The West Virginia Republican Party is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in West Virginia. Josh Holstein is the party chair. It is currently the dominant party in the state, and is one of the strongest affiliates of the national Republican Party. It controls both of West Virginia's U.S. House seats, both of the U.S. Senate seats, all six statewide executive offices, and has supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature.

History Part of Virginia John Curtiss Underwood formed the party's newspaper in Wheeling, the first in any of the border states using financial aid from William H. Seward. Underwood also received financial backing to form a colony for northern workers in Ceredo.

Republicans, such as Cassius Marcellus Clay and Underwood, viewed John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry as damaging to the party. Almost all of Abraham Lincoln's support in the 1860 election came from around Wheeling.

Later West Virginia sent delegates to the 1866 National Union Convention where Governor Arthur I. Boreman argued against supporting black suffrage as "we did not come here to commit suicide" and that passing the resolution would have them "damned to all eternity".

The Civil War helped the Republican Party gain recognition in the state. The Civil War in West Virginia often split families apart. The Boggs family lived in Pendleton County and one son was the head of the Confederate County Court while another son was the head of the Union Home guards in the north. Today, the northern party of Pendleton County is still strongly Republican. Republicans in Hampshire and Hardy counties left after the war to form Mineral and Grant counties, which are still primarily Republican. Republicans held the control in the state until the 1870s and the Confederates began voting and holding offices. In the 1870s, the party was so weak that it endorsed a Democratic governor.

Major Nathan Goff Jr. a veteran of the Civil War restructured the party. He was able to get the party to raise money and voters and recruit leaders. He led the party until the 1880s. He ran for governor in 1888 and was defeated by Aretas B. Fleming despite having more votes. The Republicans were the dominant party until the Great Depression. From the Great Depression until 2014, Democrats controlled the state.

From 1912 to 1916, Virgil L. Highland chaired the Republican State Committee; he also represented West Virginia on the Republican National Committee.

Arch Moore Jr. was elected the Republican governor in the 1960s. In 1985, Moore helped raise money and supervised recovery efforts for the flood of 1985. The state voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004. Betty Ireland was also elected as Secretary of State in 2004.

In the 2014 elections, the West Virginia Republican Party made major gains in West Virginia, capturing one of its two Senate seats, all of its congressional House seats for the first time since 1921, and gained control of both the West Virginia House of Delegates and the West Virginia Senate for the first time in 80 years. In the 2016 elections, the Republicans held on to their seats and made gains in the State Senate and gained three statewide offices.

In March 2019, the West Virginia GOP was embroiled in national controversy when a poster linking Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim member of Congress, to the 9/11 attacks was displayed at the state capitol.

The party used an open primary from 1986 to 2025.

Current elected officials The West Virginia Republican Party hold both of the state's two U.S. House seats. Incumbent governor Jim Justice who was elected as a Democrat in 2016, switched to the Republican Party in August 2017.Federal Officials, West Virginia Republican Party, http://wvgop.org/leadership/federal-officials/, retrieved 13 December 2011

As of January 3, 2025:

Members of Congress U.S. Senate

U.S. House of Representatives +DistrictMemberPhoto1st2nd

Statewide office (State Board of Public Works) Governor: Patrick Morrisey President of the Senate/Lt. Governor: Randy Smith Attorney General: JB McCuskey State Treasurer: Larry Pack Auditor: Mark Hunt Secretary of State: Kris Warner Agriculture Commissioner: Kent Leonhardt

State legislative leadership

Senate President: Randy Smith President pro tempore: Donna Boley Majority Leader: Patrick S. Martin Majority Whip: Ryan Weld

House of Delegates Speaker of the House: Roger Hanshaw Speaker pro tempore: Matthew Rohrbach Majority Leader: Pat McGeehan Majority Whip: Marty Gearheart

Recent electoral history Gubernatorial +West Virginia Republican Party gubernatorial election resultsElectionGubernatorial candidateVotesVote %Result1996Cecil Underwood324,51851.63%Won 2000Cecil Underwood305,92647.21%Lost 2004Monty Warner253,13134.00%Lost 2008Russ Weeks181,61225.73%Lost 2011Bill Maloney141,65647.05%Lost 2012Bill Maloney303,29145.65%Lost 2016Bill Cole301,98742.30%Lost 2020Jim Justice497,94463.49%Won 2024Patrick Morrisey459,30061.99%Won

Legislative

+Legislative ElectionsHouse of DelegatesGovernorSenateYearSeatsChangeChangeSeatsYear2000Bob Wise (D) 120002002 7 420022004Joe Manchin (D) 320042006 4 220062008 1 320082010 6 220102012 11Earl Ray Tomblin(D) 320122014 18 920142016 1Jim Justice (D) 420162018 7Jim Justice (R) 220182020 18 320202022 12 720222024 3Patrick Morrisey (R) 22024

References

Works cited

External links West Virginia Republican Party website