West Virginia's 1st Congressional District election, 2020 (June 9 Democratic primary)
- Primary date: June 9
- Primary type: Semi-closed
- Registration deadline(s): May 19
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: No
- Early voting starts: Pending
- Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): June 9 (postmarked)
- Voter ID: Non-photo ID
- Poll times: 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
2022 →
← 2018
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| West Virginia's 1st Congressional District |
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 |
| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: January 25, 2020 |
| Primary: June 9, 2020 General: November 3, 2020 Pre-election incumbent: David McKinley (Republican) |
| How to vote |
| Poll times: 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Voting in West Virginia |
| Race ratings |
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, 2020 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd West Virginia elections, 2020 U.S. Congress elections, 2020 U.S. Senate elections, 2020 U.S. House elections, 2020 |
A Democratic Party primary took place on June 9, 2020, in West Virginia's 1st Congressional District to determine which Democratic candidate would run in the district's general election on November 3, 2020.
Natalie Cline advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House West Virginia District 1.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
Heading into the election, the incumbent was David McKinley (Republican), who was first elected in 2010.
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 utilizes a semi-closed primary system where parties may decide if unaffiliated voters can vote in their primaries.[1][2]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
This page focuses on West Virginia's 1st Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- West Virginia's 1st Congressional District election, 2020 (June 9 Republican primary)
- West Virginia's 1st Congressional District election, 2020
Election procedure changes in 2020
Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.
West Virginia modified its primary election process as follows:
- Election postponements: The primary election was postponed from May 12 to June 9.
- Voting procedures: Absentee ballot application mailed to every registered voter for the primary election.
For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.
Candidates and election results
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House West Virginia District 1
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Natalie Cline  | 74.7 | 46,052 |
 | Tom Payne | 25.3 | 15,559 | |
| Total votes: 61,611 | |||
| = 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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District analysis
- See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
- See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores
The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+19, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 19 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made West Virginia's 1st Congressional District the 40th most Republican nationally.[3]
FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.01. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.01 points toward that party.[4]
Campaign finance
The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natalie Cline | Democratic Party | $81,203 | $82,052 | $0 | As of December 15, 2020 |
| Tom Payne | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
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Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. 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." |
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General election race ratings
- See also: Race rating definitions and methods
Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:
- Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
- Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
- Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[5]
- Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.
Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[6][7][8]
| Race ratings: West Virginia's 1st Congressional District election, 2020 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| November 3, 2020 | October 27, 2020 | October 20, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | |||||
| Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season. | |||||||||
See also
- West Virginia's 1st Congressional District election, 2020 (June 9 Republican primary)
- West Virginia's 1st Congressional District election, 2020
- United States House elections in West Virginia, 2020 (June 9 Democratic primaries)
- United States House elections in West Virginia, 2020 (June 9 Republican primaries)
- United States House Democratic Party primaries, 2020
- United States House Republican Party primaries, 2020
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2020
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2020
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ West Virginia State Legislature, "WV Code § 3-4A-20," accessed June 30, 2025
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "State Primary Election Types," accessed June 30, 2025
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
- ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
- ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
