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.

Robert C. Byrd, a Democrat, represented the state of West Virginia in Congress for over 57 years, as a Member of the House from the now-defunct 6th District from 1953–1959, and as a United States Senator from 1959–2010. He served as Democratic Senate Leader from 1977–1989. In 2006 he became the longest-serving Senator in history, and in 2009 the longest-serving member of Congress in history. Senator Byrd died of pneumonia on June 28, 2010, aged 92. Governor Joe Manchin appointed Carte Goodwin to fill the seat until a special election was held in November 2010. Manchin was elected to the seat to fulfill the remainder of Byrd's term.

In the Republican landslide of 1988, it was one of only ten states, and the only southern state (as defined by the US Census), to give its electoral votes to Michael Dukakis; it was one of only six states to support Jimmy Carter over Ronald Reagan in 1980; and it supported Bill Clinton by large margins in both 1992 and 1996. The state has trended increasingly Republican in presidential elections; despite the earlier Democratic wins in presidential match-ups, it narrowly elected George W. Bush over Al Gore in 2000, then re-elected Bush by a much larger margin in 2004 and voted for John McCain in 2008 by a slightly larger margin than 2004. West Virginia was one of only 5 states, the others being Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee, where McCain won by a larger margin in 2008 than George W. Bush in 2004. Mitt Romney won the state in the 2012 presidential election with 62% of the vote, a significant improvement over McCain's 56% vote share in 2008 and the first time in modern American history that a Republican candidate for president won every county in the state .

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