West Virginia
West Virginia, which seceded from Virginia (which itself had seceded from the Union) during the Civil War, became its own state in June 1863. It and Nevada were the only states admitted during the War, although Kansas became a state in early 1861, just a couple months before the hostilities began. The state has shifted several times between supporting the Democratic or Republican party in its history, with each shift tending to last a generation or more. Primarily Republican from 1900 until the Great Depression, the state was then reliably Democratic, with few exceptions through Bill Clinton's 2nd election in 1996.
Since then, the state has become solidly Republican, with that party winning by an increasing margin in each election from 2000 through 2016. Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 42% in 2016 and Joe Biden by 39% in 2020. In both cases, it was Trump's 2nd largest margin, trailing only Wyoming.
The state has been growing much more slowly than the country for more than 50 years; its electoral vote total has dropped from 8 in 1960 to 4 today.
ELECTORAL VOTES
2020
2024
2024 ELECTION
2024 West Virginia Polls
Recent Presidential Elections
| 2020 |
|
|||
| 2016 |
|
|||
| 2012 |
|
|||
| 2008 |
|
|||
| 2004 |
|
|||
| 2000 |
|
Presidential Voting History
State voted with the overall winning candidate
Electoral College Votes
Colored bars represent electoral votes by party. Tap or hover to see names.
Gray indicates available electoral votes that were either not cast or cast for a candidate not on the ballot.
U.S. Senate Voting History
| Class | 1988 | 1990 | 1992 | 1994 | 1996 | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
R
|
||||||||||||
| 2 |
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
R
|
R
|
|||||||||||||
| 3 |
Data: MIT Election Data and Science Lab / Harvard Dataverse through 2018; 270toWin research. These are general election results for the years listed. Special elections, if any, are excluded.
There are three classes of Senators; one is up for election every second year. Each state has one Senator in two of the three classes.
U.S. House Voting History
| District | 1988 | 1990 | 1992 | 1994 | 1996 | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
| 2 |
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
| 3 |
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
||
| 4 |
D
|
D
|
Data: The Princeton Gerrymandering Project through 2018; 270toWin research. These are general election results for the years listed. Special elections, if any, are excluded.
Vertical lines before 1992, 2002, 2012, and 2022 show Census-related redistricting breakpoints. Geographic borders associated with district numbers may have changed.
Governor Voting History
Data: Wikipedia through 2018; 270toWin research. These are general election results for the years listed. Special elections, if any, are excluded.
