Nick Casey thanks supporters Tuesday night as he stands with his wife, Mary Frances, at his campaign office on Kanawha Boulevard. Casey, a Democrat, will face Alex Mooney, who won a crowded Republican primary, in a race for U.S. House in the 2nd Congressional District.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Alex Mooney emerged from a crowded Republican primary Tuesday night and will face Democrat Nick Casey in November’s general election for the right to represent West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District in Congress.
With nearly 86 percent of precincts reporting, Mooney had 35 percent of the vote for a comfortable lead over Berkeley Springs pharmacist Ken Reed, who had 22 percent, and former U.S. International Trade Commission representative Charlotte Lane, with 18 percent, in the seven-candidate field.
Mooney raised more than twice as much money as Reed, who gave his campaign more than $500,000 of his own money, and more than three times as much as Lane, who gave her campaign more than $150,000 of her own money, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Mooney, who moved to West Virginia from Maryland a little more than a year ago, said in prepared remarks that he would fight against the Affordable Care Act, the “war on coal” and to protect traditional values.
On the Democratic side, Casey defeated Kanawha Delegate Meshea Poore. He had 59 percent of the vote with 86 percent of precincts reporting.
Casey, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party, raised more than 17 times as much money as Poore. Casey thanked Poore for running a positive campaign and for her dedication to public service.
“It’s quite clear that we need to build roads, bridges, schools, water and sewer projects in this country and that we need a real energy policy that lets our state contribute to the national economy,” Casey said in an emailed statement.
The 2nd District seat is being vacated by Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by the retiring Sen. Jay Rockefeller.
Capito easily won her primary Tuesday, beating two other candidates. Capito had nearly 90 percent of the vote with 90 percent of precincts reporting.
She will face off in November against Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, who won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, also against two other candidates. Tennant had nearly 80 percent of the vote with 90 percent of precincts reporting…
