Two key Congressional primaries are going on tonight. At stake is whether a long-time Democratic Congressman gets thrown out by his party’s voters, and also who will end up filling a safe GOP seat.
In West Virginia’s First Congressional District, 14-term Rep. Alan Mollohan is facing a strong Democratic challenge from state Sen. Mike Oliverio, who is hammering Mollohan over a recently concluded ethics investigation into the congressman’s financial disclosures and earmarks — no charges were filed, and federal authorities closed the case. In Georgia’s 9th Congressional District, Six Republicans, one Democrat and one independent are vying to replace GOP Rep. Nathan Deal, who resigned in March in order to focus on his campaign for governor.
Oliverio is also arguing that Mollohan is an out of touch incumbent. In an interesting twist, this challenge in a Democratic primary is coming from the right, not the left. For example, Oliverio has attacked Mollohan for not opposing cap-and-trade enough, though Mollohan did vote against the energy bill last year. Oliverio has also criticized the Democratic leadership in Washington — hedging on whether he would vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. “I will vote for the candidate in the best interest of West Virginia,” Oliverio said two weeks ago. “Hopefully, there will be a better candidate than Nancy Pelosi.”
Also two weeks ago, Oliverio’s campaign released an internal poll claiming that he was ahead of the incumbent, by a margin of 41%-33%.
The polls close in West Virginia will close at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Georgia district is safe Republican, having voted for John McCain by a margin of 75%-23%. Six Republicans, one Democrat and one independent. All candidates are running on a single ballot, regardless of party, with the top two advancing to a June 8 runoff if nobody wins 50%-plus-one of the vote. A big question to watch out for will be whether former state Rep. Tom Graves, who has the support of the right-wing Club For Growth, makes it to the runoff.
The polls in Georgia close at 7 p.m. ET. This special election is not the end, though, even if a candidate were to get over 50% of the vote — there will still be a Republican primary process for the regular 2010 election, to be held in July with a possible August runoff.
