2020 West Virginia gubernatorial election
Open-knowledge reference entry
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
Republican primary
Candidates
Nominee
Jim Justice, incumbent governor
Eliminated in primary
Shelby Jean Fitzhugh, retiree
Michael Folk, former state delegate
Brooke Lunsford, insurance agent
Chuck Sheedy, U.S. Army veteran
Doug Six, surveyor
Woody Thrasher, former West Virginia Secretary of Commerce (2017–2018)
Declined
David McKinley, incumbent U.S. Representative for West Virginia's 1st congressional district (running for re-election)
Mac Warner, Secretary of State of West Virginia (running for re-election)
Polling
Results
Democratic primary
Candidates
Nominee
Ben Salango, Kanawha County commissioner
Eliminated in primary
Douglas Hughes, environmental permit writer for West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
Jody Murphy, businessman
Stephen Smith, community organizer
Ron Stollings, state senator
Declined
Booth Goodwin, former United States Attorney and candidate for Governor of West Virginia in 2016
Joe Manchin, incumbent U.S. Senator and former Governor of West Virginia
Endorsements
Polling
Results
Other candidates
Mountain Party
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.
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