–The Secretary of State’s Office says the numbers are still unofficial, but it appears turnout in Tuesday’s primary was around 40 percent. That’s well above the turnout for the primary in the last presidential election year (27 percent in 2012) and higher than the 2008 primary, when the turnout was 36 percent.
–Based on the people who cast ballots in the presidential race, 238,000 West Virginians voted a Democratic ballot, while 202,000 took a Republican ballot. What’s unclear so far is how many of those voters were registered party members and how many were independents. The numbers suggest, however, that more independents voted Republican, since the Democratic Party has a 200,000 advantage in voter registration (577,977 to 374,931), but had only a 36,000 edge in ballots cast. Republicans may have had a higher turnout.
–Senator Shelley Moore Capito was not on the ballot, but two members of her family were. Capito’s son, Moore Capito, led the ticket in the race for the Republican nomination for the 35th Delegate District House in Kanawha County. Her nephew, Riley Moore, won nomination by the GOP in the 67th Delegate District in Jefferson County.
–Speaking of Capito, she will join other Senate leaders in Washington today for a meeting with presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump. Capito said on MetroNews Talkline Wednesday that she will back the party’s nominee, but added that her level of enthusiasm for Trump will depend on the answers he provides today to specific questions. “He’s been very non-specific in a lot of how we’re going to get America working,” Capito said. Capito added that she believes Trump should tone down his rhetoric.
–Just hours after the results of Tuesday’s election were in, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole was challenging Democratic nominee Jim Justice to a series of seven debates across the state with different topics at each. Justice brushed off the challenge during an appearance on Talkline Wednesday, saying it’s “far more important” for him to go out and talk to people. “This is not some entertainment hour,” Justice said. However, Cole said debates would get to specifics. “Truly I’ve yet to hear one solution, one idea, come from Jim,” Cole said.
–A closer look at the numbers makes Hillary Clinton’s night look even worse. Unofficially, the presumptive Democratic nominee failed to carry a single county, losing to Bernie Sanders in all 55. Clinton received only 86,000 votes, compared with 241,000 she got in the 2008 primary when she easily outdistanced Barack Obama and John Edwards.
–Tuesday’s election interrupted the political career of one of the longest serving members of the Legislature. Republican Bob Ashley from Roane County lost his bid to unseat long-time Senator Donna Boley in the 3rd District. Ashley, who was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1984, was appointed to the Senate last year to fill a vacancy. He decided to run for the full term in the 3rd rather than the unexpired term and he came up short.