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Trump looms over vicious House race in West Virginia
CNN
If Rep. Alex Mooney wants voters in West Virginia to know one thing about his campaign, it's that he -- not his Republican primary opponent, Rep. David McKinley -- is the candidate backed by former President Donald Trump.
And Tuesday's incumbent-on-incumbent primary in a deep red state that overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2020 is set to be a test of whether that is all that matters in today's Republican Party.
The latest round of redistricting and West Virginia's shrinking population left the state with one fewer congressional district, forcing years-long colleagues McKinley and Mooney to run against each other. The primary has turned into a clash of styles, with McKinley running more on what he has accomplished in Congress and attacking Mooney for moving to West Virginia from Maryland in the last decade, while Mooney runs as the archconservative in the race, hammering his opponent for working with Democrats and voting for the infrastructure bill backed by President Joe Biden.
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In speeches, interviews, exchanges with reporters and posts on social media, the president filled his public statements not only with exaggerations but outright fabrications. As he did during his first presidency, Trump made false claims with a frequency and variety unmatched by any other elected official in Washington.