West Virginia Democrat Alan Mollohan Ousted in Anti-Incumbent Vote

Another incumbent member of Congress has been ousted as West Virginia voters denied Rep. Alan Mollohan a 15th term in Tuesday's primary and chose state Sen. Mike Oliverio, who made issues of Mollohan's entrenched status and ethics charges that dogged him in recent years.

On Saturday, Utah Republicans rejected Sen. Bob Bennett at a state convention fueled by anti-incumbent fervor among Tea Party activists. It wasn't close in West Virginia. Oliverio held a 12-point lead as returns were counted Tuesday night and in November will face former state Del. David McKinley, the Republican primary winner, the Washington Post reported. The once solidly Democratic Mountain State has leaned more Republican in recent years.

Mollohan, whose father preceded him in the northern West Virginia district, was a member of the influential House Appropriations Committee and a fixture in state politics. In January, the Justice Department ended a four-year investigation of charges that he steered taxpayer dollars to non-profits connected to friends and allies. No charges were filed, but McKinley has made an issue of the investigation, calling Mollohan "one of the most corrupt members of Congress."

In the Midwest on Tuesday, an incumbent Republican survived in a Nebraska House district where voters backed Rep. Lee Terry to run in November for a seventh term against Democrat Tom White.

In Georgia, former President Jimmy Carter's grandson, Jason Carter, won a state Senate seat in a special election for an open district in suburban Atlanta. Jimmy Carter, himself a former state senator, campaigned for his 34-year-old grandson.