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2020 West Virginia gubernatorial election
The 2020 West Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the governor of West Virginia, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Incumbent Governor Jim Justice announced his 2020 re-election campaign on January 7, 2019. Justice was elected in 2016 as a Democrat, but later switched back to the Republican Party at an August 2017 campaign rally with Donald Trump. Justice won re-election to a second term, defeating Democratic Kanawha County commissioner Ben Salango. Justice's re-election made him the first Republican to be elected governor of West Virginia since Cecil Underwood in 1996. Additionally, Justice became the first incumbent Republican governor to win re-election since Arch A. Moore Jr. in 1972, as well as the first Republican to carry all counties in West Virginia. However, Justice performed worse than Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who outperformed Justice by 5.13 percentage points. Additionally, Salango slightly outperformed Biden by 0.53 percentage points. Justice's 33% margin is the largest margin for a Republican in West Virginia history
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Jim Justice, incumbent governor
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Shelby Jean Fitzhugh, retiree
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Michael Folk, former state delegate
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Brooke Lunsford, insurance agent
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Chuck Sheedy, U.S. Army veteran
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Doug Six, surveyor
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Woody Thrasher, former West Virginia Secretary of Commerce (2017–2018)
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David McKinley, incumbent U.S. Representative for West Virginia's 1st congressional district (running for re-election)
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Mac Warner, Secretary of State of West Virginia (running for re-election)
| Poll source | Date(s)administered | Samplesize | Marginof error | JimJustice | MikeFolk | WoodyThrasher | Other /Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triton Polling & Research/WMOV | May 18–26, 2020 | 719 (LV) | ± 3.7% | 53% | 15% | 14% | 18% |
| WPA Intelligence (R) | December 16–18, 2019 | 502 (LV) | ± 4.4% | 38% | 6% | 30% | 26%' |
| Research America Inc. | December 4–9, 2019 | 229 (LV) | – | 56% | 11% | 21% | 12% |
| Public Opinion Strategies (R) | August 24–25, 2019 | – | – | 56% | – | 26% | 18% |
| Research America Inc. | August 14–22, 2019 | 216 (LV) | – | 53% | 12% | 19% | 17%' |
| WPA Intelligence | August 13–14, 2019 | 509 (V) | – | 38% | 11% | 23% | 28% |
| WPA Intelligence | March 7–10, 2019 | 509 (V) | – | 58% | 5% | 5% | 32% |
Results by county: .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} Justice 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Folk 40–50%
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | 133,258 | 62.70% | |
| Republican | 38,898 | 18.30% | |
| Republican | 26,735 | 12.58% | |
| Republican | 4,429 | 2.08% | |
| Republican | 3,849 | 1.81% | |
| Republican | 2,799 | 1.32% | |
| Republican | 2,552 | 1.20% | |
| 212,520 | 100.00% |
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Ben Salango, Kanawha County commissioner
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Douglas Hughes, environmental permit writer for West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
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Jody Murphy, businessman
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Stephen Smith, community organizer
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Ron Stollings, state senator
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Booth Goodwin, former United States Attorney and candidate for Governor of West Virginia in 2016
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Joe Manchin, incumbent U.S. Senator and former Governor of West Virginia
| Poll source | Date(s)administered | Samplesize | Marginof error | BenSalango | StephenSmith | RonStollings | Other /Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triton Polling & Research/WMOV | May 18–26, 2020 | 231 (LV) | ± 6.4% | 30% | 27% | 10% | 33% |
| Research America/MetroNews | December 4–10, 2019 | 220 (LV) | ± 4.4% | 18% | 21% | 19% | 46% |
Results by county: Salango Salango—60–70% Salango—50–60% Salango—40–50% Salango—30–40% Smith Smith—30–40% Smith—40–50% Smith—50–60% Stollings Stollings—50–60% Stollings—70–80% Murphy Murphy—30–40% Murphy—40–50%
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | 74,805 | 38.68% | |
| Democratic | 65,544 | 33.89% | |
| Democratic | 25,782 | 13.33% | |
| Democratic | 18,039 | 9.33% | |
| Democratic | 9,231 | 4.77% | |
| 193,401 | 100.00% |
The Mountain Party received over 5% of the vote in 2016 with former State Senator and Delegate Charlotte Pritt as the party's gubernatorial nominee. The party nominates its candidate for governor by convention per its bylaws.
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Daniel Lutz, Eastern Panhandle Conservation District Supervisor representing Jefferson County, and commissioned U.S. Air Force veteran
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Erika Kolenich, trial attorney
The following candidates were certified write-in candidates.
