2010 elections in West Virginia:      West Virginia State Senate    West Virginia State House

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West Virginia State Senate elections, 2010

Majority control •Campaign contributions

Qualifications •Competitiveness analysis

State Legislative Election Results

List of candidatesDistrict 1 •District 2 •District 3 •District 4 •District 5 •District 6 •District 7 •District 8 •District 9 •District 10 •District 11 •District 12 •District 13 •District 14 •District 15 •District 16 •District 17

West Virginia State Senate State legislative elections, 2010

Elections for the office ofWest Virginia's State Senate were held inWest Virginia onNovember 2, 2010. Out of 34 Senate seats, 17 were on the ballot in 2010. Senators inWest Virginia State Senate serve staggered four-year terms.

Thesignature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was January 30, 2010. The primary election day was May 11, 2010.

In the 2010 elections, Democrats retained a majority in the chamber and gained one seat.

See also:West Virginia State Senate andState legislative elections, 2010

November 2 General Election Results

The following candidates won election on November 2, 2010:

Majority control

See also:Partisan composition of state senates

Heading into the November 2 election, the Democratic Party held the majority in theWest Virginia State Senate:

Campaign contributions

See also:State-by-state comparison of donations to state senate campaigns

This chart shows how many candidates ran for West Virginia State Senate in the past four elections and the cumulative amount of campaign contributions in state senate races, including contributions in both primary and general election contests. All figures come from Follow The Money.^[1]

In 2010, the candidates for state senate raised a total of $2,663,291 in campaign contributions. The top 10 donors were:^[2]

Qualifications

Section 13 of Article 6 of theWest Virginia Constitution states, "No person holding any other lucrative office or employment under this state, the United States, or any foreign government; no member of Congress; and no person who is sheriff, constable, or clerk of any court of record, shall be eligible to a seat in the Legislature."

Incumbency

Unopposed incumbents

Five incumbents (33%) faced no competition in the November 2 general election.

• 4 Democratic incumbents faced no November challenger.
• 1 GOP incumbent faced no November challenger.

Primary challenges

Eight incumbents faced competition in the May 11 primary. Two incumbents -- RepublicanFrank Deem and DemocratRandy White lost to their challengers --David Nohe andGregory Tucker respectively. The following 6 incumbents (all Democrats) won their primaries:

• District 5: Incumbent DemocratEvan Jenkins
• District 6: Incumbent DemocratH. Truman Chafin
• District 7: Incumbent DemocratRon Stollings
• District 8: Incumbent DemocratErik Wells
• District 15: Incumbent DemocratWalt Helmick
• District 16: Incumbent DemocratJohn Unger

Retiring incumbents

Three incumbent representatives did not run for re-election, while 14 incumbents (80%) ran for re-election. Of the 3 incumbents who did not run for re-election, 2 were Democrats and 1 was Republican.

Incumbents who retired were:

• District 1: Incumbent DemocratEdwin Bowman.
• District 10: Incumbent RepublicanJohn Shott.
• District 13: Incumbent DemocratMichael Oliverio.

List of candidates

Partisan dominance instate senates heading into the 2010 state legislative elections

District 1

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Orphy Klempa 6,838a
• Dan Greathouse 5,960

Note: IncumbentEdwin Bowman (D) did not seek re-election in 2010. He was first elected to District 1 since 1994.

May 11 GOP primary result:

• Charles Schlegel 2,571a
• Patrick McGeehan 2515
• Larry Tighe 698

November 2 General election candidates:

Orphy Klempa 17,179

Charles Schlegel 12,137

District 2

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Larry Edgell 9,486a Incumbent Edgell was first elected to the 2nd District in 1988.

May 11 GOP primary result:

No Republicans filed to run for this seat.

November 2 General election candidates:

Larry Edgell 19,885

District 3

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Tim Reed 5,696a

May 11 GOP primary result:

• David Nohe 4,497a
• Frank Deem 4,080 Incumbent Deem was first elected to the 3rd District in 1994.

November 2 General election candidates:

Tim Reed 10,172

David Nohe 21,295

Across the country in 2010,state senate elections were held in 43 states. 1,167 state senate seats were at stake. In all 1,167 state senate districts with an election in 2010, 19 challengers (12 Democrats and 7 Republicans) defeated an incumbentstate senator. Nohe wasone of the 7 Republican challengers who defeated an incumbent Republican state senator.

District 4

May 11 Democratic primary result:

No Democrats filed to run for this seat.

May 11 GOP primary result:

• Mike Hall (West Virginia) 5,874a Incumbent Hall was first elected to the 4th District in 2006.

November 2 General election candidates:

Mike Hall (West Virginia) 27,072

District 5

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Evan Jenkins 5,490a Incumbent Jenkins was first elected to the 5th District in 2002.
• John Cummings 2,185
• Kevin Scott Regan 609

May 11 GOP primary result:

No Republicans filed to run for this seat.

