in the case of david mckinley. david mckinley also voted for what would have been the independent january 6th commission, which drew the ire of the former president. that is when redistricting took shape and placed alex mooney and david mckinley in the same district and juchlt the other night in pennsylvania, neighboring pennsylvania, donald trump held a rally and invited west virginia's alex mooney to join him up on stage here and that is really where the question comes down to, what impact does former president trump have on the voters and is he able to effectively oust the likes of david mckinley and other republican incumbents around the country here in the months ahead take a listen to a few of the voters we talked to here >> mckinley's the one from this area but you guys are going with -- with mooney. >> because we like trump and trump endorsed him >> we decided to stick with mckinley >> what made donald trump endorse mooney >> i know that and that disappointed me. but mckinley's done a lot for the state of w

david mckinley, 60% of this new district is his old district. if there was any geographic advantage, it was to mckinley, not mooney. as dana noted, the republican governor was for mckinley. senator joe manchin, a democrat, was for mckinley. cnn has now projected this race, we're up to two-thirds of the votes in, heats 52% to 38% if you round that up, that's 14 points. again, i said this at the top, a lot of people at home say, stop talking about trump. donald trump is the most dominant force in one of america's two leading political parties and he's proving it again in this year's primary campaigns. for the people out there who want to stop talking about trump, that's not up to us, we have to cover these races where trump's endorsement is making a difference. we'll have the nebraska governor's race later tonight as those results come in and pennsylvania senate race, georgia, the governor's race, the secretary of state's race there, arkansas there are some trump factors as well. he is a factor in the party. for those at home who don't want to tal

david mckinley is persona non grata. you see mckinley with a narrow lead. we are early. trump is for mooney. pro-trump forces. we are counting, 11% in. mckinley, a lead over mooney.pe cl close race. may say biis a big month. the governor side here, look at the candidates. by the end of the month, a good report card on trump versus the establishment. herbster has been with trump for years. he is accused by nine women of inappropriately touching them. he denies the allegations. trump doesn't believe it to be true. herbster suggests it comes from the republican establishment. jim pillen is endorsed by the incu incumbent. this is pillen versus herbster. it's trump versus the establishment republican governor. the interesting thing is there is a third candidate. a more moderate condition. we will have to watch this play out. the polls close at 9:00. west virginia and nebraska tonight. pennsylvania and georgia by the end of the month. donald trump's sway getting a test in this month's primaries. >> we will watch as the numbers come in. john king, thank you. >>> new audiotapes.

it is very clear in this race, rye donald trump is supporting alex mooney over david mckinley. i want to let you hear from a few voters because we're expecting a close race, we're asking that question, alex mooney, david mckinley, take a listen. >> were you questioning it at all? >> a little bit, but more uncovered we decided to stick with mckinley. >> mckinley is the guy from this area, you guys are going with mooney? >> because we like trump and trump endorsed him. >> yeah. >> did the trump endorsement make you question it at all? >> no, no, i didn't listen to that either way. trump had no bearing on my decision. >> do you think it will for others? i don't really think so. >> reporter: and, katy, that is the question, not only today in west virginia, but in these other races ahead from wyoming to georgia to alaska. are there going to be enough folks who do what donald trump says, and ultimately vote for donald trump's endorsed candidate and are able to effectively oust niece individuals who donald trump perceives are opposition figures within this republican party today. >> i

he currently leads david mckinley by around 15 percentage points. heading into tonight, trump threw his support behind mooney. this after congressman mckinley predicted that to -- sense and the maga movement, have admitted that joe biden won the 2020 election, and voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. mooney has since campaigned by relentlessly attacking mckinley, and accusing him of supporting joe biden's agenda. but mckinley has been pushing back on those attacks, with the help of this guy. >> i've always said, if i can go home and explain it, i can't vote for it. and that's why i post bill build back better. for alex moving and his out of state supporters, to suggest david mckinley supported build back better is an outright lie. david mckenzie has always approached the reckless spending, because it doesn't make sense for west virginia. alex mooney has proven is all about alex mooney. but west virginians know david mckinley is all about us. >> that is democratic senator joe manchin, not only endorsing a republican candidate, but celebrati

that is when redistricting took shape in place alex moon and david mckinley in the same district and the other night in neighboring pennsylvania, donald trump held a rally and invited west virginia's alex moon to join him up on stage. and that is where the question comes down to what impact does former president trump have on the voters and is he able to effectively oust the likes of david mckinley and other republican incumbent in the country. mckindl is the one from the area but you guys are with? with moon. >> we like trump and trump endorsed him. >> we decided to stick with mckinley. >> donald trump endorsed moon. >> i know that and that disappointed me but mckinley's done a lot for the state of west virginia. >> questionable. don't know which way to go being a trump fan. and then mckinley being around so long. >> reporter: i was talking to long time relationspublican her telling me look if we looked in the traditional way on paper david mckinley would run away with this. he started serving this community in 1980. but this is a different era of republican politics and donald trum

