2020 United States presidential election in West Virginia

The 2020 United States presidential election in West Virginia was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States elections in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated.[1] West Virginia voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. West Virginia has five electoral votes in the Electoral College.[2]

2020 United States presidential election in West Virginia

November 3, 2020
Turnout	63.25%
Nominee Donald Trump Joe Biden Party Republican Democratic Home state Florida Delaware Running mate Mike Pence Kamala Harris Electoral vote 5 0 Popular vote 545,382 235,984 Percentage 68.62% 29.69%
County Results Trump   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%
President before election Donald Trump Republican Elected President Joe Biden Democratic

Trump easily carried West Virginia on Election Day by 38.9 points, down from 41.7 points in 2016. Prior to the election, all 16 news organizations declared West Virginia a safe red state. West Virginia, a historically Democratic state for much of the 20th century, has been Republican since 2000, and reliably since 2004. It became Trump's second-strongest state in 2020, changing places with Wyoming, after having been Trump's strongest state by vote share in 2016. West Virginia was also one of two states where Trump won every county, the other being Oklahoma. The closest county in the state, and the only one Trump did not carry with an outright majority of the vote, was Monongalia County; which is home to West Virginia University. Biden coming 1.24% from winning it marked the closest a Democrat has come to winning any county in West Virginia since 2008. This was the third consecutive presidential election where every county within the state voted Republican, but the first since 1996 in which the Democratic vote share increased relative to the preceding election.

Trump's overhaul of Obama-era coal emissions standards appeared to benefit him in the state.[3] Per exit polls by the Associated Press, Trump's strength in West Virginia came from voters who prioritized focusing on expanding production of fossil fuels, such as coal, who comprised 58% of voters and broke for Trump by 90%.[4] Trump's strongest region was southern West Virginia. This coal-mining, union-heavy region was once among the most heavily Democratic places in the nation; Logan County, for example, broke 72% of its ballots for Bill Clinton in 1996, 61% for Al Gore in 2000, and even 52% for John Kerry in 2004; but by 2008, John McCain flipped it to the Republican column with 54% of the vote, which increased to 68% for Mitt Romney in 2012 and by 2016 and 2020, it had voted 80.9% for Trump.

Primary elections

The primary elections were originally scheduled for May 12, 2020. In April, they were moved to June 9 due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]

Democratic primary

Vice President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary and received all of West Virginia's 28 pledged delegates, as well as all six unpledged PLEO (party leaders and elected officials) delegates, to the 2020 Democratic National Convention.[6]

2020 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary[7]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates
Joe Biden	122,518	65.35%	28
Bernie Sanders (suspended)	22,793	12.16%
David Lee Rice	15,470	8.25%
Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn)	5,741	3.06%
Tulsi Gabbard (withdrawn)	4,163	2.22%
Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn)	3,759	2.01%
Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn)	3,455	1.84%
Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn)	3,011	1.61%
Andrew Yang (withdrawn)	2,590	1.38%
Michael Bennet (withdrawn)	1,865	0.99%
Tom Steyer (withdrawn)	1,235	0.66%
Deval Patrick (withdrawn)	882	0.47%
Total	187,482[8]	100%	28

Republican primary

Incumbent President Donald Trump won the Republican primary and received all of West Virginia's 35 delegates to the 2020 Republican National Convention.[9]

2020 West Virginia Republican presidential primary

Candidate	Popular vote[10]		Pledged delegates[11]
	#	%
Donald Trump	198,691	94.39	35
Joe Walsh (withdrawn)	3,806	1.81	0
Bill Weld (withdrawn)	3,721	1.77	0
Rocky De La Fuente	1,537	0.73	0
Bob Ely	1,436	0.68	0
Matthew Mattern	1,315	0.62	0
Total	210,506	100%	35

Mountain (Green) primary

West Virginia's Green Party affiliate conducted an online party-run primary, utilizing the state's original primary date of May 12, 2020 as its deadline.

