In Indiana, both Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer ran in the GOP Senate primary and aimed to challenge vulnerable Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly. Both fell well short of Mike Braun, the projected winner who has garnered more than 40 percent of the counted vote, compared to about 30 percent for both Rokita and Messer, according to NBC News.
The congressmen, longtime political rivals, beat each other up in a bitter and personal primary. Braun, a businessman and former state representative, used his own money to launch an ad blitz that in part cast both Rokita and Messer as creatures of a corrupt Washington.
Braun notably released an ad in which he carried around life-sized cutouts of Rokita and Messer, and asked people in the street to identify the congressmen. They struggled to do so.
In West Virginia’s GOP Senate primary, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is projected to beat Rep. Evan Jenkins, according to NBC. With the vast majority of votes counted, Morrisey has a comfortable edge, with about 35 percent of support versus about 29 percent for Jenkins, NBC reported.