david mckinley voted for the group. just the other night in neighboring pennsylvania donald trump invited alex mooney to join him on the stage. what impact does former president trump have on the voters is he able to effectively oust the likes of david mckinley and other republican incumbents around the country here in the months ahead mckinley is the one from this area but you guys are going with mooney >> because we love trump and trump endorsed him >> stick with mckinley. >> reporter: donald trump endorsed mooney. >> i know that and that disappointed me but mckinley's done a lot for the state of west virginia. >> questionable. didn't know which way to go. being a trump man and then mckinley being around so long. >> reporter: shep, i was talking to a long-time republican who said if we looked at this on the traditional way, david mckinley would run away with this he started serving in 1980 this is a different era of republican politics and donald trump could help mooney who was originally from maryland over the top. a

this was a match where donald trump was against david mckinley because david mckinley voted for the biden bipartisan infrastructure bill. he was against mckinley because mckinley voted to form on independent commission to look into january 6th. you have two republican incumbents running against each other because of redistricting. west virginia lost a seat. this is an 18-point win right now. cnn has projected this race for alex mooney, an 18-point margin right now. it's just unmistakable. this is one of donald trump's best states. he won every county in west virginia against joe biden. this new district, about 60%, even a little bit more than 60% of it is in mckinley old district, but alex mooney is carrying it big tonight because of what? the power of the trump endorsement. alex mooney winning and winning big. >> what about nebraska, john? polls just closed there. what's at stake tonight? >> let's move out to the governor's race in nebraska. a number of primaries there, but the governor's race is the one we're watching. this is a fascinating race so far, don. we've got a ways to go. we'r

mckinley. madison cawthorn loses to check edwards. 33.4% for check edwards to madison cawthorn's 31.9%. in north carolina, you win with 30% plus one. so that is enough for check edwards to carry the seat -- ch uck edwards to carry the seat. that is getting a lot of attention. a lot of scandals in recent weeks being reported in that race. madison cawthorn saying he is going to overcome it all and when. -- win. i want to get the process of campaign 20 primaries after the key races. mitchell in new jersey, line four democrats, what did you think? caller: a couple of thoughts. one, it is disturbing to see such a lack of issues and policies and positions by candidates on both sides. i understand that primary races are not going to have the substance of a general, but it is alarming. what i am seeing on the republican side is who can out trump. in order to get trumpet support, the lit must test seems to be that you have to believe in what is an objective life that the election was stolen. that to me

one of those was david mckinley. he voted to certify the 2020 election and voted if are what would have been an independent commission to investigate the january 6th insurrection. two of them are already down. one announced his retirement, bowing out of a race against a trump-backed candidate and now david mckinley is been. tam rice the next on the list in south carolina. they are also threatened to be ousted from the republican party as trump looks ahead to his potential 2024 presidential run. running backster, three-point difference. a man in the last month was accused by eight women of groping them including a state senator on the record who said he reached in 2019 up her skirt. this is breaking right now. we are here in west virginia. there is a new video we obtained out of arizona, another senate race we are looking at that is crowded. trump has yet to endorse in the race but one of the candidates, blake masters who has been heavily financed by the billionaire. the first time we are airing this. blake masters in

on the other hand, you've got david mckinley. he's been around representing this area for more than four decades. he was first elected to the state legislature in 1980, but he voted to certify the 2020 election. he also voted for the independent january 6th commission. he also voted for the infrastructure package. he'll tell you he voted with donald trump 92% of the time, but those votes alone were enough to displease the former president. i want to let you hear from just four days ago, a debate in which david mckinley was justifying his vote for the infrastructure package. take a listen. >> what we did was, quite frankly, fulfill campaign commitment we had made. in west virginia we've known the condition -- i have a report card that i often flash published by the american society of civil engineers. and it ranks west virginia as having the worst infrastructure in the country. >> reporter: now, if you look on paper at this race, jose, because of redistricting, essentially this new district encompasses almost all of mckinley's dis

hey, don't believe all that stuff about republican david mckinley supporting biden. he opposed biden every turn. just like me, democrat joe manchin. he is proudly relishing his reputation of the guy who blocked his own party's agenda and succeeded in killing joe biden's build back better bill and succeeded in killing the democrat's efforts to protect voting rights and now going to kill any chance of legislating to protect abortion rights. tomorrow the senate is expected to vote an bill that codify roe v. wade into law in the wake of the supreme court's leaked draft decision overturning roe. every other democrat in the senate is lining up to vote for that legislation. today the senate's only other anti-abortion democrat, senator bob casey, came out in support of the build to codify roe. let me just hang a lantern on that for a second. senator bob casey is the son of former pennsylvania governor bob casey sr., who used to be one of the country's most outspoken opponents of abortion. bob casey sr. was the plaintiff in the landmark abortion case, planned parenthood versu

