West Virginia Republicans have expanded their supermajority in the state Senate.
Of Democratic senators up for election this cycle, only Mike Woelfel of Huntington won. Republicans won 16 of the 17 Senate races on the ballot.
Republican candidates defeated Democratic incumbent senators Stephen Baldwin, Ron Stollings, Rich Lindsay and Hannah Geffert. Democratic challengers did not defeat any Republican incumbents.
17 of 34 seats were on the ballot this year. Most recently, the Senate has had 23 Republicans and 11 Democrats.
Now there will be 30 Republicans in the Senate majority.
“It’s wonderful,” Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said on MetroNews’ Election Night coverage. “This is what we were working for all along.”
Republican winners on Election Night included incumbents Charles Clements of New Martinsville, Mike Azinger of Parkersburg, Eric Tarr of Scott Depot, Mark Maynard of Wayne, Rollan Roberts of Beaver, Bill Hamilton of Buckhannon, Charles Trump of Berkeley Springs and Tom Takubo of Charlesotn.
Some Republicans who previously served in the House of Delegates won their Senate races, including Mark Hunt of Charleston, Ben Queen of Bridgeport and Jason Barrett of Martinsburg.
More Senate winners include Laura Wakim Chapman of Wheeling, former U.S. prosecutor Mike Stuart of Charleston, Vince Deeds of Renick, Mike Oliverio of Morgantown and Jay Taylor of Grafton.
The shape of some districts changed significantly following the redistricting process that occurs every 10 years.
Changes within the Senate are possible following the election. A few weeks ago, Senator Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, announced that she would challenge current President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, for that leadership position.
“We work together as a team,” Blair said on Election Night. “And so when the new members get together, we’ll decide what our agendas will be moving into the future.”
Stephen Baldwin, a defeated Democratic incumbent who had been minority leader, acknowledged that redistricting could have had an effect races like his. But he also said West Virginia voters just seemed to prefer Republican candidates this year.
“That was why they redistricted the way they did, to try to get rid of a few of us. And that didn’t help. But that wasn’t the only cause here,” Baldwin said. “You’ve seen a continuing switch with party affiliation, particularly in southern West Virginia, and when you combine those two things you certainly see the results tonight.”
He said the Senate will lose balance.
“We have not had balance the last few years and now we’re going to have significantly less balance,” he said. “It was bad for the state when we didn’t have balance throughout decades of Democratic rule, and now it’s bad for the state as well when we have supermajorities in the Republican ranks that are just growing.”