2016 West Virginia Senate election

2016 West Virginia Senate election

← 2014 November 8, 2016 2018 →

18 of the 34 seats in the West Virginia Senate[a]
18 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Bill Cole
(retired)
Jeff Kessler
(retired)
Party Republican Democratic
Leader's seat 6th district 2nd district
Seats before 18 16
Seats won 22 12
Seat change Increase 4 Decrease 4
Popular vote 379,414 345,598
Percentage 52.3% 47.7%
Seats up 8 10
Races won 12 6

Results of the elections:
     Democratic gain      Republican gain
     Democratic hold      Republican hold
Rectangular inset (District 3): both seats up for election

Senate President before election

Bill Cole
Republican

Elected Senate President

Mitch Carmichael
Republican

The 2016 West Virginia Senate elections were held on November 8, 2016, as part of the biennial United States elections. Seventeen of West Virginia's 34 state senators were up for regular selection, along with an unexpired term for another seat. West Virginia Senate districts each have two elected representatives. State senators serve staggered four-year terms in West Virginia, with one senator from each district up in even-numbered years corresponding to presidential election years (such as 2016), and the other up in even-numbered years corresponding to presidential midterm years.

Primary elections in the state were held on May 10. After the previous 2014 state elections, Republicans held a slim majority in the Senate, holding 18 seats to the Democrats' 16. The Republican Party had long been the minority party in West Virginia, but the decline of the strength of coal worker unions, the Democratic Party's increasing focus on environmentalism, the unpopularity of President Barack Obama, and the increasing social conservatism of the Republican Party have helped the GOP solidify power in the state rapidly since 2000.

The high popularity of candidate Donald Trump within the state and his 42-point margin of victory, helped the Republicans gain four seats. This can be attributed to the increasing association of the West Virginia Democratic Party with the national Democratic Party, and a strong year for the Republican Party nationally, in which they gained control of the presidency, and kept control of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Donald Trump won West Virginia with 68.5% of the vote, his largest share of the vote in any state. Trump's performance helped Republican Senate candidates down-ballot, as he won every senate district in the state.[1]

Following the state's 2016 Senate elections, Republicans maintained and increased their control of the Senate with 22 seats to the Democrats' 12.


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  1. ^ "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts". Daily Kos.