2020 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary

The 2020 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary was held on June 9, 2020 alongside the Georgia primary, as part of the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. It was originally scheduled for May 12, 2020, but was moved to June 9 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] The West Virginia primary was a semi-closed primary, with the state awarding 34 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of whom 28 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the primary results.

2020 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary

June 9, 2020

34 delegates (28 pledged, 6 unpledged)
to the Democratic National Convention
The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the popular vote
 
Candidate Joe Biden Bernie Sanders
(withdrawn)
David Lee Rice
Home state Delaware Vermont West Virginia
Delegate count 28 0 0
Popular vote 122,518 22,793 15,470
Percentage 65.3% 12.2% 8.3%

Election results by county
  Joe Biden
Pledged national
convention
delegates
Type Del.
CD1 6
CD2 7
CD3 6
PLEO 3
At-large 6
Total pledged delegates 28

Former vice president and recently determined presumptive nominee Joe Biden swept the state and won all 28 delegates with 65% of the vote, winning all 55 counties.[2] Senator Bernie Sanders missed the delegate threshold with little more than 12%, a stark reversal from 2016 when he had won all 55 counties, and David Lee Rice, an army veteran and resident of Parkersburg, West Virginia, who did not appear on the ballot in any other state, received 8%.[3][4]

Procedure

West Virginia was previously scheduled to vote on May 12, 2020, alongside Nebraska, in the Democratic primaries, but on April 1 the primary was rescheduled by governor Jim Justice to June 9, 2020, setting it alongside the equally rescheduled Georgia primary.[5] Voting took place throughout the state from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.

In the semi-closed primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 28 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, between 6 and 7 were allocated to each of the state's 3 congressional districts and another 3 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 6 at-large delegates. Originally planned with 24 delegates, the final number included a 20% bonus of 4 additional delegates on the original number of 16 district and 5 at-large delegates by the Democratic National Committee due to the original May date, which belonged to Stage III on the primary timetable.[6][7]

Following the election of district delegates to the district caucuses and the state convention on June 2, national convention district-level delegates were elected by the district caucuses during the state convention on June 12, 2020, and the 6 at-large and 3 pledged PLEO delegates were elected by the state executive committee the following day, also at the state convention. The delegation also included 6 unpledged PLEO delegates: 5 members of the Democratic National Committee and one senator from Congress.[8]

Candidates

The following candidates qualified for the ballot in West Virginia:[9]

Running

Withdrawn

Results

2020 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary[10]
Candidate Votes  % Delegates
Joe Biden 122,518 65.35 28
Bernie Sanders (withdrawn) 22,793 12.16
David Lee Rice 15,470 8.25
Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn) 5,741 3.06
Tulsi Gabbard (withdrawn) 4,163 2.22
Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn) 3,759 2.01
Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn) 3,455 1.84
Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn) 3,011 1.61
Andrew Yang (withdrawn) 2,590 1.38
Michael Bennet (withdrawn) 1,865 0.99
Tom Steyer (withdrawn) 1,235 0.66
Deval Patrick (withdrawn) 882 0.47
Total 187,482 100% 28

