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United States Senate election in West Virginia, 2026 (May 12 Republican primary)

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U.S. Senate, West Virginia
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: January 31, 2026
Primary: May 12, 2026
General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times:

6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Voting in West Virginia

Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Republican
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending
Inside Elections: Solid Republican
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
U.S. Senate, West Virginia
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd
West Virginia elections, 2026
U.S. Congress elections, 2026
U.S. Senate elections, 2026
U.S. House elections, 2026

A Republican Party primary takes place on May 12, 2026, in West Virginia to determine which Republican candidate will run in the state's general election on November 3, 2026.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
January 31, 2026
May 12, 2026
November 3, 2026


Heading into the election, the incumbent is Shelley Moore Capito (Republican), who was first elected in 2014.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. West Virginia state law permits parties to determine for themselves whether to allow previously unaffiliated voters to participate in their primaries along with registered members. As of October 2025, the Democratic Party held a semi-closed primary where unaffiliated voters could participate, and the Republican Party held a closed primary in which only voters registered with the party could participate.[1]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on West Virginia's United States Senate Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the state's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

  • Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
  • Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate West Virginia

Incumbent Shelley Moore Capito, Derrick Evans, Alexander Gaaserud, Bryan McKinney, and Tom Willis are running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate West Virginia on May 12, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Shelley Moore Capito
Shelley Moore Capito
Image of Derrick Evans
Derrick Evans
Image of Alexander Gaaserud
Alexander Gaaserud
Image of Bryan McKinney
Bryan McKinney Candidate Connection
Image of Tom Willis
Tom Willis

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Bryan McKinney

Image of Bryan McKinney

WebsiteFacebookYouTube

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography:  "I am a husband and father of 7 children. I am your American ONLY candidate, not America first as many claim to be. America is the last best hope for all mankind. Many republicans, including several running for this office are not for our freedom or liberty. They only want power, leadership positions, and access to the political elite party in DC. I believe we owe nothing to the rest of the world and need to focus and ensure our freedoms and liberty ONLY and always. Our government has become our number one threat. I have always worked in the private sector. I am 45. Christian. As many other Americans I work two jobs to support my family. I work in the fields of athletics and robotics. I paint hundreds of athletic fields each year and I sell athletic field paint and painting equipment. I have worked in this market for the last decade. In my free time I enjoy spending time with my children and volunteering with scouts. My hobbies include photography, shooting, kayaking, hiking, golf, and reading about American history."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

To ensure our country's future we need to deport all Muslims to Islamic countries. Islam is not compatible with freedom or liberty. We need term limits to stop anyone from holding office more than 1 term. We also need to cut off the money for corruption by ending all federal taxes including the income tax and inheritance taxes. Government has stolen so much from us including much of our liberty. We The People need to take it back. Some Republicans running for this office are just as bad as some have spend billions already as West Virginia elected officials and now want to continue this extortion and theft as your next US Senator. We need better candidates. I am willing to fight to end this corruption and fight for us, We The People.

Our second Amendment rights need to be restored. All laws at the state level and federal level restricting gun ownership need to be abolished. We need to have national conceal to carry. We need to ban all gun owner databases. No permits to own guns. We need to ban martial law from ever being forced on us. We need to hold drug companies financially and legally accountable for all drug injuries and death they cause. We need to end the military draft. We need to ban ALL Muslims from holding any office in the USA. We need to ban mail in voting and require showing ID when voting in person. No more absentee voting. We need to ban ALL spying on US citizens email, phone calls, and other communication. Make facial recognition illegal in the USA.

We need to end the Federal Reserve, end the IRS, end the ATF. We need to band foreign countries and citizens from owning any US land or farms and take back any currently owned. We need to go back to the gold standard. We need to ban all payments by the federal government to private or non-profit companies and all other countries. We need to get out of the United Nations. We need to deport ALL illegal aliens. We need to ban any and all weather manipulation by water, air, or any other means. We need a ban on Federal IDs including any form of Digital ID or REAL ID. We also need age limits for federal office, I support using 60 as the oldest age to serve. I would also remove and stop all retirement payments to former congressmen and senators.

Voting information

See also: Voting in West Virginia

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Shelley Moore Capito Republican Party $3,957,207 $2,297,231 $4,130,506 As of September 30, 2025
Derrick Evans Republican Party $1,062,145 $1,001,214 $60,931 As of December 31, 2024
Alexander Gaaserud Republican Party $0 $0 $0 As of September 30, 2025
Bryan McKinney Republican Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***
Tom Willis Republican Party $200,178 $43,817 $156,361 As of September 30, 2025

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.
*** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates in West Virginia in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in West Virginia, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates, 2026
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
West Virginia U.S. Senate Ballot-qualified party N/A 1% of annual salary 1/31/2026 Source
West Virginia U.S. Senate Unaffiliated 1% of votes cast for this office in the last election, but no fewer than 25 1% of annual salary 8/3/2026 Source

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ West Virginia Legislature, "W. Va. Code § 3–2–31," accessed September 16, 2025


West Virginia's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Shelley Capito (R)
Jim Justice (R)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
Republican Party (4)


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