WASHINGTON (AP) — The tea party challenged the Republican
establishment on Tuesday in a Nebraska Senate primary showdown
complicated by a surging third candidate. West Virginia was poised to
make history with the nomination of two women for a Senate seat always
held by men and long associated with a Rockefeller.
Voters in the
two states were deciding their lineups for the November elections in the
latest round of spring primaries. The fall midterms will determine
control of Congress for the last two years of President Barack Obama’s
second term, with Republicans expected to hold the House and cautiously
optimistic about winning control of the Senate.
In Nebraska, the
tea party, outside conservative groups and two of the right’s heroes —
Sarah Palin and Sen. Ted Cruz — have rallied behind Ben Sasse, the
president of Midland University. For months, Sasse has been locked in an
increasingly negative race with former state treasurer Shane Osborn,
who has the backing of the Washington establishment and allies of Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
In recent weeks, Sid
Dinsdale, the president of Pinnacle Bank, has sought to capitalize on
the Sasse-Osborn fight and produce a surprise outcome similar to
Republican Sen. Deb Fischer’s come-from-behind win in 2012.
Sasse
has the backing of Club for Growth, the Tea Party Patriots, the Senate
Conservatives Fund and FreedomWorks in his bid to replace Republican
Sen. Mike Johanns, who is retiring after a single six-year term.
Sasse
has focused on his conservative credentials, opposition to abortion,
support for gun rights and goal of repealing and replacing the health
care law.
In one 30-second ad, Sasse’s two young daughters, Alex
and Corrie, talk about how much their dad opposes the Affordable Care
Act.
"He wants to destroy it," says one daughter. "He despises it,"
says the other.
Outside groups and the candidates have spent
millions on the race in which the GOP winner is widely expected to
prevail in November in a state where Obama won just 38 percent of the
vote in 2012. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party’s
campaign operation, has remained neutral.
Trial lawyer Dave Domina faces Larry Marvin in the Democratic primary.
The
tea party has struggled this year as candidates have lost to
establishment favorites in Texas, North Carolina and Ohio, and Nebraska
stands as the insurgent movement’s best remaining shot. Looking ahead to
upcoming primaries, the tea party’s chances to upset incumbents have
been diminishing in Kentucky, Kansas, Idaho and Mississippi.
The
Republican establishment has a love-hate relationship with the tea
party. It welcomed the movement’s energy that propelled the GOP to
control of the House in the 2010 elections, but it blames tea partyers
for less-than-viable general election candidates in 2010 and 2012 Senate
races in Indiana, Colorado, Nevada and Delaware.
Republicans in
the capital remain convinced they could have won control of the Senate
if only their establishment candidates had won more primaries, and some
in the party have been determined to defeat the movement’s candidates
this election.
Nebraska also has a fierce race for governor
involving two leading candidates — Attorney General Jon Bruning against
Omaha businessman Pete Ricketts. Term limits prevented Republican Gov.
Dave Heineman from running again.
In West Virginia, Democratic
names like Byrd and Rockefeller dominated politics for decades, but
since 2000, the state has voted Republican in presidential elections.
The transformation is widely expected to continue this fall as
Republicans capitalize on voter antipathy toward Obama, who lost all of
the state’s 55 counties in 2012.
Republican Rep. Shelley Moore
Capito is favored to win the GOP primary for the Senate seat of Sen. Jay
Rockefeller, who is stepping down after 30 years. Her likely rival is
Natalie Tennant, ensuring that West Virginia elects its first female
senator in history.
Capito has the clear edge, and if elected would be West Virginia’s first Republican senator since 1959.

Capito’s
planned departure from the House created a messy GOP primary in her 2nd
Congressional District that stretches across the state. Among the top
Republicans are Charlotte Lane, a former commissioner of the U.S.
International Trade Commission; Alex Mooney, the former chairman of the
Maryland GOP who moved to the state, and pharmacist Ken Reed.
In
his appeal to voters, Mooney’s campaign said he moved to West Virginia
to "live in freedom, and he’ll fight Obama to preserve it."
Reed plays up his West Virginia roots and talks in his ad about "how bad Obama and the EPA are
hurting us."
Democrats are hoping that their likely nominee, former state party chairman Nick Casey, can snatch a GOP
seat.
One
of the most endangered House Democrats is 19-term Rep. Nick Rahall, who
is likely to face Democrat-turned-Republican Evan Jenkins in the fall.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.