one is david mckinley voting to certify the 2020 election and voted for bipartisan fk package passing through congress. trying to oust him. and then alex mooney that did the opposite on the particular votes. head to head you see that it is david mckinley voted with president trump 92% of the time but really it's apparent that for the former president coming to the election votes there those are most crucial in his eyes. haefr from a couple vote everies because here in wheeling this is a place in 1980 mckinley first elected and representing folks for four decades. mckinley is from the area. you are going with mooney? >> because we like trump and trump endorsed him. >> sticking with mckinley. >> donald trump endorsed mooney. >> i know. mckinley did a lot for the state of west virginia. >> questionable. didn't know which way to go being a trump man and then mckinley being around so long. >> reporter: i was talking to a long time republican who said on paper this should be mckinley's race and mooney currently has an information from the office of congressional ethics. yet donald trump's i

. >> david mckinley. >> and alex mooney. collins on capitol hill but rivals back home. >> two incumbents running against each other. >> redistricting changes all lumped the two districts together amount they have to face off over one house seat. >> mckinley says he is the only one born and raised in west virginia. >> posey sight of my great, great grandmother's house for. >> he bought a house in the state just to win a house seats. >> cut account on your boat? many pictures himself is the only conservative running. he says mckinley sold out voting for the bipartisan bill that landed president biden a huge legislative window. >> he should be ashamed of himself voting for that bill because skill that will come back and pass one we could take care of roads and bridges at the same time is not either or. he got to convince republicans it's a good vote, good luck man for. >> both catsup and camping with heavy hitters in the gop. >> alex is in a big raise request mooney campaign former president trump who was fond of mckinley four

in west virginia, trump-backed alex mooney is facing off against david mckinley who was endorsed by joe manchin. in nebraska, it's a close race between three republican candidates vying for the nomination for governor. the current governor is term limited. trump endorsed charles herbster who has been accused of groping multiple women. joining me now, chuck todd, live from luzerne county, pennsylvania. here with me at the set is nbc news senior political editor mark murray. and with us, nbc's vaughan hillyard, michael steele and kimberly adkins. chuck todd, i will come to you on the fact you are in bob casey senior and the current senator but bobby casey, something really important happened today on a symbolic vote tomorrow on roe v. wade, which you know, codifying roe, bob casey announced he will support it for the party, in the near term that makes joe manchin the only undeclared democrat i know of. more pressure on manchin. it's a switch. there's so much family history here. you remember the other case on abortion was the casey case in '92. i was interviewing bob casey live in primeti

. >> david mckinley. >> let's make this thing happen. >> and alex mooney. >> good place for a victory party. >> collects on capitol hill, but rivals back home. >> two incumbents running against each other. always uncomfortable. >> redistricting changes lumped their two districts together. now they have to face off house seat. >> you have to. >> mckinley says he's the only one born and raised in west virginia. >> that was the sight of my great-great-grandfather's house. >> and says mooney bought a house in the state just to win a house seat. >> can i count on a vote? >> mooney pitches himself as the only true conservative running. he says mckinley sold out, voting for the bipartisan infrastructure build that landed president biden huge legislative win. >> he should be ashamed of himself voting for the bill, we could have killed that bill, past something we could have afforded. he's got to convince republicans that was a good vote. good luck, man. >> both candidates have been campaigning with heavy hitters in the g.o.p. >> alex mooney! alex is in a big race. >> mooney campaigning with f

west virginians know david mckinley is all about us. >> i'm david mckinley, and i approved this message. >> there is a risk. trump's a former president popular with the base. all politics is local. it's a cliche but true. is trump overreaching in areas he may not understand as well? >> i think that's what manchin is betting on. that's why he cut an ad for a republican which most democrats today wouldn't do. manchin is cut from a different cloth than most democrats. but i read this is a preview of manchin's 2024 messaging and what he thinks the presidential 2024 messaging should be, and this is a way we can counteract trump if he's the nominee in two years. >> let's put the calendar back up. west virginia next week. nebraska next week. north carolina is a senate race. trump in pennsylvania tonight for dr. oz as his candidate. running against the former hedge fund manager david mccormick who has a lot of trump allies on his team. trump had a good night in ohio when j.d. vance won the primary and down ballot trump candidates won as well. the question is can he continue the streak or is he

