WEST VIRGINIA 5 Electoral Votes
Population 
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, West Virginia Secretary of State)
Total Population, April 1, 2000 1,808,344
Voting Age Population, Nov. 2000 1,416,000 % change from '96  +1.1
Total Registration, Nov. 2000  1,067,822
Dem. 659,838 (61.79%)   Rep. 309,970 (29.03%)   Lib. 956 (0.09%)  Other 97,058 (9.09%)
West Virginia has: 55 counties.
Five largest counties: Kanawha, Cabell, Wood, Raleigh, Monongalia.

Government
Governor: Cecil H. Underwood (R) faces re-election in 2000.
State Legislature: West Virginia Legislature  House: 75D, 25R  Senate: 29D, 5R
Local: Cities, Counties    NACO Counties
U.S. House: 3D - 1. A.Mollohan, Jr (D) | 2. B.Wise (D) | 3. N.J.Rahall III (D).
U.S. Senate: Robert C. Byrd (D) faces re-election in 2000, Jay Rockefeller (D) faces re-election in 2002. 
Changes as of the November 2000 Elections
Governor: Bob Wise (D) defeated incumbent Cecil Underwood (R).
State Legislature: All 100 House seats and 17 of 34 Senate seats were up.  Democrats maintained overwhelming control of both chambers.  House: 75D, 25R  Senate 28D, 6R.
U.S. House: Republicans took the open 2nd District seat formerly held by B.Wise--2. Shelley Moore Capito (R): 2D, 1R.
U.S. Senate: Robert C. Byrd (D) re-elected.

The Mountain State
 

 State of West Virginia
Secretary of State
State Election Commission

Libertarian Party of WV
Natural Law Party-WV
Reform Party-WV
Constitution Party-WV
WV Democratic Party
WV Republican State Comm.

Charleston Gazette
Charleston Daily Mail
Media (Newsp.)
Media (TV)

Politics1-WV

 

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Past Results
1996
Clinton (Dem.)........327,812 (51.51)
Dole (Rep.)............233,946  (36.76)
Perot (Ref.)..............71,639
 (11.26)
Browne (Lib.).............3,062
(0.48)
Total........636,459

1992
Clinton (Dem.)........331,001 (48.41)
Bush (Rep.)...........241,974  (35.39)
Perot (Ind.).............108,829
 (15.92)
Browne (Lib.).............1,907
(0.28)
Total........683,711

Results
2000
Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
 295,497
(45.59)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
 336,475
(51.92)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
 1,912
(0.30)
Hagelin/Goldhaber(NLP)
 367
(0.06)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)
 3,169
(0.49)
Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)
 10,680
(1.65)
Earnest Lee Easton (w/in)
0
 - 
Howard Phillips (w/in)
23
Gloria Dawn Strickland (w)
1
Total........648,124
Overview
Bush carried this reliably Democratic state despite a two-to-one registration advantage for Democrats.  The Bush-Cheney ticket won with a plurality of 40,978 votes (6.33 percentage points).  Bush carried 42 counties to Gore's 13.  Concerns among coal miners about Gore's environmental positions, among steel workers about foreign dumping, and among gun owners hurt the Vice President.  In the open second congressional district race, Republican Shelley Moore Capito picked up a seat despite running against the top spending House candidate in the country, Jim Humphries ($6.9 million).
General Election Activity
Notes: West Virginia has three official parties: the Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians.  On April 7, 1999 Gov. Underwood signed SB 591 into law, making ballot access markedly more difficult for minor party and independent candidates by increasing the required number of signatures from one percent of votes cast in the last election to two percent.  6,365 signatures were required before June 11, 1999 and 12, 730 after.  The Natural Law Party successfully petitioned to get on the ballot in 1999.  The Reform Party submitted petitions on August 1, 2000 containing 14,871 valid signatures, 2,141 more than required.  Nader supporters turned in 7,111 valid signatures, short of the number required, but the Nader campaign went to court, and the Green Party made the ballot as a result of a Sept. 15, 2000 decision by Judge Charles H. Haden, II of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia. 

 
Primary Date:   Tuesday, May 9, 2000
Republican Primary
Total Vote Percent
Gary Bauer 1,290 1.18%
+George W. Bush 87,050 79.57%
Steve Forbes 1,733 1.58%
Alan Keyes 5,210 4.76%
John McCain
14,121
12.91%
Total 109,404

Total Delegates
18 of 2,066 (0.9%).
 
Democratic Primary
Total Vote Percent
Bill Bradley 46,710 18.44%
+Al Gore 182,403 72.01%
A.W. McDonald 19,374 7.65%
Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. 4,823 1.90%
Total 253,310

Total Pledged Delegates
30 of 3,537 (0.8%).
Total Delegates
43 of 4,335 (1.0%).

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.