Republican supported by the state’s term limited governor, Pete Ricketts.

Here’s everything you need to know:

In West Virginia, Republican Reps. Alex Mooney and David McKinley are running against each other after the state lost a seat in reapportionment. Trump is supporting Mooney, while McKinley, who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, is backed by West Virginia’s Republican Gov. Jim Justice and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.

Republican Rep. Carrol Miller, who currently represents West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District, is running in the state’s 1st Congressional District, where she faces four Republican challengers — though she has the backing of Trump and holds a steep fundraising advantage.

In the contest that will decide Nebraska’s GOP gubernatorial nominee, term-limited Ricketts has backed Jim Pillen, a hog farmer and member of the University of Nebraska board of regents, to replace him, while Trump has endorsed controversial businessman Charles Herbster. Herbster faces allegations he inappropriately touched women, including Republican state Sen. Julie Slama, but he has denied the allegations. State Sen. Brett Lindstrom is also in the running. The winner will likely face Democratic state Senator Carol Blood in the November general election.

In Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, former Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who resigned from Congress earlier this year after being convicted in regard to an investigation looking into illegal campaign contributions, will remain on the ballot because he missed the deadline to withdraw from the race ahead of his resignation from Congress. Four other Republican candidates are running in the primary, including state Sen. Mike Flood, who is favored to win. While there will be a special election on June 28 to fill the remainder of Fortenberry’s term, the Republican primary nominee will advance to a general election in November and will likely face Democratic state Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks.

Meanwhile, in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, where Republican Rep. Don Bacon has for years confounded Democrats who try to flip the seat, two Democrats are vying for the nomination: state Sen. Tony Vargas, a former member of the Omaha Public Schools Board and former public school teacher, and Alicia Shelton, a mental health practitioner and counselor who ran for US Senate in 2020.

What time does CNN’s coverage start?

You can follow along with results on CNN and cnn.com. CNN’s decision desk will be monitoring results and will make projections accordingly.

What time do polls close?

Polls close for in-person voting in West Virginia close at 7:30 p.m. ET. Mail-in ballots can be received by May 16 if postmarked by Election Day. Hand-delivered ballots must have been returned by May 9. In-person early voting took place between April 27 and May 7.

Polls close for in-person voting in Nebraska at 9:00 p.m. ET. Mail-in ballots must be received by the time polls close on May 10. In-person early voting took place between April 11 and May 9.

Election resources

CNN Politics has several election-related resources available to readers.

• 5 things to watch in the Nebraska and West Virginia primaries
• How redistricting shook out in Nebraska and West Virginia
• Trump looms over vicious House race in West Virginia: If Mooney wants voters in West Virginia to know one thing about his campaign, it’s that he — not his Republican primary opponent, McKinley — is the candidate backed by Trump. And Tuesday’s incumbent-on-incumbent primary in a deep red state that overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2020 is set to be a test of whether that is all that matters in today’s Republican Party.
• Trump came to Nebraska to defend candidate facing sexual misconduct allegations, but voters aren’t so sure either of those things will matter on Tuesday: Allegations of sexual misconduct by eight women against Herbster, and Trump’s defense of him, have brought national attention to the candidate’s quest for the state’s governorship. But many of the more than 50 voters to whom CNN spoke here have “mixed” feelings about the allegations.
• Why May matters for the future of the Senate: A play-by-play explainer laying out what’s at stake this month, where the competitive races are and how both parties are approaching the elections.

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