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Results by county
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The 2016 West Virginia gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2016, to elect the Governor of West Virginia, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The primaries were held on May 10.
Incumbent Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin was term-limited and could not run for re-election to a third term in office.
The Democratic candidate, Jim Justice, a coal and agriculture businessman, won the open seat with a plurality of the vote, despite Republican Donald Trump simultaneously winning West Virginia in a landslide during the presidential election.
In November 2010, Democratic Governor Joe Manchin resigned after being elected to the U.S. Senate. Earl Ray Tomblin, the President of the West Virginia Senate, became Acting Governor and won a special election held in October 2011. He was re-elected to a full term in the regularly-scheduled 2012 election. Tomblin is ineligible to run for re-election as the Constitution of West Virginia limits Governors to two consecutive terms, regardless of whether they are full or partial terms. However, Governors are re-eligible after four years out of office.