2012 elections review: Little surprise in West Virginia primaries

May 9, 2012

By Ballotpedia's Congressional and State legislative teams

Contested Primaries in West Virginia -- May 8, 2012
	U.S. House (3 seats)	State Legislature (117 seats)
Total Democratic Contested Primaries	1 (33.3%)	34 (29.1%)
Total Republican Contested Primaries	2 (66.7%)	14 (11.9%)

Congress

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia, 2012 and United States Senate elections in West Virginia, 2012

There were few surprises in the Mountain State. Two incumbents, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D) and U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito ( R) faced challenges in the primary but both won easily.

Manchin defeated former Republican Sheirl Fletcher in the Democratic primary, 80 to 20. This sets up a rematch between Manchin and John Raese (R ), who first faced off in a 2010 special election to fill the vacancy left by the death of Sen. Robert Byrd. Raese was unopposed in the Republican primary.

Moore faced a rare primary challenge, but with 83% of the vote, she solidly defeated State House member Jonathan Miller and artist Michael Davis in the 2nd District Republican primary. Howard Swint came out on top of a field of three Democratic primary and will attempt to thwart Moore’s bid for a 7th term in November.

In the 1st District, Democratic activist Sue Thorn and Republican incumbent David McKinley sailed through with no primary challengers.

3rd District incumbent Nick Rahall (D) will face Rick Snuffer in the general election. Rahall has represented West Virginia since 1976. Snuffer, a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, beat two other candidates for the Republican nod. The Rahall-Snuffer battle will be a rematch of a 2004 contest.

Members of the U.S. House from West Virginia -- Partisan Breakdown
Party		As of November 2012	After the 2012 Election
	Democratic Party	1	1
	Republican Party	2	2
Total		3	3

State legislatures

See also: West Virginia State Senate elections, 2012 and West Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2012

Two incumbents were defeated in the primary.

• Democratic state Senator Richard Browning was the only state senator who lost in the primary. He was defeated by Daniel Hall.
• Democratic State Delegate Joseph Talbott was defeated by Dana L. Lynch in the District 44 primary.

Some candidates might initiate recounts in the following races; they have 48 hours in which to request a recount. West Virginia's House has multi-member districts, which means some races can send more than one nominee to the general election.

• Greg A. Bailey, who lost second place in the Democratic primary for House District 28 by 20 votes out of 5,985 votes cast.
• Tom Louisos, who lost third place in the Democratic primary for House District 32 by 93 votes out of 17,218 votes cast. Incumbent John Pino is the current third-place vote-getter.
• Ann Calvert, who lost fourth place in the Republican primary for House District 35 by 97 votes out of 13,940 votes cast.
• Michael Castle, who lost fifth place in the Republican primary for House District 51 by 26 votes out of 13,355 votes cast.

West Virginia State Senate
Party		As of November 5, 2012	After the 2012 Election
	Democratic Party	28	24
	Republican Party	6	10
Total		34	34

West Virginia House of Delegates
Party		As of November 5, 2012	After the 2012 Election
	Democratic Party	65	54
	Republican Party	35	46
Total		100	100

See also

• United States Senate elections in West Virginia, 2012
• United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia, 2012
• West Virginia State Senate elections, 2012
• West Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2012