NORTH TRIETON, Mon. -- What was considered a marquee Senate primary race came to a surprisingly dull ending last week.
Monomi incumbent Sen. Brooke Burnstein easily won his party's nomination for re-election, despite facing a strong and vocal challenge from a fellow high-profile Conservative.
Former Sen. Cathy De Beers, who lost re-election in 2022 to Nationalist Jordan Murdano, announced shortly after her 2022 loss that she would challenge Burnstein for the Conservative Party's backing in 2024.
Burnstein, a known moderate who often sides with Nationalists, is up for re-election this year. And Conservative allies of De Beers, who is a strongly right-wing Evangelical, were hoping the former senator could win her party's support and claw her way back into the Senate.
Calling Burnstein "a faux-conservative," De Beers spent months -- and millions of dollars -- casting Burnstein as closer to a Nationalist than a Conservative.
"Brooke Burnstein is too liberal for Monomi," said a narrator in a pro-De Beers television ad. "He votes for gun control, he opposed a farm bill that would have given millions of dollars to Monomi farmers, and he has voted to send millions of dollars to Ukraine in a war that Grassadellia should not be involved in," said the ad.
De Beers raised over seven million dollars for her comeback campaign, while Burnstein raised about nine million.
Many political pundits described Burnstein as vulnerable, especially since he was facing a well-known federal senator in the primary election.
However, Monomi's Conservative voters delivered a quiet victory for Burnstein.
The centrist senator ended election night with almost 58%, compared to only 42% for De Beers.
It wasn't a slam-dunk for Burnstein, but it wasn't the upset or the extremely close finish that most political experts predicted.
"Brooke Burnstein did much better than we thought he would, than everyone thought he would," said Dr. Richard Wrigley, a political science professor at the University of Monomi in Trieton. "Burnstein outperformed all the polls and exceeded expectations. Which either means the polling was off, or the Conservative voters of Monomi decided at the last second to side with Burnstein over De Beers. Or maybe a little bit of both," said Wrigley.
While his win was much bigger than expected, Burnstein didn't brag about it.
At his election night gathering in Drywood, a northern suburb of Trieton, Burnstein thanked his supporters, and quickly pivoted to the fall election.
"I want to thank everyone who helped my campaign. People who volunteered, people who shared information, positive information about me online on social media or with their neighbors or family or friends. I want to thank my incredible staff and my family. I wouldn't be standing here tonight before you without all these wonderful people," said a grateful Burnstein.
"And with that, we're moving on to December. We are now focused on the fall election and reaching that special number, 49," he said, referring to the number of Senate seats Conservatives must win to retake the majority.
Burnstein didn't address De Beers, who he previously served in the Senate with.
He noted in an interview yesterday that he holds no ill will toward De Beers.
"Was I thrilled that she decided to run against me and challenge me? No. Of course I was a little annoyed. But we won, it's over, let's move on. It's time to focus on the prize before us," said a confident Burnstein.
It's unclear whom Burnstein will face on the NAT side, as Nationalist voters will go to the polls this week to determine their nominee. Leading the race so far is Karen Elder, a mother and activist from north Trieton.
However, Elder and the other NAT candidates are not well-known, and none have raised much money so far, which means Burnstein is likely to hold the seat in the fall election.
De Beers has stayed out of the limelight following her high-profile loss.
On election night, she told her supporters, who had gathered at a folksy, charming country store and restaurant in rural Stepkin County, that "no matter what happens, this is God's race, not ours."
She told reporters the day after the election that she had called Burnstein and conceded.
She added that she would work to help the Conservative Party reach the 49 needed seats to retake the majority.
She declined to comment beyond that.
The Monomi race is a much different story from what happened in neighboring Veroche, where another former Conservative federal senator, John Bosworth, was successful in challenging incumbent centrist Sen. Kit McHenry.
Many in Monomi feared Burnstein would inherit the same fate as McHenry, but it appears the Conservative voters of Monomi have delivered a different verdict.
"Monomi Conservatives proved tonight that they are focused on winning that 49th seat. And their strong endorsement of Brooke Burnstein might prove to be the winning race that puts us over the top," said Monomi Conservative Party Chairman Ed Randall.
The Monomi Nationalist primary election is scheduled for next Tuesday.
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