By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns, President Bush’s former Agriculture Secretary, was overwhelmingly nominated in a primary election Tuesday for a Senate seat in the state he once governed.

Johanns’ widely anticipated victory was a major highlight of the primary voting in Nebraska, where Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is retiring after two terms. West Virginia also held congressional primaries on Tuesday.

Johanns, who was Nebraska governor from 1999 to 2005 and left Bush’s Cabinet last fall to concentrate on the Senate race, had 79 percent of the vote in partial returns against Pat Flynn, a little-known investment adviser who had 21 percent. Republican officials worked to clear the primary field for Johanns, the party’s strongest candidate.

Johanns will face Democrat Scott Kleeb, a Yale-educated rancher and educator who defeated businessman Tony Raimondo in another lopsided vote, 68 percent to 25 percent. Kleeb, 32, ran a respectable but losing campaign in 2006 in the state’s 3rd Congressional District, where Republican Adrian Smith was elected.

Hagel announced last fall that he would not seek re-election in Nebraska, one of five states in which a Republican senator is not seeking re-election. CQ Politics presently includes the Nebraska Senate race in its mildly competitive “Republican Favored” category.

Nebraska voters also set the November fields in each of the state’s three U.S. House districts, which CQ Politics presently rates as “safe” for the incumbent party. In the Omaha-based 2nd District, five-term Republican Rep. Lee Terry and Democratic lawyer Jim Esch won their primary elections and will compete in a rematch of a 2006 contest that Terry won by 9 percentage points.

West Virginia Congressional Primaries

Democrat Anne Barth, a former longtime aide to Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd , was nominated to oppose four-term Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia’s 2nd District, which includes the state capital of Charleston and the eastern panhandle region.

Barth, a first-time candidate for political office, had 61 percent of the vote against Richie Robb (28 percent), a former mayor of South Charleston, and Thornton Cooper (11 percent), a lawyer.

Barth jumped into the race in late January, following the surprise withdrawal of Democratic state Sen. John Unger, and has shown early success in campaign fundraising. Previous Democratic opponents to Capito have either were flawed or failed to raise sufficient money to challenge the congresswoman, who is well-liked and whose voting record is less conservative than most House Republicans.

Capito is the lone Republican in West Virginia’s five-member congressional delegation and its only member who is facing a competitive race this fall. CQ Politics rates the race as Republican Favored.

The Republicans are not challenging 13-term Rep. Alan B. Mollohan in the northern 1st District, and 16-term Rep. Nick J. Rahall II of the southern 3rd District should easily beat Republican Marty Gearheart, who lost a 2006 Republican primary for the seat.

Democratic Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV and Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin III turned aside minor primary opponents on Tuesday and are overwhelmingly favored to win new terms this November.