2008 United States presidential election in West Virginia

2008 United States presidential election in West Virginia

← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →

Nominee John McCain Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Arizona Illinois Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden Electoral vote 5 0 Popular vote 397,466 303,857 Percentage 55.60% 42.51%

County Results McCain   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Obama   40-50%   50-60%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Elections in West Virginia
Federal government Presidential elections 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 Presidential primaries Democratic 2008 2012 2016 2020 Republican 2008 2012 2016 2020 U.S. Senate elections 1863 1865 1871 1877 1877 (sp) 1882 1883 1887 1888 1889 1892 1893 1893 (sp) 1895 1899 1901 1905 1907 1911 1911 (sp) 1913 1916 1918 1922 1924 1928 1930 1934 1936 1940 1942 1942 (sp) 1946 1948 1952 1954 1958 1958 (sp) 1960 1964 1966 1970 1972 1976 1978 1982 1984 1988 1990 1994 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008 2010 (sp) 2012 2014 2018 2020 2024 2026 U.S. House elections 1863 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1883 3rd sp 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1905 2nd sp 1906 1908 1910 1912 1913 1st sp 1914 1916 2nd sp 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1933 3rd sp 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1951 5th sp 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 3rd sp 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
State government General elections 2010 2012 2016 2018 2020 Gubernatorial elections 1863 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2011 (sp) 2012 2016 2020 2024 Senate elections 2016 2018 2020 House of Delegates elections 2020
Wheeling Municipal elections 2020
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The 2008 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 5 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

West Virginia was won by Republican nominee John McCain by a 13.1% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Despite its past voting record of heavily favoring Democratic presidential nominees, the state has lately been trending more Republican in presidential elections. As expected, McCain defeated Obama in the Mountain State. Obama was also the first Democratic presidential nominee since Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to win the nationwide presidential election without carrying West Virginia, and in that election Wilson had managed to win a single electoral vote, making Obama the first Democrat to win without carrying any electoral votes from the state. Obama also became the first Democrat since 1928 to lose Logan County, a strongly unionized coal-dependent county that was the only county in West Virginia to vote for George McGovern in his landslide 1972 loss.

Despite Barack Obama's loss in the state, he is the most recent Democrat as of 2021 to win any of its counties in a presidential election, namely Boone County, Braxton County, Jefferson County, Marion County, McDowell County, Monongalia County, and Webster County. This also marked the first presidential election since 1924 in which West Virginia voted for the Republican presidential candidate whilst neighboring Virginia voted for the Democratic presidential candidate. This is also the most recent presidential election in which the Democratic candidate received more than 40% of the vote in West Virginia. West Virginia was one of five states where Obama underperformed Kerry, the others being Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

As of 2020, this is the last time West Virginia voted to the left of Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Kansas or Nebraska.

Primaries[]

• 2008 West Virginia Democratic primary
• 2008 West Virginia Republican caucuses and primary

Campaign[]

Predictions[]

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Source	Ranking
D.C. Political Report[1]	Likely R
Cook Political Report[2]	Lean R
The Takeaway[3]	Lean R
Electoral-vote.com[4]	Lean R
Washington Post[5]	Lean R
Politico[6]	Solid R
RealClearPolitics[7]	Lean R
FiveThirtyEight[5]	Lean R
CQ Politics[8]	Lean R
The New York Times[9]	Lean R
CNN[10]	Lean R
NPR[5]	Lean R
MSNBC[5]	Lean R
Fox News[11]	Likely R
Associated Press[12]	Likely R
Rasmussen Reports[13]	Safe R

Polling[]

McCain won 16 of 17 pre-election polls. The final 3 polls averaged McCain leading 53% to 41%.^[14]

Fundraising[]

John McCain raised a total of $291,184 in the state. Barack Obama raised $713,231.

Advertising and visits[]

Obama and his interest groups spent $1,437,178. McCain and his interest groups spent $1,920,720.^[15] Each ticket visited the state once.^[16]

Analysis[]

More than any other state, West Virginia highlighted Obama's trouble in Appalachian America. It swung heavily to the Democrats during the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt and remained reliably Democratic for most of the next 68 years. During that time, it only voted Republican three times, all in national Republican landslides--1956, 1972 and 1984. It often voted for Democrats (such as Jimmy Carter and Michael Dukakis) who went on to big national defeats. This was largely due to its blue-collar, heavily unionized workers, especially coal miners, who favored Democratic economic policy.

