From the time of the Great Depression through the 1990s, the politics of West Virginia were largely dominated by the Democratic Party. In the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush claimed a surprise victory over Al Gore, with 52% of the vote; he won West Virginia again in 2004, with 56% of the vote. West Virginia is now a heavily Republican state, with John McCain winning the state in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.
Before 2000, West Virginia had voted almost exclusively Democratic in each presidential election starting in 1932, only voting Republican amidst national landslides in 1956, 1972, and 1984. However starting with the 2000 election, West Virginia began a sharp realignment from mostly supporting Democrats to mostly supporting Republicans. By the 2010s, the state had become at the presidential level one of the most Republican in the nation. By 2015, Republicans had gained one of the state's two Senate seats, all its U.S. House seats, and both chambers of the state legislature.
In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump took an overwhelming victory in West Virginia, garnering 68.5% of the state's vote, his best performance of any state. Despite this, Democratic candidate Jim Justice was elected governor on the same ballot, marking five consecutive Democratic gubernatorial victories in the state. However, seven months into his term, Justice switched affiliation to the Republican Party, leaving Joe Manchin and John Perdue as the only Democrats holding statewide office in West Virginia. In 2020, Trump again carried West Virginia in a landslide, taking 68.6% of the state's vote, only less than longstanding Republican stronghold Wyoming. Perdue lost reelection as State Treasurer after serving six terms, leaving Manchin as the only remaining statewide Democrat. Manchin won his last U.S. Senate reelection campaign by 3% in 2018, a sharp decline from his 24% margin of victory in 2012. He has yet to announce whether he will seek reelection in 2024, and, given the unfavorable partisan lean of the state, is generally considered to be an underdog if he does run.
In a 2020 study, West Virginia was ranked as the 16th hardest state for citizens to vote in.
History
Robert C. Byrd, a Democrat, represented the state of West Virginia in Congress for over 57 years, as a Member of the House from the now-defunct 6th District from 1953 to 1959, and as a United States Senator from 1959 to 2010. He served as Democratic Senate Leader from 1977 to 1989. In 2006 he became the longest-serving Senator in history, and in 2009 the longest-serving member of Congress in history. Senator Byrd died of pneumonia on June 28, 2010, aged 92. Governor Joe Manchin appointed Carte Goodwin to fill the seat until a special election was held in November 2010. Manchin was elected to the seat to fulfill the remainder of Byrd's term.
In the Republican landslide of 1988, it was one of only ten states, and the only southern state (as defined by the United States Census), to give its electoral votes to Michael Dukakis; it was one of only six states to support Jimmy Carter over Ronald Reagan in 1980; and it supported Bill Clinton by large margins in both 1992 and 1996. The state has trended increasingly Republican in presidential elections; despite the earlier Democratic wins in presidential match-ups, it narrowly elected George W. Bush over Al Gore in 2000, then re-elected Bush by a much larger margin in 2004 and voted for John McCain in 2008 by a slightly larger margin than 2004. West Virginia was one of only 5 states, the others being Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee, where McCain won by a larger margin in 2008 than George W. Bush in 2004. Mitt Romney won the state in the 2012 presidential election with 62% of the vote, a significant improvement over McCain's 56% vote share in 2008 and the first time in American history that a candidate for president won every county in the state. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump won the state with a 42% margin, outdoing Romney's performance substantially.
In the 2014 elections, the GOP took control of the state legislature for the first time in 80 years, and it took one of West Virginia's two U.S. Senate seats and all three U.S. House districts. In the 2016 elections, the Republicans held on to their seats and made gains in the State Senate and gained three statewide offices.