Voters in Tuesday’s primary elections in Nebraska, New Jersey and West Virginia favored incumbents.
The Nebraska results point to potentially close races in the fall midterm elections, while one primary race still remains unresolved.
Burbank takes Nebraska’s Democratic vote. Will she now drop out of the race?
In Nebraska’s Democratic primary, community college instructor Cindy Burbank won the party’s nomination over Pastor William Forbes.
Burbank, who earned 89% of the votes on Tuesday, ran with the intention to drop out of the race if she won to clear the way for independent candidate Dan Osborn in the fall. Burbank reportedly confirmed this sentiment in a text to The New York Times after results were released.
“I don’t wanna split the ballot,” Burbank wrote. “I have no expectations of being able to win in November.”
Burbank also said that she hoped incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts would drop out of the race. “That would be such sweetness,” she wrote.
Ricketts won the Republican primary, earning 82% of the votes, according to unofficial results.
Ricketts thanked voters late Tuesday night after polls closed.
Osborn posted on X Tuesday, saying he has an advantage over Ricketts based on data from Tavern Research.
“Nebraska voters have seen enough of Pete Ricketts. The numbers don’t lie,” he wrote.
Osborn and Ricketts will face each other in November, while Burbank will decide whether she wants to drop out of the race.
Winner declared in Nebraska’s 2nd District race
The race in the Democratic Party 2nd District primary between political organizer Denise Powell and Nebraska state Sen. John Cavanaugh was initially too close to call, but Powell was declared the winner by The Associated Press late Wednesday.
Slightly more than 1,000 votes separated the two by Thursday morning, but only a few thousand votes were outstanding, and it was very unlikely Cavanaugh would win enough of them to take the lead.
After taking the lead late Tuesday night, Powell spoke to her supporters at her campaign headquarters in Omaha.
“There are still some votes outstanding. We want this whole democratic process to work its way through, but we feel so good,” she said.
Powell said she wrote one speech to give at the end of the night, which she planned to deliver whether the results proved a win, loss or tie.
“At the end of the day, the message here is the same,” Powell said. She then thanked her supporters, friends and family.
Nebraska governor elections show substantial wins
In the GOP primary for Nebraska’s governor, Republican Jim Pillen won by a large margin, earning 76% of the votes. Pillen was the only candidate with an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
Between Lynne Walz and Larry Marvin, the two Democratic candidates, Walz won with a large majority, earning 91% of the votes, based on unofficial results.
Walz and Pillen will face each other in the 2026 Nebraska gubernatorial election on Nov. 3.
West Virginia and New Jersey results favor incumbents
GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito earned 66.5% of the votes, winning over five other competitors in the West Virginia Republican primary. The next closest candidate was Tom Willis from Berkeley County.
Ras Baraka secured his fourth term as mayor of Newark, winning 70.34% of the votes, according to unofficial results. This win puts Baraka on track to serve for 16 years in a row, since his initial election in 2014.
Baraka spoke to voters outside Newark Symphony Hall after results came in.
“I want to thank God for bringing us this far. I’m comfortable that we’ve had 12 years ... and I’m thankful that we’ve got four more,” he said.