West Virginia Mountain (Green) Party presidential primary[12]
Candidate	Percentage	National delegates
Howie Hawkins	78.3%	5
David Rolde	8.7%	0
Jesse Ventura (Write-in)	8.7%	0
Dario Hunter	4.3%	0
Total	100.00%	5

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[13]	Safe R	September 10, 2020
Inside Elections[14]	Safe R	September 4, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[15]	Safe R	July 14, 2020
Politico[16]	Safe R	September 8, 2020
RCP[17]	Safe R	August 3, 2020
Niskanen[18]	Safe R	July 26, 2020
CNN[19]	Safe R	August 3, 2020
The Economist[20]	Safe R	September 2, 2020
CBS News[21]	Likely R	August 16, 2020
270towin[22]	Safe R	August 2, 2020
ABC News[23]	Safe R	July 31, 2020
NPR[24]	Likely R	August 3, 2020
NBC News[25]	Safe R	August 6, 2020
538[26]	Safe R	September 9, 2020

Polling

Graphical summary

Aggregate polls

Source of poll aggregation	Dates administered	Dates updated	Joe Biden Democratic	Donald Trump Republican	Other/ Undecided [lower-alpha 1]	Margin
270 to Win	September 1 – October 21, 2020	October 28, 2020	37.7%	57.7%	4.6%	Trump +20.0
FiveThirtyEight	until October 27, 2020	October 28, 2020	35.7%	59.9%	4.4%	Trump +24.2
Average			36.7%	58.8%	4.5%	Trump +22.1

Polls

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[lower-alpha 2]	Margin of error	Donald Trump Republican	Joe Biden Democratic	Jo Jorgensen Libertarian	Howie Hawkins Mountain	Other	Undecided
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Oct 20 – Nov 2, 2020	816 (LV)	± 5%	67%[lower-alpha 3]	32%	–	–	–	–
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Oct 1–28, 2020	1,359 (LV)	–	66%	32%	–	–	–	–
Triton Polling and Research/WMOV	Oct 19–21, 2020	544 (LV)	± 4.2%	58%	38%	–	–	–	4%
Research America Inc./West Virginia Metro News	Oct 6–9, 2020	450 (LV)	± 4.6%	53%	39%	4%	1%	–	3%
Triton Polling & Research/WMOV	Sep 29–30, 2020[lower-alpha 4]	525 (RV)	± 4.3%	56%	38%	–	–	–	5%
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Sep 1–30, 2020	516 (LV)	–	62%	36%	–	–	–	2%
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Aug 1–31, 2020	496 (LV)	–	65%	32%	–	–	–	2%
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Jul 1–31, 2020	494 (LV)	–	67%	32%	–	–	–	1%
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Jun 8–30, 2020	264 (LV)	–	72%	27%	–	–	–	1%
WPA Intelligence/Club for Growth[upper-alpha 1]	Jan 7–9, 2020	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	66%	31%	–	–	–	3%

Former candidates

Donald Trump vs. Bernie Sanders Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 2] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Bernie Sanders (D) Undecided WPA Intelligence/Club for Growth[upper-alpha 1] Jan 7–9, 2020 500 (LV) ± 4.4 % 66% 29% 5% Tulchin Research Oct 6–13, 2017 400 (LV) ± 4.9% 46% 48% 6% Donald Trump vs. Elizabeth Warren Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 2] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Elizabeth Warren (D) Undecided Zogby Analytics Aug 17–23, 2017 401 (LV) ± 4.9% 43% 40% 17%

Results

Trump won West Virginia, carrying the popular vote in each of the state's 55 counties.[27]

2020 United States presidential election in West Virginia[28][29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Donald Trump Mike Pence	545,382	68.6	+0.10%
	Democratic	Joe Biden Kamala Harris	235,984	29.7	+3.27%
	Libertarian	Jo Jorgensen Spike Cohen	10,687	1.3
	Mountain	Howie Hawkins Angela Walker	2,599	0.3
	Write-in		79	<0.1	+
Total votes			794,731	100.0	+

By congressional district

Trump won all three congressional districts.[30]

District	Trump	Biden	Representative
1st	68%	30%	David McKinley
2nd	65%	33%	Alex Mooney
3rd	73%	26%	Carol Miller

By county

[31]