County results

County Joe Biden Bernie Sanders David Lee Rice Others Total

votes

% # % # % # % #
Barbour 68.83% 923 7.98% 107 10.22% 137 12.97% 174 1,341
Berkeley 73.74% 5,952 12.31% 994 2.92% 236 11.03% 890 8,072
Boone 54.40% 1,689 10.27% 319 17.39% 540 17.94% 557 3,105
Braxton 62.80% 1,133 8.09% 146 11.97% 216 17.14% 309 1,804
Brooke 62.70% 1,861 10.88% 323 8.79% 261 17.63% 523 2,968
Cabell 68.32% 6,792 15.17% 1,508 4.34% 431 12.17% 1,211 9,942
Calhoun 47.29% 392 16.04% 133 21.59% 179 15.08% 125 829
Clay 52.01% 439 10.31% 87 19.31% 163 18.37% 155 844
Doddridge 59.44% 192 14.55% 47 13.31% 43 12.70% 41 323
Fayette 63.52% 3,167 12.01% 599 9.07% 452 15.40% 768 4,986
Gilmer 55.24% 448 11.47% 93 15.04% 122 18.25% 148 811
Grant 69.64% 211 13.53% 41 4.62% 14 12.21% 37 303
Greenbrier 66.10% 2,660 12.03% 484 7.70% 310 14.17% 570 4,024
Hampshire 64.56% 942 9.87% 144 9.73% 142 15.84% 231 1,459
Hancock 65.23% 2,217 9.44% 321 8.68% 295 16.65% 566 3,399
Hardy 62.55% 810 10.42% 135 11.89% 154 15.14% 196 1,295
Harrison 66.02% 5,266 10.04% 801 8.38% 668 15.56% 1,241 7,976
Jackson 71.03% 1,986 8.66% 242 8.83% 247 11.48% 321 2,796
Jefferson 74.69% 4,807 14.05% 904 1.55% 100 9.71% 625 6,436
Kanawha 73.10% 18,069 11.75% 2,905 3.64% 901 11.51% 2,844 24,719
Lewis 58.51% 976 10.97% 183 11.69% 195 18.83% 314 1,668
Lincoln 57.38% 1,182 10.10% 208 18.20% 375 14.32% 295 2,060
Logan 50.90% 1,504 11.95% 353 19.90% 588 17.25% 510 2,955
Marion 61.93% 4,818 13.47% 1,048 7.38% 574 17.22% 1,340 7,780
Marshall 59.87% 2,107 10.88% 383 11.88% 418 17.37% 611 3,519
Mason 62.10% 1,670 9.26% 249 13.13% 353 15.51% 417 2,689
McDowell 57.85% 980 8.26% 140 13.58% 230 20.31% 344 1,694
Mercer 62.94% 2,683 13.61% 580 8.42% 359 15.03% 641 4,263
Mineral 68.51% 1,162 11.32% 192 9.08% 154 11.09% 188 1,696
Mingo 41.10% 921 14.15% 317 20.44% 458 24.31% 545 2,241
Monongalia 63.65% 7,967 17.74% 2,221 3.94% 493 14.67% 1,836 12,517
Monroe 66.53% 811 10.83% 132 8.53% 104 14.11% 172 1,219
Morgan 72.64% 770 14.15% 150 2.83% 30 10.38% 110 1,060
Nicholas 60.90% 1,483 9.61% 234 10.18% 248 19.31% 470 2,435
Ohio 68.14% 3,700 13.02% 707 4.90% 266 13.94% 757 5,430
Pendleton 65.30% 557 7.97% 68 10.32% 88 16.41% 140 853
Pleasants 64.11% 493 8.32% 64 10.92% 84 16.65% 128 769
Pocahontas 63.62% 640 12.33% 124 8.05% 81 16.00% 161 1,006
Preston 64.01% 1,606 12.55% 315 10.56% 265 12.88% 323 2,509
Putnam 69.66% 3,882 12.17% 678 6.01% 335 12.16% 678 5,573
Raleigh 63.50% 4,520 11.89% 846 9.40% 669 15.21% 1,083 7,118
Randolph 59.44% 2,200 10.00% 370 15.10% 559 15.46% 572 3,701
Ritchie 61.85% 274 11.06% 49 13.32% 59 13.77% 61 443
Roane 64.33% 880 12.72% 174 9.80% 134 13.15% 180 1,368
Summers 61.84% 1,050 10.13% 172 15.43% 262 12.60% 214 1,698
Taylor 64.85% 1,057 11.35% 185 8.90% 145 14.90% 243 1,630
Tucker 58.09% 578 15.48% 154 10.15% 101 16.28% 162 995
Tyler 58.78% 318 11.65% 63 12.57% 68 17.00% 92 541
Upshur 71.84% 1,194 10.83% 180 5.29% 88 12.04% 200 1,662
Wayne 62.70% 2,533 9.75% 394 14.31% 578 13.24% 535 4,040
Webster 50.46% 491 10.89% 106 17.06% 166 21.59% 210 973
Wetzel 55.10% 1,112 11.05% 223 15.96% 322 17.89% 361 2,018
Wirt 57.55% 286 9.86% 49 15.29% 76 17.30% 86 497
Wood 68.58% 4,550 12.36% 820 7.63% 506 11.43% 759 6,635
Wyoming 47.65% 871 11.27% 206 22.43% 410 18.65% 341 1,828

Analysis

Four years earlier, Sanders won the West Virginia primary by a wide margin, 51 to 35, against Hillary Clinton. This was considered to be mainly based on a protest vote against Clinton and both her and the Obama administration's coal policies.[11] Many of the traditionally more conservative West Virginia Democrats went on to vote for Donald Trump.[12]

In 2020, the strength Sanders had among traditionally more conservative Democrats, protest vote or not, almost collapsed, with most of the support swinging to Joe Biden. Biden was the presumptive nominee at the time as Sanders had suspended his campaign shortly before, however, Sanders did notably better than in the Kentucky primary a few weeks later, which was another state were more conservative Democrats turned out for him in 2016.

In an indication of the alienation of the West Virginia Democratic Party from the national one, this primary marked the third consecutive time where a candidate only running in the West Virginia Democratic primary received a notable performance, with nationally obscure candidate David Lee Rice receiving 8.3% of the vote (a pattern which began in 2000, when local perennial candidate Angus McDonald won about 8%; since then, similarly unexpected results occurred in 2008 (then-withdrawn candidate John Edwards unexpectedly won about 7.5% of the vote), 2012 (Keith Judd, an imprisoned felon from California, won over 40%), and 2016 (Paul Farrell, a Huntington attorney, won about 9% and came close to winning a delegate from the state's southern congressional district).

References

  1. Lacie Pierson (April 1, 2020). "Gov. Justice delays WV primary election until June 9". Charleston Gazette-Mail. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  2. "West Virginia State Primary Election Results 2020". New York Times. June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  3. "Incumbents file for reelection on second day of filing period". Charleston Gazette-Mail. January 14, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  4. "Obituary: David Lee Rice". WTAP. May 5, 2021. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  5. Putnam, Josh. "The 2020 Presidential Primary Calendar". Frontloading HQ. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  6. "Democratic Timing Penalties and Bonuses". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  7. "The Math Behind the Democratic Delegate Allocation - 2020". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  8. "West Virginia Democratic Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. May 20, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  9. "Candidate Listing by Office". services.sos.wv.gov. Archived from the original on February 9, 2020. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  10. "Results – Democratic Contests". results.enr.clarityelections.com/. West Virginia Secretary of State. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  11. "How Anti-Coal Bernie Sanders Won Coal Country". ThinkProgress. May 12, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  12. "Donald Trump Supporters Boost Bernie Sanders in West Virginia". NBC News. May 11, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
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