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The2016 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary was held on May 10 in the U.S. state ofWest Virginia as one of theDemocratic Party's primaries ahead of the2016 presidential election.
TheRepublican Party held primaries in two states, including their ownWest Virginia primary, while for the Democratic Party this was the only primary on that day.
In a heavilywhite,working-class state where voters were angry about theObama administration's policies, Bernie Sanders easily outpolled Clinton. Thirty percent of Democratic primary voters came from acoal household, and Sanders won 63 percent of these.[1]
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Main article:West Virginia Democratic primary, 2016 Delegate count: 29 Pledged, 8UnpledgedWinner:
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| West Virginia Democratic primary, May 10, 2016 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Popular vote | Delegates | |||
| Count | Percentage | Pledged | Unpledged | Total | |
| Bernie Sanders | 124,700 | 51.41% | 18 | 18 | |
| Hillary Clinton | 86,914 | 35.84% | 11 | 8 | 19 |
| Paul T. Farrell Jr. | 21,694 | 8.94% | |||
| Keith Judd | 4,460 | 1.84% | |||
| Martin O'Malley(withdrawn) | 3,796 | 1.57% | |||
| Rocky De La Fuente | 975 | 0.40% | |||
| Uncommitted | N/a | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 242,539 | 100% | 29 | 8 | 37 |
| Source:[11][12] | |||||
| County | Bernie Sanders | Hillary Clinton | Paul T. Ferrell | Others | Total votes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | ||
| Barbour | 51.47% | 996 | 35.66% | 690 | 8.53% | 165 | 4.34% | 84 | 1,935 |
| Berkeley | 49.24% | 3,994 | 43.95% | 3,565 | 2.71% | 220 | 4.10% | 333 | 8,112 |
| Boone | 51.92% | 2,423 | 26.83% | 1,252 | 15.83% | 739 | 5.42% | 253 | 4,667 |
| Braxton | 51.39% | 1,330 | 34.85% | 902 | 8.54% | 221 | 5.22% | 135 | 2,588 |
| Brooke | 51.35% | 1,807 | 37.97% | 1,336 | 7.73% | 272 | 2.95% | 104 | 3,519 |
| Cabell | 46.18% | 5,408 | 37.89% | 4,437 | 14.45% | 1,692 | 1.48% | 174 | 11,711 |
| Calhoun | 62.06% | 854 | 22.75% | 313 | 8.50% | 117 | 6.69% | 92 | 1,376 |
| Clay | 50.98% | 755 | 29.37% | 435 | 14.52% | 215 | 5.13% | 76 | 1,481 |
| Doddridge | 58.85% | 236 | 28.93% | 116 | 7.48% | 30 | 4.74% | 19 | 401 |
| Fayette | 52.28% | 3,609 | 33.84% | 2,336 | 9.78% | 675 | 4.10% | 283 | 6,903 |
| Gilmer | 52.87% | 645 | 28.36% | 346 | 10.08% | 123 | 8.69% | 106 | 1,220 |
| Grant | 46.75% | 187 | 41.75% | 167 | 8.00% | 32 | 3.50% | 14 | 400 |
| Greenbrier | 52.92% | 2,871 | 35.02% | 1,900 | 9.55% | 518 | 2.51% | 136 | 5,425 |
| Hampshire | 52.85% | 1,056 | 33.13% | 662 | 8.41% | 168 | 5.61% | 112 | 1,998 |
| Hancock | 54.10% | 2,285 | 36.74% | 1,552 | 6.08% | 257 | 3.08% | 130 | 4,224 |
| Hardy | 46.14% | 885 | 34.20% | 656 | 11.00% | 211 | 8.66% | 166 | 1,918 |
| Harrison | 49.09% | 5,406 | 38.27% | 4,214 | 7.71% | 849 | 4.93% | 543 | 11,012 |
| Jackson | 50.00% | 1,810 | 39.97% | 1,447 | 7.02% | 254 | 3.01% | 109 | 3,620 |
| Jefferson | 50.23% | 3,267 | 44.86% | 2,918 | 2.31% | 150 | 2.60% | 169 | 6,504 |
| Kanawha | 47.90% | 13,654 | 45.12% | 12,863 | 4.69% | 1,336 | 2.29% | 653 | 28,506 |
| Lewis | 54.89% | 1,240 | 31.78% | 718 | 8.37% | 189 | 4.96% | 112 | 2,259 |
| Lincoln | 47.12% | 1,523 | 31.81% | 1,028 | 16.46% | 532 | 4.61% | 149 | 3,232 |
| Logan | 50.48% | 3,216 | 23.50% | 1,497 | 20.30% | 1,293 | 5.72% | 365 | 6,371 |
