West Virginia State Senate elections, 2010

2010 State senate elections
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	West Virginia State Senate elections, 2010
	Majority control • Campaign contributions
	Qualifications • Competitiveness analysis
	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

Elections for the office of West Virginia's State Senate were held in West Virginia on November 2, 2010. Out of 34 Senate seats, 17 were on the ballot in 2010. Senators in West Virginia State Senate serve staggered four year terms, which means that each of the 17 state senate districts have one state senate election every even-numbered year.

The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in these elections was January 30, 2010. The primary Election Day was May 11, 2010.

See also: West Virginia State Senate and State legislative elections, 2010

November 2 General Election Results[edit]

The following candidates won election on November 2, 2010:

Majority control[edit]

See also: Partisan composition of state senates

Heading into the November 2 election, the Democratic Party held the majority in the West Virginia State Senate:

West Virginia State Senate
Party		As of November 1, 2010	After the 2010 Election
	Democratic Party	26	27
	Republican Party	8	7
Total		34	34

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]

Year	Number of candidates	Total contributions
2010	51	$2,663,291
2008	41	$2,445,385
2006	45	$3,412,237
2004	44	$2,543,094
2002	49	$3,209,760

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

Donor	Amount
Chafin, H Truman	$303,000
Smith, Greg (Hootie)	$227,570
Barnes, John	$88,451
Greathouse, Dan	$50,834
Contractors Association of West Virginia	$26,300
Tucker, Gregory A	$25,200
West Virginia Bankers Association	$25,000
West Virginia Chamber of Commerce	$21,500
West Virginia Building & Construction Trades Council	$18,000
Frich, Cindy	$17,854

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."

Incumbency[edit]

Unopposed incumbents[edit]

Five incumbents (33%) face no competition in the November 2 general election and were thus, barring unforeseen circumstances, guaranteed re-election in November.

4 Democratic incumbents face no November challenger.
1 GOP incumbent faced no November challenger.

Primary challenges[edit]

Only 8 incumbents faced competition in the May 11 primary. Two incumbents -- Republican Frank Deem and Democrat Randy White lost to their challengers -- David Nohe and Gregory Tucker respectively. The following 6 incumbents (all Democrats) won their primaries:

District 5: Incumbent Democrat Evan Jenkins
District 6: Incumbent Democrat H. Truman Chafin
District 7: Incumbent Democrat Ron Stollings
District 8: Incumbent Democrat Erik Wells
District 15: Incumbent Democrat Walt Helmick
District 16: Incumbent Democrat John Unger

Retiring incumbents[edit]

Three incumbent representatives did not run for re-election, while 14 incumbents (80%) ran for re-election. Of the 3 incumbents who did not run for re-election, 2 are Democrats and 1 is Republican.

Incumbents who retired are:

District 1: Incumbent Democrat Edwin Bowman.
District 10: Incumbent Republican John Shott.
District 13: Incumbent Democrat Michael Oliverio.

List of candidates

District 1[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

Orphy Klempa 6,838 a
Dan Greathouse 5,960

Note: Incumbent Edwin Bowman (D) did not seek re-election in 2010. He was first elected to District 1 since 1994.

May 11 GOP primary result:

Charles Schlegel 2,571 a
Patrick McGeehan 2515
Larry Tighe 698

November 2 General election candidates:

Orphy Klempa 17,179

Charles Schlegel 12,137

District 2[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

Larry Edgell 9,486 a Incumbent Edgell was first elected to the 2nd District in 1988.

May 11 GOP primary result:

No Republicans filed to run for this seat.

November 2 General election candidates:

Larry Edgell 19,885

District 3[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

Tim Reed 5,696 a

May 11 GOP primary result:

David Nohe 4,497a
Frank Deem 4,080 Incumbent Deem was first elected to the 3rd District in 1994.

November 2 General election candidates:

Tim Reed 10,172

David Nohe 21,295

Across the country in 2010, state senate elections were held in 43 states. 1,167 state senate seats were at stake. In all 1,167 state senate districts with an election in 2010, only 19 challengers (12 Democrats and 7 Republicans) defeated an incumbent state senator. Nohe is one of the 7 Republican challengers who defeated an incumbent Republican state senator.

District 4[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

No Democrats filed to run for this seat.

May 11 GOP primary result:

Mike Hall (West Virginia) 5,874 a Incumbent Hall was first elected to the 4th District in 2006.

November 2 General election candidates:

Mike Hall (West Virginia) 27,072

District 5[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

Evan Jenkins 5,490 a Incumbent Jenkins was first elected to the 5th District in 2002.
John Cummings 2,185
Kevin Scott Regan 609

May 11 GOP primary result:

No Republicans filed to run for this seat.

November 2 General election candidates:

Evan Jenkins 19,813

District 6[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

Truman Chafin 7,947 a Incumbent was first elected to District 6 in 1982

Greg Smith 7,480

May 11 GOP primary result:

No Republicans filed to run for this seat.

November 2 General election candidates:

Truman Chafin 15,200

District 7[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

Ron Stollings 8,173 aIncumbent Stollings was first elected to the 7th District in 2006.
Jeffrey Eldridge 7,049

May 11 GOP primary result:

No Republicans filed to run for this seat.

November 2 General election candidates:

Ron Stollings 18,188

District 8[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

Erik Wells 8,343 aIncumbent Wells was first elected to the 8th District in 2006.
Richard Robb: 6,866
Richard Lindsay II 1,352

May 11 GOP primary result:

Bob Ore 4,924 a

November 2 General election candidates:

Erik Wells 36,280

Bob Ore 21,116

District 9[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

Mike Green (West Virginia) 5,774 aIncumbent Green was first elected to the 9th District in 2006.

May 11 GOP primary result:

Jim Mullins 2,396a

November 2 General election candidates:

Mike Green (West Virginia) 14,757

Jim Mullins

District 10[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

Ron Miller: 8,391 a
Mark Wills*a

May 11 GOP primary result:

John Barnes 1,449 a
Philip Stevens*: 1,261 a
Richard Romeo, Jr. 1,113

Note: Incumbent John Shott (R) did not run for re-election to District 10.

* These candidates ran for the open seat, unexpired term, vacated by Senator Caruth. District 10 will elect two senators on November 2, while all other West Virginia Senate districts will elect one senator.

November 2 General election candidates:

Ron Miller 14,093

Mark Wills 14,029

John Barnes 13,067

Philip Stevens 12,900

District 11[edit]

May 11 Democratic primary result:

Gregory Tucker 6,147 a
Randy White 4,911 Incumbent White was first elected to the 11th District in 2002.

May 11 GOP primary result:

Adam Milligan 3,242 a

Across the country in 2010, state senate elections were held in 43 states. 1,167 state senate seats were at stake. In all 1,167 state senate districts with an election in 2010, only 19 challengers (12 Democrats and 7 Republicans) defeated an incumbent state senator. Tucker was one of the 12 Democratic challengers who defeated an incumbent Democratic state senator.