According to the Associated Press, Alex Mooney won the Republican primary in West Virginia on Tuesday, defeating incumbent Rep. David McKinley, who was backed by Sen. Joe Manchin.
A congressman is at a campaign rally on Friday.
The winner was projected by the AP at 9:12 p.m. Eastern.
West Virginia lost a seat in the House of Representatives in the process of drawing new districts, forcing Mooney and McKinley to run against each other in one of the state's two remaining districts.
The general election will be held in November. In deep-red West Virginia, Democratic candidates usually struggle.
Both candidates in the bitter primary questioned each other's credentials. The former president cast McKinley as a Republican in name only, and criticized him for voting in favor of a bipartisan infrastructure, as he enthusiastically promoted his Trump endorsement, a key asset in a state that Trump won by more than 40 points in 2020. McKinley has been endorsed by both Justice and Manchin, who are popular in West Virginia despite his party affiliation. Manchin said that Mooney moved to West Virginia from Maryland about a decade ago for political opportunism, and praised McKinley for opposing the Biden bill.
The West Virginia primary was a test of Trump's power. Trump has endorsed dozens of Republicans this year, but Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is facing a tough primary challenge from David Perdue. None of Trump's endorsees have lost their primaries so far this year.
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