| Marion | 52.45% | 5,355 | 35.00% | 3,573 | 8.10% | 827 | 4.45% | 454 | 10,209 |
| Marshall | 56.11% | 2,618 | 31.16% | 1,454 | 7.16% | 334 | 5.57% | 260 | 4,666 |
| Mason | 51.68% | 1,781 | 35.58% | 1,226 | 9.40% | 324 | 3.34% | 115 | 3,446 |
| McDowell | 55.23% | 1,488 | 30.33% | 817 | 8.69% | 234 | 5.75% | 155 | 2,694 |
| Mercer | 51.38% | 3,239 | 34.47% | 2,173 | 8.60% | 542 | 5.55% | 350 | 6,304 |
| Mineral | 49.43% | 1,120 | 37.82% | 857 | 7.50% | 170 | 5.25% | 119 | 2,266 |
| Mingo | 48.32% | 2,432 | 21.42% | 1,078 | 23.64% | 1,190 | 6.62% | 333 | 5,033 |
| Monongalia | 57.60% | 8,142 | 35.27% | 4,986 | 5.26% | 743 | 1.87% | 265 | 14,136 |
| Monroe | 50.00% | 834 | 36.51% | 609 | 8.21% | 137 | 5.28% | 88 | 1,668 |
| Morgan | 55.09% | 682 | 39.26% | 486 | 1.94% | 24 | 3.71% | 46 | 1,238 |
| Nicholas | 52.86% | 1,959 | 29.52% | 1,094 | 12.36% | 458 | 5.26% | 195 | 3,706 |
| Ohio | 52.91% | 3,377 | 39.01% | 2,490 | 5.50% | 351 | 2.58% | 165 | 6,383 |
| Pendleton | 46.83% | 539 | 40.83% | 470 | 7.65% | 88 | 4.69% | 54 | 1,151 |
| Pleasants | 54.99% | 551 | 33.33% | 334 | 9.18% | 92 | 2.50% | 25 | 1,002 |
| Pocahontas | 54.69% | 828 | 34.81% | 527 | 5.81% | 88 | 4.69% | 71 | 1,514 |
| Preston | 56.14% | 1,720 | 31.36% | 961 | 8.09% | 248 | 4.41% | 135 | 3,064 |
| Putnam | 51.26% | 3,271 | 40.09% | 2,558 | 5.94% | 379 | 2.71% | 173 | 6,381 |
| Raleigh | 52.49% | 4,986 | 34.58% | 3,285 | 8.77% | 833 | 4.16% | 395 | 9,499 |
| Randolph | 52.23% | 2,494 | 31.79% | 1,518 | 10.64% | 508 | 5.34% | 255 | 4,775 |
| Ritchie | 57.98% | 356 | 32.74% | 201 | 6.35% | 39 | 3.93% | 18 | 614 |
| Roane | 52.93% | 1,004 | 39.06% | 741 | 5.06% | 96 | 2.95% | 56 | 1,896 |
| Summers | 51.06% | 1,063 | 37.51% | 781 | 7.64% | 159 | 3.79% | 79 | 2,082 |
| Taylor | 51.84% | 1,112 | 35.71% | 766 | 8.39% | 180 | 4.06% | 87 | 2,145 |
| Tucker | 60.82% | 773 | 25.96% | 330 | 7.47% | 95 | 5.75% | 73 | 1,271 |
| Tyler | 60.22% | 436 | 28.18% | 204 | 7.60% | 55 | 4.00% | 29 | 724 |
| Upshur | 52.81% | 1,073 | 36.61% | 744 | 7.58% | 154 | 3.00% | 61 | 2,032 |
| Wayne | 45.92% | 2,920 | 30.54% | 1,942 | 19.99% | 1,271 | 3.55% | 226 | 6,359 |
| Webster | 53.77% | 841 | 24.68% | 386 | 15.92% | 249 | 5.63% | 88 | 1,564 |
| Wetzel | 56.54% | 1,751 | 27.28% | 845 | 11.11% | 344 | 5.07% | 157 | 3,097 |
| Wirt | 55.73% | 438 | 28.63% | 225 | 10.69% | 84 | 4.95% | 39 | 786 |
| Wood | 53.23% | 4,560 | 37.27% | 3,193 | 6.96% | 596 | 2.54% | 218 | 8,567 |
| Wyoming | 52.01% | 1,500 | 24.62% | 710 | 18.86% | 544 | 4.51% | 130 | 2,884 |
Although West Virginia had breathed new life into Clinton's2008 presidential campaign eight years earlier, it failed to deliver forClinton's front-running campaign in 2016. Clinton lost every county in the state to Bernie Sanders.
Sanders's West Virginia victory came from strong support among workers in thecoal industry; fifty-five percent of West Virginia's Democratic voters with coal workers in their households voted for Sanders, while only 29 percent voted for Clinton.[13] His easy win was likely fueled by Clinton's comments in March about coal, "We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business."[14]
Analysts speculated Sanders's win in West Virginia came not from support for his own coal policies, but from a rejection of theObama administration's.[15] Sanders was also helped by large numbers of Republican cross-over voters. Thirty-nine percent of Sanders voters stated they planned to vote for Donald Trump over Sanders in the November general election.[16]
