Representative Alex Mooney handily defeated David McKinley, a House colleague and fellow Republican, in a West Virginia primaries, proving yet again the power of an endorsement by former President Donald J. Trump and the weight that right-wing ideology has among the Republican primary voters.
Mr. Mooney, a four-term Republican known more as a conservative warrior than a legislator, used Mr. Trump’s endorsement to overcome an obvious disadvantage: The redesigned district he ran in included much more of the Mr McKinley’s old quarter then Mr Mooney. from Mooney.
The huge margins that Mr. Mooney was able to achieve in the booming counties from his old district along the Maryland state line proved too big for Mr. McKinley, and the result was mentioned Tuesday night by The Associated Press. But the victory of Mr. Mooney reached deep into Mr. McKinley and covered the new district, including counties in the West Virginia Panhandle extending between Ohio and Pennsylvania.
It was a profound rejection of Mr. McKinley’s pragmatism that led him to vote for the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill co-written by West Virginia centrist Democratic Senator Joe Manchin III, and for the creation of a bipartisan committee to discuss the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“He’s a liberal RINO Republican,” Mr Mooney said of his opponent at his closing meeting last week, using the acronym for “Republicans in name only,” a conservative slur. “For our party to be successful, we need to take out these RINOs in primaries.” Mooney promised that he would “fight for the values of our country, not go along with the Democrats.”
Mr. Mooney’s convincing victory is all the more stunning in a state that once revered politicians such as Senator Robert C. Byrd, who brought large amounts of money from Washington to aid the impoverished hills and screamers of Appalachia.
mr. Mooney had the state covered with… radio and television advertisements in which Mr. Trump offered him the “complete and utter approval” of the former president, while calling Mr. McKinley reprimanded for voting for the infrastructure bill and the Jan. 6 commission.
But Mr Trump did not head into the state for a last-minute get-out-the-vote rally, a decision Mr McKinley’s campaign staff had hoped would keep the race close. Mr. McKinley had the support of West Virginia Governor Jim Justice and Mr. Manchin. And he had hoped the infrastructure bill would be an asset, not an obligation.
But that turned out to be a miscalculation, as West Virginia is also a place that gave Mr. Trump 69 percent of the vote in 2020.
By turning the primary into a contest between a Trump-targeted partisan and an incumbent serving on his record, the two Republicans have elevated the race for the Second District into a sort of signal of how a potential House Republican majority is next. year could rule. In the end, ideology won out easily. Mr Mooney had voted against the certification of the 2020 election for President Biden, while Mr McKinley agreed that Mr Biden had won.
Understand the 2022 midterm elections
Why are these midterms so important? This year’s races could tip the balance of power in Congress to Republicans, shattering President Biden’s agenda for the second half of his term. They will also test former President Donald J. Trump’s role as GOP kingmaker. Here’s what you need to know:
If Republicans control the House, the results could bode ill for the administration, such as financing the government and paying its debts once the federal government hits its borrowing limit.
The Club for Growth, a conservative political action committee that split with Mr. Trump in the Ohio Republican Senate primary, but also backed Mr. Mooney in West Virginia, was elated.
“The result of this race against time is a clear sign that Republicans want their members of Congress to be true conservatives rather than moderate RINOs,” said group chairman David McIntosh.