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| Elections in West Virginia |
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The 2024 United States presidential election in West Virginia is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, as part of the 2024 United States elections in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia will participate. West Virginia voters will choose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote. The state of West Virginia has four electoral votes in the Electoral College, following reapportionment due to the 2020 United States census in which the state lost one congressional seat.[1]
Despite being a Democratic stronghold for much of the 20th century, West Virginia — as a rural Southern state in the heart of Appalachia and largely within the Bible Belt — has trended dramatically towards the Republican Party in the 21st century. The last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state was fellow Southerner Bill Clinton, who did so comfortably in both of his 1990s victories. A large factor in West Virginia's rightward trend is the Democratic Party's adoption of more liberal policies – especially environmentalist policies, anathema to the state's coal-dominated economy. Environmentalism was notably embraced by 2000 Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore, also a Southerner, who consequently lost the state by just under six points despite having been Vice President under the popular Clinton.
Starting with the 2000 presidential election, West Virginia has seen a mass of counties flip to the GOP at this level, with Republicans consistently carrying the state's electoral votes by double digits since Southerner George W. Bush did so in 2004; and the last Democratic presidential nominee to win at least 40% of the West Virginian vote or carry any county in the state being Barack Obama in 2008. Furthermore, West Virginia was Republican Donald Trump's strongest state in 2016 and his second-strongest state (trading places with Wyoming) in 2020. Nowadays, West Virginia is a deeply red state with Republicans holding all statewide offices since 2021 apart from one U.S. Senate seat, which is expected to flip solidly Republican in a concurrent election.[2] Trump is expected to easily win the state again in 2024.
Incumbent Democratic president Joe Biden is running for reelection to a second term.[3]
- ^ Wang, Hansi; Jin, Connie; Levitt, Zach (April 26, 2021). "Here's How The 1st 2020 Census Results Changed Electoral College, House Seats". NPR. Archived from the original on August 19, 2021. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- ^ "2024 Senate Election Interactive Map - 270toWin". 270toWin.com. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
- ^ Kinery, Emma (April 25, 2023). "Biden launches 2024 reelection campaign, promising to fulfill economic policy vision". CNBC.