Starting in the days of Al Gore, however, the state's voters became more concerned with the national Democratic Party's perceived hostility toward the coal industry, which is a core part of the West Virginia economy. As a result, the state has been trending Republican in national elections.

As the 2008 Financial Crisis progressed into September, on the national scale Obama led often by double-digits and was gaining ground in almost every region outside the Deep South, in fact the trend was reversed in West Virginia as many Clinton supporters during the Democratic Primary began to support John McCain over Obama.

Advancing into the general election, McCain was largely expected to receive the state's five electoral votes. Since polling in the state prior to the election showed a nearly double-digit lead in favor of McCain, neither presidential nominee campaigned heavily in the state. Not surprisingly, though, every poll out of West Virginia showed McCain defeating Barack Obama in West Virginia, sometimes by double digits.

On Election Day, McCain won West Virginia by 13.09 points while losing nationwide and Solidifying the states' Status as a "Safe Republican" or "Safe Red" State. McCain did well throughout the state, losing only a handful of counties. While his margins were best in the more conservative northern part of the state, he also improved significantly in Southern West Virginia. This coal-mining, union-heavy region was one of the most heavily Democratic places in the nation; Logan County, for example, cast 72% of its ballot for Bill Clinton.^[17] In 2008, however, John McCain won the county by double digits, becoming the first Republican to win it since Herbert Hoover in 1928.

On the other hand, Barack Obama did make gains in the area between Maryland and Virginia, counties which are a part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. Obama also ran close in Central West Virginia (the counties around the capital Charleston).

Despite the recent Republican success nationally, Democrats still dominated at the state and local level. After Election 2008, Democrats held the governorship and every statewide office, two out of the state's three congressional districts in the U.S. House of Representatives, both U.S. Senate seats and supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature. However, the Democratic Party's dominance of West Virginia has significantly waned in recent years; 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.^[18]

During the same election, popular incumbent Democratic Governor Joe Manchin III was soundly reelected to a second term with 69.79% of the vote over Republican Russ Weeks who took in 25.75% while Jesse Johnson of the Mountain Party received 4.46%. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller IV was also soundly reelected with 63.71% of the vote over Republican Jay Wolfe who took in 36.27%. At the state level, Democrats picked up three seats in the West Virginia Senate while Republicans picked up one seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates.

Results[]

2008 United States presidential election in West Virginia[19]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Popular vote		Electoral vote		Swing
				Count	%	Count	%
	Republican	John McCain of Arizona	Sarah Palin of Alaska	397,466	55.60%	5	100.00%	0.48%
	Democratic	Barack Obama of Illinois	Joe Biden of Delaware	303,857	42.51%	0	0.00%	0.71%
	Independent	Ralph Nader of Connecticut	Matt Gonzalez of California	7,219	1.01%	0	0.00%	0.47%
	Constitution	Chuck Baldwin of Florida	Darrell Castle of Tennessee	2,465	0.34%	0	0.00%	0.34%
	Mountain	Cynthia McKinney of Georgia	Rosa Clemente of North Carolina	2,355	0.33%	0	0.00%	0.33%
	Write-in	Various candidates		1,761	0.25%	0	0.00%	0.24%
Total				713,451	100.00%	5	100.00%

Results breakdown[]

By county[]