County	Biden%	Biden#	Trump%	Trump#	Others%	Others#	Margin%	Margin#	Total
Barbour	21.82%	1,457	76.62%	5,116	1.56%	104	54.8%	3,659	6,677
Berkeley	33.35%	17,186	64.58%	33,279	2.08%	1,070	31.23%	16,093	51,535
Boone	22.65%	2,041	75.63%	6,816	1.72%	155	52.98%	4,775	9,012
Braxton	25.72%	1,457	72.74%	4,120	1.54%	87	47.02%	2,663	5,664
Brooke	27.66%	2,947	70.81%	7,545	1.54%	164	43.15%	4,598	10,656
Cabell	40.13%	14,994	58.14%	21,721	1.73%	645	18.01%	6,727	37,360
Calhoun	19.12%	568	79.57%	2,364	1.31%	39	60.45%	1,796	2,971
Clay	19.05%	641	79.61%	2,679	1.34%	45	60.56%	2,038	3,365
Doddridge	14.03%	435	84.46%	2,619	1.52%	47	70.43%	2,184	3,101
Fayette	30.03%	5,063	68.68%	11,580	1.3%	219	38.65%	6,517	16,862
Gilmer	22.5%	599	75.58%	2,012	1.92%	51	53.08%	1,413	2,662
Grant	11.02%	607	88.42%	4,871	0.56%	31	77.4%	4,264	5,509
Greenbrier	29.37%	4,655	68.93%	10,925	1.7%	270	39.56%	6,270	15,850
Hampshire	19.22%	1,939	79.65%	8,033	1.13%	114	60.42%	6,094	10,086
Hancock	27.46%	3,790	71.06%	9,806	1.48%	204	43.59%	6,016	13,800
Hardy	21.81%	1,381	76.75%	4,859	1.44%	91	54.94%	3,478	6,331
Harrison	30.25%	9,215	67.89%	20,683	1.86%	567	37.64%	11,468	30,465
Jackson	23.74%	3,207	74.72%	10,093	1.54%	208	50.98%	6,886	13,508
Jefferson	43.78%	12,127	54.26%	15,033	1.96%	543	10.49%	2,906	27,703
Kanawha	41.76%	34,344	56.42%	46,398	1.83%	1,502	14.66%	12,054	82,244
Lewis	20.62%	1,538	77.54%	5,782	1.84%	137	56.91%	4,244	7,457
Lincoln	21.85%	1,711	76.78%	6,012	1.37%	107	54.93%	4,301	7,830
Logan	17.91%	2,333	80.87%	10,534	1.22%	159	62.96%	8,201	13,026
Marion	34.51%	8,901	63.19%	16,300	2.3%	593	28.68%	7,399	25,794
Marshall	24.54%	3,455	74.11%	10,435	1.35%	190	49.57%	6,980	14,080
Mason	22.55%	2,526	75.79%	8,491	1.66%	186	53.24%	5,965	11,203
McDowell	20.42%	1,333	78.87%	5,148	0.7%	46	58.45%	3,815	6,527
Mercer	22.11%	5,556	76.54%	19,237	1.36%	341	54.43%	13,681	25,134
Mineral	20.67%	2,660	78%	10,040	1.34%	172	57.33%	7,380	12,872
Mingo	13.94%	1,397	85.25%	8,544	0.81%	81	71.31%	7,147	10,022
Monongalia	48.21%	20,282	49.45%	20,803	2.35%	987	1.24%	521	42,072
Monroe	20.72%	1,345	78.09%	5,068	1.19%	77	57.37%	3,723	6,490
Morgan	22.98%	1,998	75.18%	6,537	1.84%	160	52.2%	4,539	8,695
Nicholas	20.94%	2,226	77.88%	8,279	1.18%	125	56.94%	6,053	10,630
Ohio	36.3%	7,223	62.09%	12,354	1.61%	321	25.79%	5,131	19,898
Pendleton	22.41%	820	76.03%	2,782	1.56%	57	53.62%	1,962	3,659
Pleasants	20.02%	699	78.54%	2,742	1.43%	50	58.52%	2,043	3,491
Pocahontas	26.12%	1,047	72.23%	2,895	1.65%	66	46.11%	1,848	4,008
Preston	21.71%	3,163	76.79%	11,190	1.5%	219	55.09%	8,027	14,572
Putnam	27.64%	7,878	70.29%	20,034	2.07%	589	42.65%	12,156	28,501
Raleigh	24.11%	7,982	74.53%	24,673	1.36%	451	50.42%	16,691	33,106
Randolph	27.56%	3,362	71.09%	8,673	1.35%	165	43.53%	5,311	12,200
Ritchie	13.68%	586	85.2%	3,649	1.12%	48	71.52%	3,063	4,283
Roane	25.25%	1,455	73.1%	4,213	1.65%	95	47.86%	2,758	5,763
Summers	25.93%	1,448	72.95%	4,074	1.13%	63	47.02%	2,626	5,585
Taylor	24.33%	1,796	74.18%	5,477	1.49%	110	49.86%	3,681	7,383
Tucker	24.4%	938	73.91%	2,841	1.69%	65	49.51%	1,903	3,844
Tyler	16.09%	631	82.25%	3,226	1.66%	65	66.17%	2,595	3,922
Upshur	22.07%	2,256	76.03%	7,771	1.9%	194	53.96%	5,515	10,221
Wayne	24.12%	4,088	74.26%	12,585	1.62%	274	50.14%	8,497	16,947
Webster	17.93%	610	81.1%	2,759	0.97%	33	63.17%	2,149	3,402
Wetzel	23.08%	1,539	74.89%	4,993	2.02%	135	51.81%	3,454	6,667
Wirt	17.57%	466	80.44%	2,134	2%	53	62.87%	1,668	2,653
Wood	28.19%	10,926	70.18%	27,202	1.64%	634	41.99%	16,276	38,762
Wyoming	13.47%	1,157	85.58%	7,353	0.95%	82	72.11%	6,196	8,592

