GOP On The Verge Of Overtaking Democrats In Party Registration In WV

Politically, West Virginia has been trending red for two decades, even as the Democratic Party maintained an overwhelming advantage in the number of registered voters.

However, the latest figures from Secretary of State Mac Warner’s office show that the GOP is now tantalizingly close to overtaking the Democrats.

For the upcoming General Election, 458,391 West Virginians are registered with the Republican Party while 470,483 are registered Democrats.  (288,308 are Independent or no party, 8,797 are Libertarian and 2,389 are with the Mountain Party.)

That breaks down to 37 percent of all voters are Democrats, 36 percent are Republican, 23 percent are Independent or no party, and four percent are Libertarian, Mountain or another third party.

So, the Democratic Party has only 12,092 more voters that the Republican Party.  That is down a whopping 66 percent just since July, when Democrats had a registration advantage of nearly 42,000.

Democrats have lost ground in 47 counties just in the last three months, while gaining registration in only eight. Meanwhile, Republican registration has increased in all 55 counties.

Three more counties have flipped from Democrat to Republican just since July—Mason, Mercer and Pocahontas. They join Raleigh and Greenbrier Counties which turned from blue to red earlier this year.  Marshall and Nicholas could be next.

Twenty-six West Virginia counties now have more Republicans than Democrats. That is nearly double the number from four years ago, when only 14 counties were Republican.

Most West Virginians can remember when this was a one-party state, and that was the Democratic Party.

As recently as 1996, two out of every three voters were Democrats.  In the General Election that year, Bill Clinton carried West Virginia on his way to re-election. Democratic incumbent U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller and all three Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives won easily.

Democrats also won every position on the Board of Public Works. The rare exception that year was Republican Cecil Underwood’s six point victory over Democrat Charlotte Pritt for Governor.

Through the years, Republican candidates like Underwood, Arch Moore and Cleve Benedict notched a few victories, but the state remained steadfastly Democratic. George W. Bush’s defeat of Al Gore in 2000, which included a victory in West Virginia, started the state on its tilt to the right, and it has been leaning that way ever since.

Donald Trump’s 42 point victory over Hillary Clinton in West Virginia in 2016, where he won all 55 counties, helped move the state even deeper into the red.  The enthusiastic support for him in this election has helped accelerate the growth in Republican registration.

Fox News Political Editor Chris Stirewalt, who spent years covering politics in West Virginia, believes government works better when there is a vibrant two-party system.  That opportunity may bypass West Virginia.

West Virginia, which was solidly Democratic for the better part of the 20th century, has rapidly turned into a Republican state.  The next update of voter registration figures will likely complete the transition.

 

 

 

 





More Hoppy's Commentary

Hoppy's Commentary
Third party and independent presidential candidates rarely get traction in West Virginia
March 28, 2024 - 12:10 am
Hoppy's Commentary
Let's talk about the officiating in the WVU-Iowa game
March 27, 2024 - 12:47 am
Hoppy's Commentary
WVU basketball looks to the future
March 26, 2024 - 12:15 am
Hoppy's Commentary
The things government should not do
March 25, 2024 - 12:20 am


Your Comments