A pollster says, if the 2014 U.S. Senate Primary Election was held today, the nominees would likely be Second District Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, and Third District Congressman Nick Rahall, a Democrat.
The early numbers from Harper Polling show Congressman Capito, though, would have the edge in any head to head race with Congressman Rahall.
“We find her with a pretty healthy lead, frankly, about 50%,” Brock McCleary with Harper Polling said on Wednesday’s MetroNews Talkline.
“Of the three challengers, Rahall clearly does the best at 32%. He starts with a deficit. Now I will point about 18% are undecided, so there is a long way to go.”
Congresswoman Capito said she would run for the U.S. Senate in 2014 last November even before U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller announced he would not be seeking reelection next year. He has served in the U.S. Senate since 1984.
There are still more than 15 months to go before the 2014 May Primary Election. At this point, no other candidate from any party has indicated he or she will be getting into the race, so McCleary says the numbers from Harper Polling can only based on possibilities .
As for a Democrat Primary Election, “We found that Nick Rahall is up sizably in a hypothetical primary at 38%. (State Supreme Court Justice) Robin Davis comes in second at 17% and (former U.S. Senator) Carte Goodwin is at about 8%,” he said.
McCleary says Congressman Rahall’s strength is the strong support he has in his Third District, but he says, according to the poll results, Rahall would lose some of that advantage in a statewide race with Congresswoman Capito.
“Shelley Moore Capito does very, very well in her Second District. She beats Rahall 61% to 27%. The problem for Rahall here is, in his home Third District, he, however, trails Shelley Moore Capito by 1%,” he said.
You can see the complete poll numbers from Harper Polling at www.harperpolling.com.