Notes

1. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.
2. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
3. Overlapping sample with the previous SurveyMonkey/Axios poll, but more information available regarding sample size
4. Additional data sourced from FiveThirtyEight

Partisan clients

1. The Club for Growth is a PAC supporting the Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign

See also

• United States presidential elections in West Virginia
• 2020 United States presidential election
• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• 2020 Green Party presidential primaries
• 2020 Libertarian Party presidential primaries
• 2020 Republican Party presidential primaries
• 2020 United States elections

References

1. Kelly, Ben (August 13, 2018). "US elections key dates: When are the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential campaign?". The Independent. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
2. "Distribution of Electoral Votes". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
3. Dennis, Brady; Eilperin, Juliet. "Trump administration rolls back Obama-era rule aimed at limiting toxic wastewater from coal plants" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
4. "West Virginia Voter Surveys: How Different Groups Voted". The New York Times. November 3, 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
5. "Gov. Jim Justice announces WV Primary Election will move to June 9, schools will remain closed through April 30". WBOY-TV. April 1, 2020.
6. "West Virginia Democratic Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
7. "Results – Democratic Contests". results.enr.clarityelections.com/. West Virginia Secretary of State. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
8. https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/WV/103231/web.247524/#/summary?category=C_2
9. "West Virginia Republican Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
10. "Election Night Reporting". results.enr.clarityelections.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
11. "West Virginia Republican Delegation 2020". www.thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
12. "Results - 2020 Presidential Primary". Mountain Party. May 12, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
13. "2020 POTUS Race ratings" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
14. "POTUS Ratings | Inside Elections". insideelections.com. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
15. "Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » 2020 President". crystalball.centerforpolitics.org. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
16. "2020 Election Forecast". Politico. November 19, 2019.
17. "Battle for White House". RCP. April 19, 2019.
18. 2020 Bitecofer Model Electoral College Predictions, Niskanen Center, March 24, 2020, retrieved: April 19, 2020
19. David Chalian; Terence Burlij. "Road to 270: CNN's debut Electoral College map for 2020". CNN. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
20. "Forecasting the US elections". The Economist. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
21. "2020 Election Battleground Tracker". CBS News. July 12, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
22. "2020 Presidential Election Interactive Map". 270 to Win.
23. "ABC News Race Ratings". CBS News. July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
24. "2020 Electoral Map Ratings: Trump Slides, Biden Advantage Expands Over 270 Votes". NPR.org. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
25. "Biden dominates the electoral map, but here's how the race could tighten". NBC News. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
26. "2020 Election Forecast". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
27. "West Virginia Election Results 2020". The New York Times. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
28. "West Virginia 2020 General Election". Green Papers. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
29. Certificate of Ascertainment, West Virginia Secretary of State, December 9, 2020.
30. "2020 Presidential General Election Results - West Virginia".
31. https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/WV/106210/web.264614/#/detail/100

External links

• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "West Virginia", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "West Virginia: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
• "League of Women Voters of West Virginia". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• West Virginia at Ballotpedia