he defeated david mckinley. they were both incumbents that were running, even though mckinley got the incumbent slide. look at this margin. look at this. 54% to just 36%. so a big large win for alex mooney. but go over to nebraska, go to the heartland, something very, very different happening. charles herbster endorsed by donald trump. he doesn't have the check mark. the check mark goes to jim pillen, who was endorsed by pete rickets. this was an interesting race. we always talk about things in terms of trump sbendorsements o not. jim pillen had the endorsement of jim rickets. the republican governor said, this is the guy who i want to replace me. and guess what? the check mark, guess what, he won. he beat herbster by a little. a little is a enough. >> charles herbster, there had been some sexual misconduct allegations against him. any sense as to how this played into the results? >> i think it hurt him. basically, if we look right here and the polling share pre-allegations, what do we have? we have 36%. this is

matt dolen in ohio, david mckinley, and brett lindstrom. these are three republicans who are not in any way anti-trump, they just don't agree with him oempk. they are not even moderate republicans, but it shows you they came in third. mckinley losing by that huge margin and lindstrom coming in third. this shows you the direction that the republican party is going in. and likely what we're going to see more of is that trump-backed support, that trumpian agenda and agreeing with him on all fronts. these are not anti-trumpers, they just didn't agree with him on everything, and they lost by wide margins. >> kristen holmes in west virginia, thank you so much for setting the table for us this morning. want to bring in:political commentator, s.e. cupp, and john avlon. all right, split decision, john. so what's the takeaway? >> it's a split decision. i mean, look, you know, west virginia does speak to trump's control over the appeared. the fact that an incumbent who backed infrastructure, who stood up to trump got pretty trounced speaks to the fact

but david mckinley and the frustration among republicans is that david mckinley was a republican in the state before the republicans here. he was the former gop chair of the west virginia republican party when this place was dominated by democrats. i also want to note, he has the endorsement of not only governor justice but is running tv ads with joe manchin here. i think there is a frustration and to close i want to back to the conversation with a gop party hand who said the old school way of looking at this, mckinley would rub away with it but this is a extent to which voters are following the conspiracies on the internet because you talk to anybody involved in the party, they'll tell you they're voting for david mckinley because he's west virginia through and through. but ultimately they are outnumbered by the number of people who are not involved at the party level but coming to vote because what they have read on the internet. >> vaughn hillyard reporting for us from west virginia. we thank you very much for that report. and next tuesday the focus will shift to pennsylvania where f

david mckinley versus alex mooney. two house republicans, mooney has donald trump's endorsement. mckinley is, if you watch his campaign ads, is trying to make it seems as if he also has donald trump's endorsement. he's aired ads with trump in it. he has quite interestingly the endorsement of joe manchin, the prominent democratic senator. he cut an ad for mckinley who has a traditional voting record. he's being whacked on his vote for the infrastructure bill which obviously joe manchin championed. there hasn't been a ton of public polling there. i think mooney has a healthy lead in some of the polling, obviously small sample sizes. it's always interesting when you have the member-on-member primaries to see who comes out on top. >> i was wondering if these races would make an impact on the upcoming midterm elections. >> not this race at all. this is a significantly red district in a state that donald trump carried by a huge margin. he's a republican against a republican. we have to stay away from the temptation to suggest that every race is a referendum on donald trump's power on t

david mckinley after being put in a race in west virginia read madison cawthorn losing his bid to a republican challenger. as you look ahead, who is the next most vulnerable incumbent in a primary? >> one of them is for an election that already happened. it isn't tabulated yet. another more moderate democrat. there was a ballot printing error in one of the counties in the district and so we are still waiting for that race to be called. the indications are he will lose to a more progressive challenger. he could end up losing tonight. that race being close and competitive. >> good morning. i think i'm missing something here. you all keep talking about republicans gaining seats in the house and senate. i haven't heard any republican say what they are going to do for their constituents. that goes both ways. democrats. it's getting kind of old that they're running on this fake election --. water these politicians going to do for the working person. that's what i want to know. because i don't see the republicans gaining any seats at all when they are running on air. >> one of the subplots of the ele

david mckinley is all about us. >> dana: what's interesting, bill, a year and a half ago manchin had an approval rating around mid 40s. now 61%. a republican in west virginia will benefit, i would imagine, from that endorsement. >> bill: manchin is not building back anything at the moment, right? meanwhile the new polls showing 94% of americans have some degree of concern about inflation. watch the story. half said they're upset about it. james freeman, "wall street journal." fox news contributor. hello to you. give us your analysis of how this is creeping into everyone's life and how they are reacting to it. >> it is the most powerful political issue because it hits everyone. it hits all levels and workers and savers the most as they see the value of their currency declining. we've discussed how this is becoming the inflation election and there is very little time left for president biden to change that narrative to change the reality. he could get some help from the federal reserve this week if they begin to take all of that cash they've put into the system out since covid but he n

