DAVID MCKINLEY

More than halfway through a tumultuous primary season, voters have rendered verdicts in a number of contests, many of which featured candidates arguing they best represented a continuation of policies favored by former President Donald Trump.

Seven people were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday after their 39-foot vessel was disabled by a lightning strike 100 miles offshore of Clearwater, according to a news release.

Congressman Mooney won the Republican nomination — with more than half the votes — for one of West Virginia's two available seats in the U.S. House.

Mooney faces Rep. David McKinley, in a Republican primary on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, in West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) (Andrew Harnik)CHARLESTON, W.Va. — (AP) — In an early victory for a Donald Trump-endorsed candidate at the start of midterm season, Rep. Alex Mooney on Tuesday beat fellow incumbent Rep. David McKinley in West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District Republican primary. West Virginia’s election was the first of five primaries in which two incumbent U.S. House members will compete against each other. The primary came on the heels of a victory by Trump-endorsed conservative JD Vance, author of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” who defeated six other candidates to win the Ohio Republican primary for U.S. Senate last week. In the rural, geographically vast 3rd Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith faces a challenger but is expected to win his party’s nomination.

Throughout West Virginia on Tuesday, voters were heading to polling places at schools, churches and public libraries. Susan Smith, a small business owner in Valley Grove, West Virginia, voted for Mooney at a local elementary school Tuesday morning. West Virginia did not need the money from this un-infrastructure bill." The West Virginia contest will once again test the former president's clout when his own name isn't on the ballot. “This wasn’t for Joe Biden — this was to help West Virginia,” he told The Associated Press.

West Virginia's election is the first of five primaries in which two incumbent U.S. House members will face off.

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed candidates in competitive primaries in both states, making Tuesday another evaluation of his influence over the GOP.

The state's top race to watch is in the 2nd Congressional District, where redistricting has placed two Republican incumbents in a primary battle.

Election 2022 House FILE - Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 15, 2021. McKinley faces Rep. Alex Mooney in a Republican primary on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, in West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District. The West Virginia contest will once again test the former president's clout when his own name isn't on the ballot. In the rural, geographically vast 3rd Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith faces a challenger but is expected to win his party’s nomination. “This wasn’t for Joe Biden — this was to help West Virginia,” he told The Associated Press.

Congressman Alex Mooney has won the Republican nomination for one of West Virginia’s two seats in the U.S. House.

University of Nebraska regent Jim Pillen has won the state’s crowded Republican primary race for governor over a candidate endorsed by Donald Trump.

The top race in Tuesday’s primary elections in Nebraska and West Virginia is a heavily contested Republican primary for Nebraska governor.

Former President Donald Trump enters the next stretch of the midterm campaign emboldened by primary victories but facing new risks.

The biggest names in West Virginia are backing a local favorite seeking reelection to Congress. But the former president’s wrath could sink him.

McKinley voted to pass the infrastructure bill and was condemned by both Trump and Mooney for doing so. The two incumbents were pitted against each other after population losses cost West Virginia a U.S. House seat. Trump has made his position clear, endorsing Mooney on the day President Joe Biden signed the infrastructure bill into law. Howe said he likes both congressmen, but given the circumstances, Mooney's attacks on McKinley for his infrastructure vote helped make the choice clear. Trump supporters were on board with infrastructure spending when the former president introduced his $2 trillion proposal, which Democrats blocked.

A GOP House race between incumbents in West Virginia pits a Donald Trump-endorsed congressman against one who voted with the Democrats for infrastructure funding.

Reps. Lucy McBath and Carolyn Bourdeaux flipped two longtime Republican congressional districts in Atlanta’s northern suburbs with a common strategy of appealing to voters repelled by then-President Donald Trump’s divisive politics.

The defeat of the drug pricing language did not shut down Democrats' path forward on the proposal because the House Ways and Means Committee is deliberating on nearly identical provisions. The sessions underscored a White House drive to win the unanimous Democratic support the huge plan will need to survive in the 50-50 Senate. Sinema spokesman John Labombard had a positive assessment of the senator's White House session, a good sign in a process that has seen the party's progressives and moderates stake out conflicting demands. The White House meetings came as the last of 13 House committees were pushing toward completing work Wednesday on their individual sections of the overall bill. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday that they expect Congress to move the legislation before an international climate conference in November.

West Virginia's three House members, all Republicans, could soon find themselves in a game of political musical chairs, with only two returning to Congress in 2023.

Postal Service to immediately reverse operational changes that are causing delays in deliveries across the country just as big volume increases are expected for mail-in election voting. Trump, a vocal critic of the Postal Service, contended Wednesday that "the Post Office doesnt have enough time to handle a significant increase in mail-in ballots. Democrats have pushed for $10 billion for the Postal Service in talks with Republicans on a huge COVID-19 response bill. With her state's vast and difficult terrain, the Postal Service is a primary source of knowledge, commerce and basic necessities, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. Partenheimer disputed reports that the Postal Service is slowing down election mail or any other mail.