CHARLESTON — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating five primary challengers in a statewide contest where she maintained broad support across most of West Virginia but lost three counties to state Sen. Tom Willis, according to unofficial returns.
Capito received 79,578 votes (66.6%), followed by Willis with 22,676 votes (19.0%). Bryan McKinney earned 5,541 votes (4.6%), David Purkey received 5,008 votes (4.2%), Alexander Gaaserud took 4,426 votes (3.7%), and Janet McNulty finished with 2,573 votes (2.2%). A total of 119,802 votes were cast in the Republican primary.
Capito’s strongest performances came in West Virginia’s largest counties, including Kanawha County, where she earned 7,924 votes (74.9%), Cabell County with 3,465 votes (73.5%), Raleigh County with 3,341 votes (67.5%), Putnam County with 3,648 votes (72.1%), and Mercer County with 2,999 votes (78.2%). She consistently exceeded 70% support in much of southern and western West Virginia.
Willis’ strongest performances came in the Eastern Panhandle and surrounding regions, where he carried Jefferson County with 1,300 votes (44.2%) to Capito’s 1,262 votes (42.9%), Morgan County with 875 votes (45.6%) to Capito’s 818 votes (42.6%), and Hampshire County with 859 votes (43.3%) to Capito’s 853 votes (43.0%). He also posted strong finishes in Raleigh, Berkeley, Preston, and Kanawha counties, where he remained in second trailing Capito.
Capito’s most dominant counties included Logan, where she received 1,389 votes (78.2%), Nicholas County with 1,394 votes (79.2%), and Mingo County with 844 votes (78.4%). She also posted large margins in Boone, Braxton, and Tucker counties, where she exceeded 70% of the vote.
McKinney’s strongest county was Kanawha, where he received 315 votes, while Gaaserud’s strongest showing came in Wood County with 1,283 votes. Purkey’s best performance came in Marion County with 611 votes, where he placed second behind Capito.
Capito will face Democratic nominee Rachel Fetty Anderson in the November general election.
