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West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District election, 2026 (May 12 Republican primary)

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← 2024
West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District
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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
West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District
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's 2nd Congressional District to determine which Republican candidate will run in the district's general election on November 3, 2026.

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



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 2nd Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district'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. House West Virginia District 2

Incumbent Riley Moore is running in the Republican primary for U.S. House West Virginia District 2 on May 12, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Riley Moore
Riley Moore

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

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
Riley Moore Republican Party $672,369 $254,497 $540,834 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.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

  • District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
  • Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
  • State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.


Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

2023_01_03_wv_congressional_district_02.jpg
See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2026
Information about competitiveness will be added here as it becomes available.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is R+20. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 20 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made West Virginia's 2nd the 33rd most Republican district nationally.[2]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.

2024 presidential results in West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District
Kamala Harris Democratic Party Donald Trump Republican Party
29.0% 69.0%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in West Virginia, 2024

West Virginia presidential election results (1900-2024)

  • 15 Democratic wins
  • 17 Republican wins
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Winning Party R R R D R R R R D D D D D D R D D D R D D R D D D R R R R R R R
See also: Party control of West Virginia state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of West Virginia's congressional delegation as of October 2025.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from West Virginia
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 0 0 0
Republican 2 2 4
Independent 0 0 0
Vacancies 0 0 0
Total 2 2 4

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in West Virginia's top three state executive offices as of October 2025.

State executive officials in West Virginia, October 2025
Office Officeholder
Governor Republican Party Patrick Morrisey
Secretary of State Republican Party Kris Warner
Attorney General Republican Party John B. McCuskey

State legislature

West Virginia State Senate

Party As of October 2025
     Democratic Party 2
     Republican Party 31
     Other 0
     Vacancies 1
Total 34

West Virginia House of Delegates

Party As of October 2025
     Democratic Party 9
     Republican Party 91
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 100

Trifecta control

West Virginia Party Control: 1992-2025
Nineteen years of Democratic trifectas  •  Eight years of Republican trifectas

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor D D D D D R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D[3] R R R R R R R R
Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R
House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House 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. House candidates, 2026
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
West Virginia U.S. House Ballot-qualified party N/A $1,740 1/31/2026 Source
West Virginia U.S. House Unaffiliated 1% of votes cast for this office in the last election, but no fewer than 25 $1,740 8/3/2026 Source

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ West Virginia Legislature, "W. Va. Code § 3–2–31," accessed September 16, 2025
  2. ↑ Cook Political Report, "2025 Cook PVI℠: District Map and List (119th Congress)," accessed July 1, 2025
  3. ↑ Gov. Jim Justice switched his registration to Republican on August 4, 2017.


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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