david mckinley and alex will face all for a single seat in the house of representatives. the candidates received endorsements from democratic senator joe manchin. ashley moody by donald trump who won the state by 69%. president biden will unveil his plan to fight inflation later this morning but treasury secretary warren with volatility in the stock market because the sky high praise price. >> carley: rich edson live with more, rich, good morning. >> good morning carley and todd we haven't seen inflation is high in united states since rick springfield and blondie hit the top radio and joe biden his second term in the united states senate. now, president biden will unveil a plan later this morning to address rising costs. in march, the government said prices were 8.5% higher than a year ago. gas was up nearly 50%, use cards and trucks up 35%. airfare rose 23%, furniture and bedding 16% more expensive and grocery price is 10% higher. the president says he has a plan to address this. >> my top priority is biting inflation. and lowering prices for the things they need. we wil

. >> for alex mooney to suggest david mckinley supported build back better is a lie. >> this is remarkable in that, of course, he is a democrat endorsing a republican. we should also say he is a democrat who also endorsed lisa murkowski and susan collins. what's fascinating is he's doing it by even coming out even more forcefully against build back better, which is coming back more forcefully against the agenda of a sitting democratic president. this is why you have some democrats so furious with joe manchin and his really overt and really loud opposition of a lot of the progressive ideals that democrats want to see passed. here he is saying dav mckinley doest want to throw his support behind things that would be recklessspending. to call president biden's agenda reckless spending really is a telling thing. there is some bitterness about joe manchin pulling his support. he pulled his support at the last minute from build back better. >> let me make a prediction here as we wrap this up. my prediction is with the republicans still courting joe manchin to change labels, become an independent

congressman alex mooney winning his primary against fellow conservative david mckinley. mooney joined us earlier to discuss what voters were looking for in this intense race. >> >> if you are a republican and conservative party the voters expect you to act and vote like a conservative. that's what voters are looking for a true conservative who will fight for them. >> carley: mooney will face democrat city council member barry wendell in november. ads could be coming to netflix by the end of the year. netflix told its employees it is planning to roll out a cheaper version of streaming service. the plan was supposed to come out over the next year or two. but an internal memo shows netflix is speeding up the process after the company lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year. those are your headlines guys. over to you. >> carley: we were in the green room, carley and i were. we were asking each other when is steve doocy's next cookbook coming out. >> carley: right, we were. >> steve: that's what goes on in the green room. >> carley: we were so excited about

david mckinley is a conservative, wu he voted for the biden bipartisan infrastructure bill, saying it was good politics because it was good policy for the people back home. trump disagreed. alex mooney disagreed. mckinley will be a former congressman come january. >> and nebraska? >> let me pull out here and get you to nebraska. trump's streak of endorse ck candidates and getting victories in the primaries so far this year may come to an end. this is donald trump's candidate. charles herbster, at 28 #% when you round that up. still counting votes here, if you look at it right now, when we talked earlier, brent lindstrom was in the lead, he was a state senator, over here, omaha, all of the counties he's winning in the eastern part of the state, 60% of the state population lives right here, but jim pillen is running it up in these other counties, a businessman, a farmer, the endorsed candidate of the current republican governor, governor ricketts endorsed him. he has the backing of the republican -- up to 33%, to 29% and 28 if you round that up. but pillen has been running it up here. i

look here in west virginia on one side, you had congressman alex mooney endorsed by trump and then david mckinley backed by essentially the entire establishment of west virginia politicians, including republicans and democrats like democratic senator joe manchin and mooney won easily here and quickly. the final margins were mooney at 51.2% and mckinley at 35.6%. it was abundantly clear. trump's popularity in the state is still incredibly noticeable. we saw giant signs with mooney and then slightly smaller print. it said endorsed by trump. and a different story though in nebraska. on one side, an establishment candidate who ended up winning backed by the governor pete in that republican governor race, cannot run again. he is termed out. on the other side, trump endorsed charles herbster. he asked trump not to weigh in on this race. obviously, a request that trump ultimately denied. and here we saw pillen pulling this through with a win. one establishment candidate winning, one establishment candidate losing but it is important to note the direction that the republican party is going in. w

in west virginia, trump-endorsed congressman alex mooney, defeated congressman david mckinley. he supported the january 6 investigation. redistricting had forced the men into the same district. still to come, tensions rise as a journalist is killed during an israeli raid of a town in an occupied west bank. a new report details a troubling history of forcing indigenous children to attend boarding schools. overdose deaths in the u.s. hit record levels. plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour, from w eta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: growing concern among democrats at the supreme court will soon overturn roe v. wade led them to try and pass federal legislation to guarantee abortion rights and prevent recent state restrictions from taking effect. that effort fell short in the u.s. senate as democrat joe manchin joined all republicans in voting against the women's health protection act. for more on all of this, our correspondent joins us from capitol hill. you watched this. remind us what t

