–Shelley Moore Capito becomes the first female U.S. Senator ever elected from the state of West Virginia, and she is the first Republican to hold one of West Virginia’s U.S. Senate seats since 1958. John D. Hoblitzell was the Republican who held that Senate seat for 10 month in 1958 after being appointed to the position following the death of Democratic Senator Matthew Neely. The last Republican from West Virginia to win an election for a U.S. Senate seat was W. Chapman Revercomb in 1942. Capito’s support was broad. She was the leading vote getter in each of the 55 counties.
–West Virginia’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives is all Republican. The last time Republicans made up West Virginia’s entire delegation in the U.S. House was 1922.
–In the 2nd Congressional District, Alex Mooney earned 57.4 percent of the vote in Berkeley County, while Nick Casey won 52.9 percent in Kanawha. The fact that Casey, the Democrat, didn’t win by a larger margin in Kanawha County was an important key in his overall loss to Mooney, the Republican, by less than 5,000 votes (72,063 to 67,242). The two third-party candidates – Davy Jones, a Libertarian (7,626 votes) and Ed Rabel, an independent (6,208 votes) – also siphoned off votes that, if they had gone to Casey, could have swung the election the other way.
–In the 1st Congressional District, Republican incumbent David McKinley won 19 of the district’s 20 counties. Only Gilmer County went to Democratic challenger Glen Gainer, 804-789.
–In the 3rd Congressional District, Republican challenger Evan Jenkins won 14 of the 18 counties in help defeat Democratic incumbent Nick Joe Rahall. Rahall did win four southern coal field counties, but not by the 60+ percentage he had in past elections. His inability to dominate in McDowell, Logan, Boone and Mingo allowed Jenkins to pull away to the fairly large victory.
–The West Virginia State Senate will now be evenly split with 17 Democrats and 17 Republicans. Prior to Tuesday’s election, the Democrats held a 24 to 10 advantage. Seven Democratic incumbents lost their re-election bids on Tuesday, while none of the Republican incumbents fell. In all, eight Democratic seats flipped to Republican, while just one Republican seat switched to the Democratic side.
–The West Virginia House of Delegates had a substantial shift and now has a Republican majority for the first time since 1931. The Democrats held a 53-47 edge in the House prior to Tuesday’s election, but after the votes were counted, the Republicans enjoyed a 64-36 advantage. The Democrats lost 19 seats to Republicans, while the Republicans saw just two of their seats flip to Democrats. A total of 16 Democratic incumbents lost their races, while only one Republican incumbent fell.
–Voter turnout in West Virginia Tuesday was approximately 37 percent. That’s the lowest turnout figure in West Virginia in any general election dating back to 1950, which is as far back as the online records from the W.Va. Secretary of State’s office extend.