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 Hardy County, just under 30 percent went to the polls.
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.
Regionally, 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 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.”