on the other side, you had david mckinley, backed by the entire establishment essentially of west virginia politics. democrat senator joe manchin as well as the republican governor all backing mckinley. and yet mooney prevailed. i'll tell you that we really started to believe yesterday on the ground that that would be the result because trump's popularity here in the state is so palpable. and one thing i do want to note, this was a little bit of excitement during the victory speech, he took it a step further, indicating he may take on joe manchin for senate in 2024, little bit of drama there. but, anyway, moving on to the nebraska race, again, another proxy war here that yielded a different result. on one side you had the incumbent governor pete ricketts who is no longer going to be able to be governor, his term is up, who endorsed jim pillen who ended up winning. on the other side, you had charles herbster endorsed by donald trump and ricketts asked trump not to weigh in on this race. of course, trump ultimately denying that request when he backed herbster. so, two different results. one

mckinley. one of the first words out of his mouth is build back better. >> the amount of revenue that would go back to his constituents, we can unpack that later. he's basically trying to say i might switch to the republican party if you don't give me a little bit more. that is what i think a lot of people in the white house are super scared of as a result. >> betsy, we have beeneporti on whether senat manchin is thinking about switching parties for qui some time now. this ad certainly doesn't help that discussion within the democratic party but more broadly they're trying to g something done, a reconciliatio bill passed to get build back better done. when you see an ad likehat it's skeptical. >> west virginia for all practical purposes has become an entirely red state. a democrat was not goi to win this house race. ifanchin wants to be meaningful in west virginia, he has to try to play within the confines of the gop. connecting himself to democrats is something that's going to show his lack of

mckinley who essentially had the backing of the entire west virginia political sphere. he was backed by democratic senator joe manchin, the republican governor here and yet still couldn't win and couldn't win by a large margin. so establishment versus trump candidate, trump candidate winning. now, in nebraska, a different dynamic. you had the governor there endorsing jim pillen. outgoing governor, term-limited and on the other side, trump endorsing herbster and asked trump not to get involved in the race and of course, he still did but did lose that race. this is just the beginning of several primaries that we are watching closely. pennsylvania another big one next tuesday. we'll see how trump's candidate fares there. >> it's interesting to watch this play out and next week particularly interesting as well. good to see you, cristin, thank you very much. >>> i want to turn now to the pandemic. a new omicron sub variant is spreading rapidly in the united states. this new strain responsible for 43% of new covid cases. nearly doubling in prevalence over the past two weeks.

in west virginia alex mooney beat david mckinley in the republican primary for the state's second congressional district. joining us from wheeling, west virginia, is vaughn hilliard. so kind of a split decision last night for trump. tell us what happened in west virginia. >> reporter: good morning. i think that we can have the debate and the conversation over the extent to which trump is holding a grip on this republican party. i can tell you, look at charles herbster in nebraska. this was a 3% difference that he lost by. this was under the shadow that eight women alleged that he groped them in the past years. one said he reached up her skirt, as well as a former aide of his in his state senate office who accused him of grabbing her butt at an event. here in west virginia, i think if you look at those results, it was about 20% victory for alex mooney, who objected to the 2020 election results. he voted against what would have been an independent january 6th commission. he voted against an infrastructure package that passed through congress despite west virginia being 50th in roads, bridges, wat

they did lose a house seat, and on one side, you have congressman david mckinley. he has been endorsed by some of the biggest politicians in the state. talking about the popular republican governor jim justice, as well as the democratic senator, joe manchin. on the other side, you have alex mooney, another congressman who has been endorsed by president trump, and one thing to note here is that that endorsement came almost immediately after mckinley voted for that bipartisan infrastructure bill. he also voted in favor of an independent probe into january 6th. so if you're talking about things that set these two candidates apart, those two votes are very important and they obviously played a big factor when it came to that endorsement. so one thing we're watching here tonight is the fact that donald trump's popularity across the state, and this is what we have noticed on the ground, is completely palpable. remember, he won every county in the state in 2016 and in 2020. so the question is whether or not that enthusiasm for trump translates into votes for mooney. >> th

on one side you have david mckinley, he has been endorsed by the popular republican governor, as well as democratic senator joe manchin. on the other side, you have alex mooney, a sitting u.s. congressman, and he has been endorsed by former president donald trump. the popularity of the former president in this state is palpable, something that mooney himself noted when we spoke to him just a moment ago. take a listen. >> i'll tell you this about president trump, when he's in, he's all in. he really went all out for me, and i really appreciate that. i i think the voters of this state saw it. every voter i talk to knows he endorsed me. i also try to explain why he endorsed me. i think there's good reasons for that as a republican. >> reporter: and all over the state we have seen or all over the district, we have seen signs that say mooney in giant letters and slightly smaller letters under that it says endorsed by donald trump. o the other race we're watching closely is the republican primary for governor in nebraska. this is somewhat of a proxy war between the current republican govern

