November 4, 2014 was a New Beginning for the State of West Virginia, our country and coal, in general. Our endorsed U.S. Senate candidate, Shelley Moore Capito, was an overwhelming winner and all three endorsed Congressional candidates (David McKinley, Alex Mooney & Evan Jenkins) were elected, with sixty-six of our endorsed House of Delegates’ candidates being successful as were eight of the fourteen endorsed State Senate candidates. The complete list is attached, with our successful endorsed candidates shown in green.
Tuesday’s returns marked a historic series of results for West Virginia. For the first time in 84 years (1930), the House of Delegates will have a Republican majority (64R-36D) and the State Senate now has a majority of 18 Republicans and 16 Democrats, after one Democratic Senator switched from Democrat to Republican on Wednesday. The last time the State Senate had a Republican majority was 1932. Finally, and once again a two-party system is alive in West Virginia!
With the Republicans now being the majority party in the House of Delegates, Delegate Tim Armstead (Kanawha), who has served as Minority Leader for the past several years, is expected to be the leading candidate for the new Speaker of the House of Delegates, replacing Democrat Tim Miley, who served one term as Speaker.
Of the 64 Republicans in the House, there are 24 new faces with 18 (shown in italics) replacing Democrats. The new members include: Mark Zatezalo and Pat McGeehan (1st); Ryan Weld (2nd); Mike Azinger, Frank Deem & John Kelly (10th); Michael Ihle (13th); Geoff Foster (15th); Matt Rohrbach (17th); Michael Moffatt (22nd); Tom Fast & Kayla Kessinger (32nd); Roger Hanshaw (33rd); Chris Stansbury (35th); Brad White (36th); Jordan Hill (41st); Danny Wagner(47th); “Terry” Waxman (48th); Amy Summers (49th); Brian Kurcaba & Joe Statler (51st); Saira Blair (59th), who is also the youngest legislator in the country; Walter Duke (61st); and, Jill Upson (65th). These 24 new Republicans join 40 industry-supporting incumbent Republicans while longtime Republican Delegate Linda Sumner was defeated in the 30th District. The 36 Democrats include several industry-supporting delegates, who were re-elected.
The GOP started election day with a 14 vote disadvantage (24D/10R) in the State Senate, but ended the day with an even split of 17R/17D. To break the deadlock and bring a Republican majority to the Senate, sitting Senator Daniel Hall (Wyoming & Raleigh) changed parties, from Democrat to Republican. The new freshmen Republican Senators include: Ryan Ferns (1st); Kent Leonhardt (2nd); Mark Maynard (6th); Ed Gaunch (8th); Jeff Mullins (9th); Robert Karnes (11th); Charles Trump (15th); and, Tom Takubo (17th). Among the new Republican majority, Senator Bill Cole (Mercer) is expected to be the leading candidate for the new Senate President.
Shelley Moore Capito was the first woman to be elected to the United States Senate from West Virginia, the first Republican to represent our State in the U.S. Senate since 1958 when John Hoblitzell was appointed to fill a vacancy and the first Republican to be elected to the U.S. Senate since Chapman Revercomb was elected in 1942. Shelley’s election contributed to the Republicans taking a majority in the U.S. Senate with a 52R-45D margin (two races are yet to be decided).
All three Republican candidates, one incumbent (Dave McKinley) and two new candidates (Alex Mooney and Evan Jenkins), were elected to the U. S. House of Representatives helping to build the largest Republicans majority (242R-174D, with 19 undecided) in the House since WW II. Alex Mooney won the seat previously held by now-Senator-Elect Capito and Evan Jenkins defeated 38-year Congressman Nick Rahall. West Virginia’s Congressional delegation of five, will be made up of one Democrat (Senator Manchin) and four Republicans.