Every seat for West Virginia’s House of Delegates is on the ballot on Election Day. The House of Delegates is shown in session on Jan . 19, 2024. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
While Republicans are leading in the races for governor and the U.S. Senate, some state legislative races are bigger question marks due to West Virginia’s rising number of independent voters and potential split ticket voting.
In the Eastern Panhandle, changing population demographics — it’s one of the only parts of the state that’s growing — could move the area from heavily red to purple. And in Mingo County, another election snafu could result in a legal challenge.
Seventeen Senate seats are on ballots across West Virginia, and all House of Delegate seats are up for election this year.
Democrats make up 14 of the Legislature’s 134 members. The red wave in the House and Senate followed nearly 80 years of Democrat control.
Tony Hodge, co-chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party, said he predicted Republicans would only gain seats in the House, adding to its supermajority.
“Our majority is going to keep increasing is what we’re thinking,” Hodge said. “Local races affect our lives to a big degree … It affects the amount of money that goes to our schools and local infrastructure projects. We have to get people to vote all the way down the ballot.”
Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin said that while Democrat registrations have declined, the state’s growing number of independent voters was likely to help add to the 11 Democrats in the House.
“Independents are the fastest growing voting block in the state. Many of them are young, first time voters. They’re less likely to be moved by divisive culture war issues and that’s all the Republicans seem to run on,” he said.
Pushkin pointed to high-profile bills that took up a good portion of the 2024 legislative session, including a “Women’s Bill of Rights” that would have narrowed the definition of genders in state law but ultimately didn’t pass.
Here’s a closer look at statehouse races and issues to watch across West Virginia on Election Day.
Democrats try to reverse declining Legislature numbers
Despite the Republican stronghold in the state, Democrats seeking House and Senate seats could win on Tuesday, according to state legislative race analyst Chaz Nuttycombe. He runs a race forecasting site, cnalysis.com, that relies on past elections data and in-state experts.
“A lot of West Virginians like to split their ticket for Democrats. It’s the most friendly state for Democrats down ballot compared to anywhere in the nation,” Nuttycombe said. “The voters are becoming more Republican leaning in federal races, but they still want to vote for democrats in their local areas.”
Nuttycombe’s analysis predicts that Democrats and House members Dels. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, and Ric Griffith, D-Wayne, are likely to win their Senate races and maintain those seats as Democratic.
It’s the most friendly state for Democrats down ballot compared to anywhere in the nation.
– Chaz Nuttycombe, state legislative race analyst
Pushkin also serves as a member of the House in the 54th district. He said that a major problem with a Republican super-majority is that members could hash out bill details in caucus meetings, which are shielded from the public and reporters.
“Too many decisions are made in closed-door meetings,” he said.
Linda Bodie is a Democrat running for the 55th district against incumbent Del. J.B. Akers, R-Kanawha.
“We need to have more balance so that we can make things better and not be focused on issues that don’t really matter, because that’s what one party wants to focus on instead of making things better for everyone,” she said.
With Republicans heavily backing school choice in the state, including the expansions of charter schools and the state’s education savings program, many Democratic candidates have made supporting struggling public schools a central campaign point. The majority of West Virginia kids attend public schools.
“Education is the foundation of everything. Public education doesn’t have the resources it used to have, and that money is being drained away,” said Bodie, 55. “Getting our public education system back on track with funding is a main priority.”
Forty Republicans running for House seats are unopposed, and Hodge said he expected they’d pick up additional House seats. Two Democrats are running unopposed in Monongalia County.
Eastern Panhandle potential ‘purple’
The state’s Eastern Panhandle’s changing population demographics and growing number of independent voters could make the area more purple than red following this election.
Right now, the area’s eight counties (Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Morgan and Pendleton) are represented by Republicans in the House and Senate.
“We feel strongly about the Eastern Panhandle. We have a lot of Republican registrations there,” Hodge said.
Republican Chris Anders and Democrat Lucia Valentine are on the ballot to represent the 97th district, which includes Berkeley and Jefferson counties. Current Del. John Hardy, R-Berkeley, didn’t seek reelection. The area has seen steady early voter turnout, mostly leaning Republican, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
“People live here and have lived here because of the West Virginia way of life, and they’re concerned this is going to change,” said Anders, 53, who said he has knocked on 5,000 doors this campaign.
Both candidates have targeted independent voters. In Jefferson County, there are 15,386 voters registered as “no party,” compared to 16,661 Republicans and 12,255 Democrats.
“I really wanted to talk to those people in the middle in hopes my message appeals to them,” said Valentine, 28, whose platform includes responsible growth that considers environmental impacts and evaluating the area’s water availability.
“This is such a purple district now … Even if they are more right-leaning, we want to show that we are the common sense party,” she said. Valentine has outperformed Anders in fundraising, with more than $81,000 in contributions compared to his $38,336, according to the Secretary of State website’s latest report.
She and Anders said they consistently hear about the area’s growth on the campaign trail, which has caused over-crowded schools, health care access issues and infrastructure concerns.
While West Virginia’s overall population is declining, three of its counties — Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan — have seen the largest population increase of any region in the state in recent decades. Job growth and more people choosing to live in the area to commute into Washington, D.C., have fueled the population uptick; a West Virginia University report said the area’s population is younger and has a larger share of college-educated residents than the overall state.
Anders said his campaign has focused on protecting the Second Amendment and reducing government. He wants to help residents afford to stay in the area.
“I believe we need to immediately remove the income tax and the Berkeley County rain tax,” he said. “People need their money back so they can take care of themselves.”
Valentine said one of the area’s pressing needs was helping farmers protect and maintain their land amid residential development.
“A lot of farmers sell because they feel like they can’t make a profit anymore,” she said. “I want to support them economically, so that they feel like their only option isn’t to sell.”
Other Eastern Panhandle House seats are on the local ballots, as well as three Senate seats that represent parts of the area, including District 3, where Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, lost his primary race to Tom Willis. He was one of four state Senators who lost their primary races to incumbents.
Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, narrowly won her Republican primary and now faces former House of Delegates member, Democrat John Doyle for the 16th district.
Sen. Randy Smith, R-Tucker, whose 14th district includes some Eastern Panhandle counties, is running unopposed.
Mingo County’s multiple voting snafus
Mingo County has seen several hiccups this election season, including a candidate challenging the election results and, more recently, a Democrat candidate for state Senate left off early voting ballots.
Jeff Disibbio, a Democrat running for the 6th district, was mistakenly absent from hundreds of early voting ballots in Mingo County. Early voting began Oct. 23, and 673 people had already voted with the faulty ballot. The ballots have since been corrected. The Secretary of State’s office is investigating but has no plans to correct the already-submitted ballots.
The state Democrat party said that it would “exhaust every legal option to ensure the integrity of our democratic process is upheld.”
Disibbio is running against Craig Hart, a Republican, who defeated incumbent Sen. Chandler Swope in the May primary election by 463 votes.
Swope, R-Mercer, legally challenged the election results, saying, in part, that the Democrats were allowed to vote in the Republican primary and there were other polling place irregularities.
About 200 Democrats were found to have incorrectly voted in that race. Swope withdrew the challenge in August.
Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. West Virginia Watch will have live election results on our website.
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