in west virginia, congressman alex mooney endorsed by trump, has defeated fellow congressman david mckinley in the primary for the states newly drawn second congressional district. meanwhile, trump could soon be back hosting those very endorsements and you guessed it, twitter. billionaire elon musk says if his purchase of a social media platform goes through, he plans to reverse the ban on the former president, who has kicked off the platform after the capitol riots. we'll have a lot more on that development later in the hour. we'll also following the latest developments about the january 6th committee. the hearings begin june 9th, less than one month from tonight. politico reports there are plenty of tapes of witness depositions, and that they could potentially become part of hearings. and that two new york times reporters who wrote that new book, this will not pass, are releasing even more audio republicans reacting to january six. in this newly-released recording, senator lindsey graham talks of joe biden, uniting the country, and then, he criticizes donald trump. >> he's misjudged the p

. >>> also n a rare matchup of congressional incumbents, trump-backed alex mooney defeated david mckinley in the gop primary for west virginia's second congressional district. new maps combined the lawmaker's district after the state lost a congressional seat. trump supported mooney after mckinley supported creating a commission to investigate the attack on the u.s. capitol. unforgivable sins in donald trump's mind. >>> joining us now, politics reporter axios our friend lock lin. great to see you. mixed bag for the former president. certainly could claim a win last week in ohio with jd vance. in pennsylvania, his chosen candidate for that senate race dr. oz currently up in the polls but we'll see. so give us your analysis. what do you think about what this means for trump's influence so far on the midterms? >> yeah. i think last night shows that to the degree these races are nationalized, that's going to benefit trump. so in west virginia, you know, the big issues at play were trump's endorsement and mckinley's vote on infrastructure bill. west virginia is desperately in need of that sort

mckinley. madison cawthorn loses to check edwards. 33.4% for check edwards to madison cawthorn's 31.9%. in north carolina, you win with 30% plus one. so that is enough for check edwards to carry the seat -- ch uck edwards to carry the seat. that is getting a lot of attention. a lot of scandals in recent weeks being reported in that race. madison cawthorn saying he is going to overcome it all and when. -- win. i want to get the process of campaign 20 primaries after the key races. mitchell in new jersey, line four democrats, what did you think? caller: a couple of thoughts. one, it is disturbing to see such a lack of issues and policies and positions by candidates on both sides. i understand that primary races are not going to have the substance of a general, but it is alarming. what i am seeing on the republican side is who can out trump. in order to get trumpet support, the lit must test seems to be that you have to believe in what is an objective life that the election was stolen. that to me

congressman david mckinley and alex mooney are now running for the same seat but only one can win. >> let g.p.s. to charles town, west virginia where enterprise reporter lawrence jones from cross-country, you know, lawrence jones he is on the weekends but is he also working for us now. hey, lawrence, you have a friend. >> hey, good morning, family. and i have some met some friends. joan with me. joan, we have been cutting up all morning. you told me that you are furious with what is happening with the supreme court and the fact that they leaked this information. >> it's bad enough what's being done but to me what's more offensive is how they are not being held accountable for what they are doing. >> lawrence: you say going to the churches and desis he creating at the catholic church going too far. >> definitely. definitely too far. >> lawrence: who are you going to vote for in this election? >> mooney. mooney 100 percent. >> lawrence: you are hearing it from the folks. i want to talk to my other friend nikki. you said the number one issue for you is the economy, you have been looking

and in a rare matchup of trump incumbent, trump-backed alex mooney defeated david mckinley in the second congressional district. the new districting combined the lawmakers' districts. trump supported mooney after he voted for the bipartisan infrastructure and for supporting a commission to investigate the attack on the united states cacapitol. let's bring in editor for politico sam stein. sam, he had the powerful backing of the rickets family. tom osborne supported him as well. he talked about schools, farms did a lot of small events. his opponent, mr. herbster had the backing of trump and latched himself to donald trump, hoping he would carry him over the finish line. it didn't work. at least statewide in nebraska what do you see in this result? >> well, two basic lessons for me, one is that a trump-backed candidate can be toppled if the state party institutions all rally behind someone else. that if you have an infrastructure that says no, we don't want this person, we want that person endorsed by trump it can work. it might take a bit of a miracle but it can work. the second thing thi