County	Obama%	Obama#	McCain%	McCain#	Others%	Others#	Total
Barbour	38.04%	2,415	57.93%	3,678	4.03%	256	6,349
Berkeley	42.37%	15,945	55.21%	20,779	2.42%	911	37,635
Boone	52.66%	4,490	42.26%	3,603	5.08%	433	8,526
Braxton	49.29%	2,691	47.96%	2,618	2.75%	150	5,459
Brooke	46.89%	4,666	49.56%	4,932	3.56%	354	9,952
Cabell	43.56%	15,110	53.54%	18,571	2.90%	1,007	34,688
Calhoun	39.66%	976	54.65%	1,345	5.69%	140	2,461
Clay	42.39%	1,417	52.29%	1,748	5.32%	178	3,343
Doddridge	23.87%	732	71.89%	2,205	4.24%	130	3,067
Fayette	46.64%	7,134	49.55%	7,578	3.81%	583	15,295
Gilmer	39.19%	1,117	55.37%	1,578	5.44%	155	2,850
Grant	23.24%	987	74.17%	3,150	2.59%	110	4,247
Greenbrier	41.34%	5,561	54.62%	7,347	4.04%	544	13,452
Hampshire	35.14%	2,968	61.52%	5,197	3.34%	282	8,447
Hancock	40.85%	5,285	56.09%	7,257	3.06%	396	12,938
Hardy	34.23%	1,880	61.17%	3,360	4.61%	253	5,493
Harrison	41.98%	13,488	55.14%	17,715	2.89%	927	32,130
Jackson	39.14%	4,821	57.37%	7,066	3.48%	429	12,316
Jefferson	51.27%	11,606	46.50%	10,526	2.23%	504	22,636
Kanawha	49.22%	40,594	49.65%	40,952	1.13%	934	82,480
Lewis	31.17%	2,096	64.12%	4,312	4.71%	317	6,725
Lincoln	43.30%	2,972	51.81%	3,556	4.88%	335	6,863
Logan	41.61%	4,862	53.89%	6,297	4.50%	526	11,685
Marion	48.23%	11,507	47.74%	11,389	4.03%	962	23,858
Marshall	42.03%	5,943	54.52%	7,709	3.45%	488	14,140
Mason	41.16%	4,444	53.92%	5,822	4.93%	532	10,798
McDowell	52.49%	3,410	43.90%	2,852	3.62%	235	6,497
Mercer	34.84%	7,388	62.09%	13,167	3.07%	650	21,205
Mineral	31.98%	3,717	64.93%	7,546	3.09%	359	11,622
Mingo	42.12%	3,567	53.91%	4,565	3.97%	336	8,468
Monongalia	50.24%	16,853	46.54%	15,612	3.21%	1,077	33,542
Monroe	34.91%	1,969	59.29%	3,344	5.80%	327	5,640
Morgan	36.71%	2,704	59.84%	4,408	3.45%	254	7,366
Nicholas	47.88%	6,007	48.74%	6,115	3.37%	423	12,545
Ohio	43.32%	8,481	54.09%	10,590	2.58%	506	19,577
Pendleton	38.21%	1,049	58.47%	1,605	3.32%	91	2,745
Pleasants	37.57%	1,127	58.43%	1,753	4.00%	120	3,000
Pocahontas	41.62%	1,538	53.94%	1,993	4.44%	164	3,695
Preston	34.87%	4,190	60.74%	7,299	4.39%	528	12,017
Putnam	37.27%	9,424	60.49%	15,295	2.24%	567	25,286
Raleigh	35.60%	10,115	61.09%	17,358	3.30%	939	28,412
Randolph	41.00%	4,527	54.80%	6,051	4.19%	463	11,041
Ritchie	25.54%	989	71.08%	2,753	3.38%	131	3,873
Roane	44.28%	2,506	51.87%	2,936	3.85%	218	5,660
Summers	41.99%	2,276	53.04%	2,875	4.96%	269	5,420
Taylor	38.98%	2,420	56.67%	3,518	4.35%	270	6,208
Tucker	35.65%	1,280	59.00%	2,118	5.35%	192	3,590
Tyler	32.53%	1,234	63.01%	2,390	4.46%	169	3,793
Upshur	32.07%	2,896	65.00%	5,870	2.93%	265	9,031
Wayne	38.93%	6,101	56.72%	8,890	4.35%	682	15,673
Webster	49.09%	1,543	43.72%	1,374	7.19%	226	3,143
Wetzel	44.42%	2,919	50.49%	3,318	5.08%	334	6,571
Wirt	33.05%	777	63.04%	1,482	3.91%	92	2,351
Wood	34.43%	12,446	62.71%	22,670	2.87%	1,036	36,152
Wyoming	35.48%	2,724	59.98%	4,605	4.53%	348	7,677

By congressional District[]

John McCain swept all three of the state’s three congressional districts, including the two districts held by Democrats.

District	McCain	Obama	Representative
1st	56.77%	41.51%	Alan Mollohan
2nd	54.63%	43.77%	Shelley Moore Capito
3rd	55.76%	42.29%	Nick Rahall

Electors[]

Technically the voters of West Virginia cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. West Virginia is allocated 5 electors because it has 3 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 5 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.^[20] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

All 5 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:^[21]

1. Robert Fish
2. Zane Lawhorn
3. Catherine Sue McKinney
4. Marti Riggall
5. Theresa Waxman

References[]