Tea Party Candidates Score Election Victories in Neb., W.Va.

A Tea Party-backed candidate won a key race in the Nebraska Republican Senate primary race Tuesday with the nomination victory of former George W. Bush administration official Ben Sasse, a respite for the more conservative elements of the GOP which have seen few wins this year.

Sasse won roughly half the vote in the Republican Senate Primary, the Washington Post reports, after running a primary race supported by conservative Republicans like Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, as well as former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

Another Tea Party-supported candidate, Alex Mooney, won the Republican primary for West Virginia’s second congressional district.

“The victories of Ben Sasse and Alex Mooney tonight, coupled with the victory of Curt Clawson in Florida in late April, prove the Tea Party’s momentum is continuing to roar forward,” Taylor Budowich, a Tea Party political action committee executive director said in a statement.

Tea Party races have fizzled in Kentucky and Georgia Senate primary contests, and a Tea Party challenger may have lost an Idaho U.S. House primary.

West Virginia’s Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who is moving from the House to run for Senate, won the GOP Senate primary in the state and will face off against Democrat Natalie Tennant. The two will race to replace Sen. Jay Rockefeller and become the state’s first woman senator.

Ras Baraka, a councilman and community activist was elected mayor of Newark, New Jersey’s largest city and will replace Cory Booker, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports.

[WaPo]