West Virginia State Senate Elections, 2012

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West Virginia State Senate elections, 2012

Majority control • Campaign contributions

Qualifications • Term limits • Impact of Redistricting

State Legislative Election Results

List of candidates District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 4 • District 5 • District 6 • District 7 • District 8 • District 9 • District 10 • District 11 • District 12 • District 13 • District 14 • District 15 • District 16 • District 17

West Virginia State Senate • 2012 West Virginia House Elections

Elections for the office of West Virginia State Senate were held in West Virginia on November 6, 2012. A total of 17 seats were up for election.

The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in these elections was January 28, 2012. The primary Election Day was May 8, 2012.

See also: West Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2012 and State legislative elections, 2012

Incumbents retiring[edit]

Name	Party	Current office
Dan Foster	Democratic	Senate District 17
John Fanning	Democratic	Senate District 6
Karen Facemyer	Republican	Senate District 4

Majority control[edit]

See also: Partisan composition of state senates

Heading into the November 6 election, the Democratic Party held the majority in the West Virginia State Senate:

Campaign contributions[edit]

See also: State-by-state comparison of donations to state senate campaigns

This chart shows how many candidates ran for West Virginia State Senate in the past four elections and the cumulative amount of campaign contributions in state senate races, including contributions in both primary and general election contests. All figures come from Follow The Money.^[1]

In 2010, the candidates for state senate raised a total of $2,663,291 in campaign contributions. The top 10 donors were:^[2]

Impact of redistricting[edit]

See also: Redistricting in West Virginia

A new Senate map was passed by the Senate on August 3, 2011, concurred with by the House on August 5, and signed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) on August 18. Though the House of Delegates faced a trickier situation in that its first map was vetoed by Tomblin over errors, and had debate centered around the elimination of multi-member districts, the Senate map was largely held over from the previous one. However, a lawsuit was brought, charging that there was a lack of equality of apportionment, compactness of districts, and minimization of division of counties.^[3]

Qualifications[edit]

Section 13 of Article 6 of the West Virginia Constitution states, "No person holding any other lucrative office or employment under this state, the United States, or any foreign government; no member of Congress; and no person who is sheriff, constable, or clerk of any court of record, shall be eligible to a seat in the Legislature."

List of candidates[edit]

District 1[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Jack Yost: 12,261 a - Incumbent Yost first assumed office in 2008.

May 8 GOP primary:

• Pat McGeehan: 5,487 a

November 6 General election candidates:

Jack Yost: 11,760

Pat McGeehan: 9,146

District 2[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Jeffrey V. Kessler: 11,357 a - Incumbent Kessler first assumed office in 1997.

May 8 GOP primary:

• No candidates filed.

November 6 General election candidates:

Jeffrey V. Kessler: 16,614

District 3[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• No candidates filed.

May 8 GOP primary:

• Donna J. Boley: 8,113 a - Incumbent Boley first assumed office in 1985.

Note: Frank Deem was included on the initial official candidate list, but was later removed.

November 6 General election candidates:

Donna J. Boley: 3,736

District 4[edit]

Incumbent Republican Karen Facemyer did not seek re-election.

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Michael "Mike" Bright: 6,085 a
• Marla Dee Ingels: 2,936

May 8 GOP primary:

• Mitch B. Carmichael: 8,432 a

November 6 General election candidates:

Michael "Mike" Bright: 13,403

Mitch B. Carmichael: 16,981

District 5[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Robert H. "Bob" Plymale: 8,263 a - Incumbent Plymale first assumed office in 1992.

May 8 GOP primary:

• No candidates filed.

November 6 General election candidates:

Robert H. "Bob" Plymale: 23,417

District 6[edit]

Incumbent Democrat John Fanning did not seek re-election.

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Michael "Mike" Mitchem: 6,216
• Mark Wills: 6,768 a - Incumbent Wills first assumed office in 2010.

May 8 GOP primary:

• Bill Cole: 2,757 a

November 6 General election candidates:

Mark Wills: 9,034

Bill Cole: 11,975

District 7[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Sammy D. Dalton: 6,428
• Art Kirkendoll: 11,529 a - Incumbent Kirkendoll first assumed office in 2011.

May 8 GOP primary:

• No candidates filed.

November 6 General election candidates:

Art Kirkendoll: 6,629

District 8[edit]

Incumbent Democrat Corey Palumbo won re-election in District 17.

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Jennifer Scragg Karr: 3,307
• Joshua R. Martin: 3,928 a

May 8 GOP primary:

• Chris Walters: 4,261 a

November 6 General election candidates:

Joshua R. Martin: 17,039

Chris Walters: 19,123

District 9[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Richard Browning: 5,086 - Incumbent Browning first assumed office in 2008.
• Daniel Hall: 5,303 a -

May 8 GOP primary:

• Epp E. Cline: 3,545 a

November 6 General election candidates:

Daniel Hall: 18,004

Epp E. Cline: 15,595

District 10[edit]

Incumbent Democrat Mark Wills ran for re-election in District 6.

May 8 Democratic primary:

• William R. Laird, IV: 11,264 a - Incumbent Laird first assumed office in 2008.

May 8 GOP primary:

• No candidates filed.

November 6 General election candidates:

William R. Laird, IV: 20,247

District 11[edit]

Incumbent Democrat William R. Laird IV won re-election in District 10.

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Margaret Kerr Beckwith: 7,622 a
• Paul "P.J." Louk: 5,347

May 8 GOP primary:

• Clark Barnes: 7,486 a - Incumbent Barnes first assumed office in 2004.

November 6 General election candidates:

Margaret Kerr Beckwith: 9,454

Clark Barnes: 20,045

District 12[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Doug Facemire: 12,770 a - Incumbent Facemire first assumed office in 2008.

May 8 GOP primary:

• No candidates filed.

November 6 General election candidates:

Doug Facemire: 11,277

District 13[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Roman W. Prezioso, Jr.: 10,559 a - Incumbent Prezioso first assumed office in 1996.

May 8 GOP primary:

• Casey Mayer: 3,480 a

November 6 General election candidates:

Roman W. Prezioso, Jr.: 11,495

Casey Mayer: 5,623

District 14[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Bob Williams: 9,508 a - Incumbent Williams first assumed office in 2008.

May 8 GOP primary:

• No candidates filed.

November 6 General election candidates:

Bob Williams: 18,818

District 15[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• No candidates filed.

May 8 GOP primary:

• Craig P. Blair: 7,046 a

November 6 General election candidates:

Craig P. Blair: 28,766

Daniel Litten: 6,847

District 16[edit]

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Herb Snyder: 5,051 a - Incumbent Snyder first assumed office in 2008.

May 8 GOP primary:

• James Kenneth Ruland: 4,163 a

November 6 General election candidates:

Herb Snyder: 20,764

James Kenneth Ruland: 17,763

District 17[edit]

Incumbent Democrat Dan Foster did not seek re-election.

May 8 Democratic primary:

• Corey Palumbo: 8,581 a - Incumbent Palumbo first assumed office in 2008.

May 8 GOP primary:

• No candidates filed.

November 6 General election candidates:

Corey Palumbo: 28,384

External links[edit]

• Official primary results
• West Virginia Secretary of State - 2012 Candidate Listing By Office
• Official general election results

See also[edit]

• West Virginia State Senate
• West Virginia State Legislature
• State legislative elections, 2012

Footnotes[edit]

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