By Stephen Smoot
Though Governor Patrick Morrisey and various political organizations sought to inject statewide primaries with intraparty partisanship, few surprises emerged in last week’s primaries.
Primary elections serve as the main way that modern political parties select nominees. Traditionally, primaries are closed to non party members. That said, for a number of election cycles the West Virginia Republican Party had allowed for those registered with no party to vote in its primaries. Last year, the state GOP reversed that decision and created some confusion to Republican-leaning voters not registered with that party.
That also may have served as a reason, alongside intensely negative campaigning, for low turnout. In Harrison County, 22.72 percent went to the polls.
Susan Thomas, Harrison County Commission President, ran unopposed for her seat. Martin Howe won nomination for that seat with 2,242 to Mickey Petitto’s 1,800 even. Incumbents prevailed in the Board of Education race with Frank Devono Jr garnering 5,142, Mary Francis Beto Smith with 5,054, Tom Tucker got 4,841, and Justin Caroli 4,261.
Gov. Morrisey for the 2026 primary rolled out an effort to strengthen his base in the State Legislature with those who he felt best supported his economic development and social conservatism goals. He also weighed in against some who traditionally back those ideals, but opposed the Governor in other ways.
Some long-standing incumbents were targeted by the Governor. This played out in the Republican primary for the 87th district. Incumbent Gary Howell (R-Mineral) held off Morrisey-endorsed Mineral County Commissioner Charles Staggs to take the nomination 784 to 653. While the Governor’s endorsements won between two-thirds and three-fourths of their races, most were incumbents and many had no opponent. In races where the Governor worked to oust Republican incumbents, he did not fare as well.
The Governor also targeted, among others, incumbent Tom Takubo (R-Kanawha) from the 17th District. He prevailed 3,858 to 3,019 for Chris Pritt.
At the top of the ballot, United States Senator Shelley Moore Capito fended off multiple challengers to win nomination by the Republican Party. She earned twice the number of votes cast for all her challengers combined. State Senator Tom Willis, who had knocked off the former State Senate President Craig Blair in the last cycle, tried to attack Sen. Capito from her political right and made controversial accusations against her and her staff.
In Harrison County, Sen. Capito received 2,873 to 636 for Willis. On the Democratic side, Rachel Anderson earned nomination over four other contenders. In Harrison County, Anderson received 2,225, Jeffrey Kessler 858, Zachary Shrewsbury 455, Rio Phillips 306, and Thornton Cooper 185.
Riley Moore ran unopposed for his seat in the Second Congressional District. While Ace Parsi took the nomination from the Democratic Party, Stephanie Spears Tomana was the top vote-getter in Harrison County.
For the 12th Senatorial District, Republican Ben Queen fended off a challenge from Joseph Earley. Across the district, he won 3,718 to 3,098 while in Harrison Queen got 2,389 to 1,834. Lynette Murray ran without opposition.
In the 69th Delegate District on the Democratic side, Jocelyn Blackwell took the nomination with 514 votes to Lou Assaro’s 339. In the 70th, Democrat Shannon Welsh defeated Jackson Howe 751 to 668 for that nomination. Robert Garcia ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the 71st and no Democrat ran in the 72nd.
Republican results in Delegate primaries start with Danny Hamrick earning 572 votes to win nomination over Keth Marple with 540 and Andrew Yost with 188 in the 69th. The 70th showed a tight race with Paul Howe holding a slight 399 to 384 vote edge over Salvatore Bombardiere. In the 71st, another tight race has Tim McNeely with 686 over Laura Kimble with 682. For the 72nd, Clay Riley topped Megan Krajewski 734 to 314.
In the aftermath of the race, Governor Morrisey declared that his faction had prevailed, citing the total percentage of endorsements that moved on successfully in the primary. His supporters posted artificial intelligence generated-imagery celebrating the wins.
The Governor released a statement on social media saying “West Virginia Republicans spoke with one voice Tuesday: we’re done with the status quo . . . we are ready to fight for our state’s future, nominating Republicans who share that vision.”
Critics, however, indicated that much of that number came from unopposed incumbents. Melody Potter, former West Virginia Republican Party Chair, stated on social media that “all of the nasty mailers, endorsements, etc. have done very little to change the composition of the Legislature. West Virginia is better than this. Let’s bring integrity back.”