- Quintin Gerard Caldwell
- Michael Folk, former State Delegate (sought the nomination of the Republican Party)
- Kimberly Gross
- Mitch Roberts
- Marshall Wilson, State Delegate (Independent)
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report | Safe R | October 23, 2020 |
| Inside Elections | Safe R | October 28, 2020 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball | Likely R | November 2, 2020 |
| Politico | Likely R | November 2, 2020 |
| Daily Kos | Safe R | October 28, 2020 |
| RCP | Safe R | November 2, 2020 |
| 270towin | Likely R | November 2, 2020 |
| Column 1 | Column 2 |
|---|---|
| This graph was using the legacy Graph extension, which is no longer supported. It needs to be converted to the new Chart extension. |
| Poll source | Date(s)administered | Samplesize | Marginof error | JimJustice (R) | BenSalango (D) | DanielLutz (M) | ErikaKolenich (L) | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triton Polling and Research | October 19–21, 2020 | 544 (LV) | ± 4.2% | 53% | 35% | 3% | 3% | 5% |
| Research America Inc. | October 1–6, 2020 | 450 (LV) | ± 4.6% | 53% | 34% | 2% | 5% | 6% |
| Triton Polling & Research | September 29–30, 2020 | 525 (RV) | ± 4.3% | 48% | 38% | 4% | 4% | 6% |
| Strategies Unlimited | September 26–30, 2020 | 600 (LV) | ± 4% | 46% | 40% | 5% | – | 8% |
| Mark Blankenship Enterprises (R) | September 10–14, 2020 | 504 (LV) | ± 4.3% | 54% | 27% | 9% | 10% |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | 497,944 | 63.49% | +21.19% | ||
| Democratic | 237,024 | 30.22% | −18.87% | ||
| Libertarian | 22,527 | 2.87% | +0.72% | ||
| Americans Coming Together | S. Marshall Wilson (write-in) | 15,120 | 1.93% | N/A | |
| Mountain | 11,309 | 1.44% | −4.45% | ||
| Write-in | 363 | 0.05% | N/A | ||
| 784,287 | 100.00% | ||||
| 802,726 | 63.25% | ||||
| 1,269,219 | |||||
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
- Cabell (largest city: Huntington)
- Calhoun (largest city: Grantsville)
- Clay (largest city: Clay)
- Gilmer (largest city: Glenville)
- Greenbrier (largest city: Lewisburg)
- Jackson (largest city: Ravenswood)
- Marshall (largest city: Moundsville)
- Mason (largest city: Point Pleasant)
- Monongalia (largest city: Morgantown)
- Monroe (largest city: Peterstown)
- Nicholas (largest city: Summersville)
- Ohio (largest city: Wheeling)
- Pendleton (largest city: Franklin)
- Pleasants (largest city: St. Marys)
- Pocahontas (largest city: Marlinton)
- Raleigh (largest city: Beckley)
- Randolph (largest city: Elkins)
- Roane (largest city: Spencer)
- Summers (largest city: Hinton)
- Wayne (largest city: Kenova)
- Wetzel (largest city: New Martinsville)
- Harrison (largest city: Clarksburg)
- Kanawha (largest city: Charleston)
- Lincoln (largest city: Hamlin)
- Wyoming (largest city: Mullens)
- Brooke (largest borough: Wellsburg)
- Fayette (largest city: Fayetteville)
- Logan (largest borough: Logan)
- Mingo (largest borough: Williamson)
- Boone (largest city: Madison)
- Braxton (largest town: Sutton)
- Marion (largest city: Fairmont)
- McDowell (largest city: Welch)
- Webster (largest town: Webster Springs)
- Wirt (largest municipality: Elizabeth)
- Putnam (largest municipality: Hurricane)
- Wood (largest municipality: Parkersburg)
Justice won all three congressional districts.
| District | Justice | Salango | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 64% | 30% | David McKinley | |
| 59% | 33% | Alex Mooney | |
| 68% | 27% | Carol Miller |
Partisan clients
- Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "West Virginia", Voting & Elections Toolkits
- "West Virginia: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
- "League of Women Voters of West Virginia". (state affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
- West Virginia at Ballotpedia
Official campaign websites
- Jim Justice (R) for Governor
- Ben Salango (D) for Governor
- Daniel Lutz (M) for Governor
- Erika Kolenich (L) for Governor
- Michael Folk (I) for Governor
- S. Marshall Wilson (I) for Governor
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