Politics of West Virginia

From the time of the Great Depression through the 1990s, the politics of West Virginia were largely dominated by the Democratic Party. In the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush claimed a surprise victory over Al Gore, with 52% of the vote; he won West Virginia again in 2004, with 56% of the vote. West Virginia is now a heavily Republican state, with John McCain winning the state in 2008,^[1] Mitt Romney in 2012^[2] and Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

Before 2000, West Virginia had voted almost exclusively Democratic in each presidential election starting in 1932, only voting Republican amidst national landslides in 1956, 1972, and 1984. However starting with the 2000 election, West Virginia began a sharp realignment from mostly supporting Democrats to mostly supporting Republicans. By the 2010s, the state had become at the presidential level one of the most Republican in the nation. By 2015, Republicans had gained one of the state's two Senate seats, all its U.S. House seats, and both chambers of the state legislature.

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump took an overwhelming victory in West Virginia, garnering 68.5% of the state's vote, his best performance of any state. Despite this, Democratic candidate Jim Justice was elected governor on the same ballot, marking five consecutive Democratic gubernatorial victories in the state. However, seven months into his term, Justice switched affiliation to the Republican Party, leaving Joe Manchin and John Perdue as the only Democrats holding statewide office in West Virginia. In 2020, Trump again carried West Virginia in a landslide, taking 68.6% of the state's vote, only less than longstanding Republican stronghold Wyoming. Perdue lost reelection as State Treasurer after serving six terms, leaving Manchin as the only remaining statewide Democrat. Manchin won his last U.S. Senate reelection campaign by 3% in 2018, a sharp decline from his 24% margin of victory in 2012. He has announced that he will not seek reelection in 2024.

In a 2020 study, West Virginia was ranked as the 16th hardest state for citizens to vote in.^[3]