By
Caitlin Yilek
Politics Reporter
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
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Updated on: May 12, 2026 / 9:16 PM EDT
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Voters went to the polls in Nebraska and West Virginia on Tuesday, with Democrats vying for the chance to run in an open seat in Nebraska that the party has long been eyeing.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon is retiring in January, leaving a seat open in a district that has voted for Democrats in three of the last five presidential elections. Several Democrats are vying for the chance to take on Republican nominee Brinker Harding, a member of the Omaha City Council who ran unopposed in the GOP primary.
Also in Nebraska, GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts defeated a slew of primary challengers. and Cindy Burbank won the Democratic nomination, CBS News has projected — but the state Democratic party has endorsed Dan Osborn, who is running in November as an independent.
And in West Virginia, Capito fended off five primary challengers, and five Democrats are on the ballot to secure the nomination for November.
Nebraska 2nd District
The leading Democratic hopefuls in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District have been battling over whether one candidate’s campaign damages the party’s competitiveness in the area.
Nebraska state Sen. John Cavanaugh and political organizer Denise Powell are leading a crowded Democratic primary for Bacon’s Omaha-area seat, which he has held for five terms. But Mr. Trump has lost the district in his last two presidential elections, and Democrats have long viewed it as an opportunity to pick up a seat.
Also at issue in the race is how deep-red Nebraska splits its electoral college votes in presidential elections. The state currently awards most of its votes by congressional district, giving Democratic presidential candidates a chance to deny Republicans of at least one vote in the 2nd Congressional District.
Powell argues that Cavanaugh’s potential success gives Republicans an opportunity to change how the state awards its electoral college votes to a winner-take all system because, if Cavanaugh leaves the state legislature, GOP Gov. Jim Pillen will be able to appoint an interim replacement.
Nebraska Senate seat
Ricketts was nominated in 2023 to finish the rest of former GOP Sen. Ben Sasse’s term, and he won a special election the following year to finish the term. He is now running for his first full term.
Ricketts, a former governor and the son of Nebraska billionaire Joe Ricketts, defeated four primary challengers on Tuesday, with Ricketts having been backed by President Trump and the Nebraska Farm Bureau. Ricketts is already focusing on a matchup against Osborn in November.