2016 West Virginia gubernatorial election


The 2016 West Virginia gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2016, to elect the Governor of West Virginia, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The primaries were held on May 10.
Incumbent Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin was barred from running for a second full term. He had ascended to the governorship upon Joe Manchin's election to the Senate in 2010, and was elected to a full term in 2012. Under the West Virginia Constitution, a partial term counts toward the limit of two consecutive terms.
The Democratic candidate, Jim Justice, a coal and agriculture businessman, won the open seat with a plurality of the vote, despite Republican Donald Trump simultaneously winning West Virginia in a landslide during the presidential election. Just seven months into his term as governor, Justice rejoined the Republican Party on August 4, 2017, after speaking at a Trump rally in the state.

Background

In November 2010, Democratic Governor Joe Manchin resigned after being elected to the U.S. Senate. Earl Ray Tomblin, the President of the West Virginia Senate, became Acting Governor and won a special election held in October 2011. He was re-elected to a full term in the regularly-scheduled 2012 election. Tomblin was ineligible to run for re-election as the Constitution of West Virginia limits Governors to two consecutive terms, regardless of whether they are full or partial terms. However, Governors are re-eligible after four years out of office.
After publicly speculating he would run for his former office, Manchin was considered a heavy favorite in the 2016 race. However, he announced on April 19, 2015, that he would be remaining in the Senate instead.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

Polling

Results

Mountain Party

Candidates

Declared

Libertarian Party

Candidates

Declared

Debates

Polling

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Jim
Justice 		Bill
Cole 		Charlotte
Pritt 		David
Moran 		Phil
Hudok 		Undecided
November 1–7, 2016472± 4.6%36%45%13%——6%
October 31–November 6, 2016443± 4.6%37%43%13%——7%
October 28–November 3, 2016386± 4.6%40%42%12%——6%
October 27–November 2, 2016330± 4.6%39%44%10%——7%
October 26–November 1, 2016318± 4.6%42%41%12%——5%
October 25–31, 2016321± 4.6%42%43%13%——2%
October 12–17, 2016408± 4.9%44%33%8%5%—9%
October 11–13, 2016N/A± 4.0%44%34%8%2%—12%
October 8–10, 2016N/A± 4.4%39%39%5%2%1%12%
September 13–17, 2016500± 5.0%46%33%7%4%—10%
→September 8–10, 2016600± 4.0%44%42%3%2%2%7%
August 9–28, 2016435± 4.7%46%32%8%5%—9%
August 1–3, 2016419± 4.8%47%37%———15%
April 29–May 1, 20161,201± 2.8%41%35%———24%
April 22–May 2, 2016596± 4.0%52%34%———14%
February 20–21, 2016306± 5.6%37%33%———30%
February 11–16, 2016411± 4.9%49%39%———12%
August 24–25, 2015406± 4.9%34%31%———35%

→ Indicates an internal poll conducted by the West Virginia Republican Party for Bill Cole.

Hypothetical polling		------

;with Booth Goodwin

Results

Maps

OWIKI.org. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.