you have congressman david mckinley who has the support of the governor and senator joe manchin. watch that later tonight for returns. >> we have not seen violence or vandalism against supreme court justices. we have seen it at catholic churches, that's unacceptable. the president does not support that. we've seen it at some conservative organizations. we don't support that and call for -- we know the passion and understand the passion, we understand the concern, but what the president's position is, that should be peaceful. >> dana: white house on the protest of supreme court justices over late roe v. wade draft decision. watch here. >> abort the court. abort the court. >> dana: the scene outside justice alito's house last night. 100 demonstrators. the third justice target. let's bring in former trump senior advisor kellyanne conway and mark penn. jen psaki came to that on monday. she made those comments. but they didn't come on saturday when all of this was happening. and i think that there is some concern from the judicial branch at least and those looking at this saying this

west virginia last night alex mooney won his primary race against david mckinley. two republicans face off for the same house seat due to redistricting. mooney was endorsed by former president trump. mckinley had the backing of the state's governor jim justice and senator joe manchin. here is mooney after his win earlier today. >> i hope this race, my race shows that republicans want republicans to control the spending. the out of control spending is causing this inflation and supply chain issues, lack of drilling in new lands. >> bill: west virginia lost a congressional seat. down to two. mooney ran away with the race in west virginia. nebraska meanwhile the trump endorsed candidate lost. he is out of that competition. >> dana: i wonder if there is a thing about congressional candidates supported by trump winning their primaries but in the states the governor races maybe not so much. you look at georgia with the president's candidate way behind. and in nebraska. it is a theory i've been coming up with as i've been sitting here. check this out, too. >> under normal

take last night's primary in west virginia where donald trump backed alex mooney and he beat david mckinley. mckinley, unlike his trumped-back challenger, voted for a bipartisan to investigate the deadly insurrection. he committed a sin in trump's eyes by voting for president biden's bipartisan infrastructure package. donald trump tried to do that for four long years. the candidate who put support for trump and his 2020 election lie above democracy and bipartisanship prevailed, proving once again that what the republican party values is that lie. mckinley said, quote, serving the people of west virginia has been the honor of my life. i'm proud i've always stood up for what's right for west virginia even when it hurt me politically. amanda carpenter writes, although mooney's win confirms the trump if i indication of the gop after trump's disgraceful exit from the white house, it's also evidence of trump's shrinking gop base. this incumbent versus incumbent face-off took place because west virginia lost a house member. mooney is already a member of congress. it's just one fewer republican vot

so far in the cycle, we have seen whether it was david mckinley in west virginia or the incumbent in oregon losing their primary tamari stream candidates because for example they backed the bipartisan info structure bill. that sends a signal to everyone else in congress that the only surefire way to lose your election is working across the aisle to serve the public. that is the incentive system we have to change and the good news is there are real solutions that are being adopted at the state level to do exactly that. host: such as what? guest: the reforms we advocate include going from partisan primaries to a single nonpartisan primary and four states have done that already. the latest was alaska, which adopted a version of this reform that we think is the most powerful, a top four primary and what that means is all the candidates and all the voters get to participate in a single nonpartisan primary, the top four finishers will then go to the general election and in the general election, voters have the option of ranking them according to preference, and through a series of runoffs

west virginia primaries today two incumbents facing off, alex mooney endorsed by trump, david mckinley received support from senator joe manchin. look whose here, lawrence jones at a diner in west virginia. greetings, lawrence. this is another test of trump's influence on the gop. what have you heard from the voters there? lawrence: hey, good morning, brother. this is a big race, and i big race for two reasons. you got mckinley who has been endorsed by joe manchin as well as the governor, a lot of the establishment figures are really backing them, then you got mooney who is support from former president donald trump. they are facing off. when you talk to voters here today, they are going for mooney i know the pundits and a lot of the polling said the other way but it's not the case. another thing i think is important to notice is that you already reported on this the record gas prices are a big problem for voters as well as the economy as well as the supply chain, crime as well as the border and why do the people of west virginia care about the border? because a lot of the kitchen tabl

mckinley is a snapshot of how trump and his allies are hoping to purge the republican party of anyone and everyone who shows the slightest bit of adherence or loyalty to the truth and disloyalty to him. with alex mooney earning trump's endorsement because, as "politico" reports, mckinley committed two cardinal sins in trump's view, voting for the bipartisan infrastructure deal and voting for an independent commission to get to the bottom of the worst attack on the united states capitol in centuries. donald trump is a threat to democracy is where we start with former secretary of defense mark esper, the author of a new book "a sacred oath, memoirs of a secretary of defense during extraordinary times" that's not how it usually goes, but thank you for not pointing out that it wasn't normal. what's a treat is to talk to someone who was on the inside to try to answer some of our questions from the outside, and you know, in your own words, what was donald trump? >> donald trump as best i can assess is a person driven by self-interest, and in the case of politics, it's his re-election, and a