West Virginia US Senate 2026
Election day is November 3, 2026. A statewide contest in West Virginia.
Who is favoured in West Virginia US Senate?
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What the West Virginia US Senate election decides
The Senate confirms federal judges and cabinet officers, ratifies treaties, and can stop legislation the House passes. With a six-year term and a hundred-member chamber, a single seat is a larger share of the institution than any House district, which is why Senate races draw national money into state contests.
Each state sends two senators regardless of population, so this seat carries the same weight as California's or Wyoming's. West Virginia voters fill it alongside all 2 of the state's House seats, and a Senate term runs six years, spanning two future Congresses and, in this case, the next presidential election.
How West Virginia votes
West Virginia's coal identity, energy transition anxieties and rural healthcare challenges define its politics. Once solidly Democratic, it is now among the most Republican states in federal elections. That backdrop is the ground any West Virginia campaign fights on, and it is what the Electorate HQ simulation reads first when it weighs a ticket's platform against this contest.
About this race
The 2026 United States Senate election in West Virginia was held on November 3, 2026, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of West Virginia. Republican incumbent Shelley Moore Capito was re-elected to a third term, defeating Democratic former Morgantown councilwoman Rachel Fetty Anderson.
Primary elections were held on May 12. In the Republican primary, Capito won the nomination with 66.5% of the vote over state senator Tom Willis. Fetty Anderson won the Democratic nomination with 33.2% of the vote over a field of candidates that included former state Senate president Jeff Kessler.
As expected, Capito easily won re-election; however, this was her closest Senate race since her first election in 2014. Compared to 2020 when Capito won by 43%, she was re-elected by about 20% in 2026, a decrease of about 23 percentage points. This was also the first time that Capito did not win every county in West Virginia, unlike her 2014 and 2020 victories; and the first time that a Democrat won any counties in a statewide election since the 2020 races for Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and Commissioner of Agriculture.
Latest coverage of the West Virginia US Senate race
West Virginia 2026 Election ResultsNorth Central West Virginia 2026 Election GuideNew poll shows Republicans leading in 2 competitive West Virginia Senate racesThe rest of the West Virginia ballot
Every West Virginia House district, the counties inside each one, and an address lookup that resolves your exact districts are on the West Virginia state page.
Analysis covering West Virginia
The 2026 Senate map covers 62% of the country and 70% of the states
Thirty-five of fifty states vote for Senate this year. Weighted by people rather than states the share drops, and that gap is the design of the chamber.
Twenty-six states elect a senator and a governor on the same day in 2026
The overlap between the Senate class and the gubernatorial cohort is a coincidence of two unrelated calendars, and it decides where money goes.