November 2 General election candidates:

Evan Jenkins 19,813

District 6

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Truman Chafin 7,947a Incumbent was first elected to District 6 in 1982

• Greg Smith 7,480

May 11 GOP primary result:

No Republicans filed to run for this seat.

November 2 General election candidates:

Truman Chafin 15,200

District 7

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Ron Stollings 8,173aIncumbent Stollings was first elected to the 7th District in 2006.
• Jeffrey Eldridge 7,049

May 11 GOP primary result:

No Republicans filed to run for this seat.

November 2 General election candidates:

Ron Stollings 18,188

District 8

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Erik Wells 8,343aIncumbent Wells was first elected to the 8th District in 2006.
• Richard Robb: 6,866
• Richard Lindsay II 1,352

May 11 GOP primary result:

• Bob Ore 4,924a

November 2 General election candidates:

Erik Wells 36,280

Bob Ore 21,116

District 9

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Mike Green (West Virginia) 5,774aIncumbent Green was first elected to the 9th District in 2006.

May 11 GOP primary result:

• Jim Mullins 2,396a

November 2 General election candidates:

Mike Green (West Virginia) 14,757

Jim Mullins

District 10

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Ron Miller: 8,391a
• Mark Wills*a

May 11 GOP primary result:

• John Barnes 1,449a
• Philip Stevens*: 1,261a
• Richard Romeo, Jr. 1,113

Note: IncumbentJohn Shott (R) did not run for re-election to District 10.

* These candidates ran for the open seat, unexpired term, vacated by Senator Caruth. District 10 will elect two senators on November 2, while all other West Virginia Senate districts will elect one senator.

November 2 General election candidates:

Ron Miller 14,093

Mark Wills 14,029

John Barnes 13,067

Philip Stevens 12,900

District 11

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Gregory Tucker 6,147a
• Randy White 4,911 Incumbent White was first elected to the 11th District in 2002.

May 11 GOP primary result:

• Adam Milligan 3,242a

Across the country in 2010,state senate elections were held in 43 states. 1,167 state senate seats were at stake. In all 1,167 state senate districts with an election in 2010, 19 challengers (12 Democrats and 7 Republicans) defeated an incumbentstate senator. Tucker wasone of the 12 Democratic challengers who defeated an incumbent Democratic state senator.

Libertarian Party:

• Tom Thackera

November 2 General election candidates:

Gregory Tucker 14,544

Adam Milligan 9,303

Tom Thacker 2,843

District 12

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Joseph Minard: 11,409aIncumbent Minard was first elected to the 12th District in 1998.

May 11 GOP primary result:

• Russ Snyder, Sr.: 4,547a

November 2 General election candidates:

Joseph Minard 20,337

Russ Snyder 12,506

District 13

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Bob Beach: 5,443a
• Ron Justice: 2,140 (withdrawn)

May 11 GOP primary result:

• Cindy Frich: 3,921a

Note: IncumbentMichael Oliverio (D) was first elected to District 13 since 1994. He did not seek re-election to District 13 in 2010.

November 2 General election candidates:

Bob Beach 16,882

Cindy Frich 16,676

District 14

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Steven Shaffer:5,321a
• Adam Keplinger: 2,377
• Glynis Board: 1,921

May 11 GOP primary result:

• David Sypolt: 7,735aIncumbent Sypolt was first elected to the 14th District in 2006.

November 2 General election candidates:

Steven Shaffer 14,423

David Sypolt 20,334

District 15

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• Walt Helmick: 6,864a Incumbent Helmick was first elected to the 15th District in 1990.
• Thomas Ditty: 3,310

May 11 GOP primary result:

• Greg Brown: 4,040
• Jeremy Bausermana
• Walter Noe: 1,531

November 2 General election candidates:

Walt Helmick 19,192

Jeremy Bauserman 14,470

District 16

May 11 Democratic primary result:

• John Unger:4,073a Incumbent Unger was first elected to the 16th District in 1998.
• Patrick Murphy: 1,784

May 11 GOP primary result:

• Craig Blair: 3,556a

November 2 General election candidates:

John Unger 18,800

Craig Blair 18,482

District 17

May 11 Democratic primary:

• Brooks McCabe: 11,027a Incumbent McCabe was first elected to the 17th District in 1998.

May 11 GOP primary:

• Charles Minimah: 5,006a

May 11 Mountain Party primary:

• David B. Hall: 6a

November 2 General election candidates:

Brooks McCabe 32,085

Charles Minimah 21,715

David B. Hall 3,628

See also

• West Virginia State Senate
• West Virginia State Legislature
• State legislative elections, 2010
• Primary election dates in 2010

External links

• West Virginia State Legislature official site
• 2010 General Election results
• WV Official candidate list for November 2, 2010(dead link)
• West Virginia official primary results(dead link)
• West Virginia official list of 2010 candidates
• West Virginia Democratic Party's list of 2010 candidates
• West Virginia Republican Party's list of 2010 candidates
• Project Vote Smart list of candidates for West Virginia State Senate in the November 2, 2010 election

Footnotes