From Nebraska to West Virginia to New Jersey: Primary clashes set stage for fierce midterm fight

By Fox News · Fox News

Tuesday is primary day in red-leaning Nebraska, where party showdowns for the House and Senate will tee up general election matchups in the battle for Congress . Meanwhile, in GOP-dominated West Virginia, establishment Sen. Shelley Moore Capito faces five Republican primary challenges, but enjoys the backing of President Donald Trump . And in New Jersey, Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, who grabbed national attention last year as he was arrested during an anti-ICE protest outside a federal immigration detention center, is facing seven challengers as he seeks a fourth term steering the Garden State's largest city. DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB Tuesday's contests come with less than six months to go until the 2026 midterm elections , when Republicans aim to hold their razor-thin House and slim Senate majorities, and Democrats hope to ride a blue wave to escape the political wilderness. Here's a closer look at Tuesday's ballot box showdowns. Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, who was appointed in 2023 to replace Ben Sasse, and who won a 2024 special election to fill out the final two years of Sasse's term, is running for a full six-year term. Ricketts faces four primary challengers on Tuesday, but is expected to capture his party's nomination. Ricketts is already eyeing the general election, when he'll face off against independent candidate Dan Osborn, the industrial mechanic and military veteran who gave Republican Sen. Deb Fischer a scare in her 2024 re-election. SIX MONTHS TILL MIDTERMS: THE TEN RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE'S MAJORITY Even though the Nebraska Democratic Party supports Osborn in the general election, community college instructor Cindy Burbank and pastor Bill Forbes are running for the Democrats' nomination in the primary. Both candidates were last-minute filers, and some Nebraska Democratic leaders alleged that Forbes jumped into the race so that a Democrat would be on the fall ballot and siphon votes away f…