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By David Beard
dbeard@dominionpost.com
MORGANTOWN - While West Virginia as a whole saw a mild blue surge in Tuesday’s election, Monongalia County voted almost solid blue.
Preston remained solidly red while Marion hovered in the purplish-red.
Mon’s blue wave was apparent in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House 2nd District races.
Sen. Shelly Moore Capito successfully defended her seat against Democratic challenger former Morgantown City Council member Rachel Fetty Anderson, with 58.33% of the vote to Anderson’s 37.91%.
But Anderson won in Mon County, 57.73% to 44.33%.
Capito topped Anderson in Marion (52.51% to 44.4%) and Preston (64.5% to 30.55%).
In 2024, Jim Justice won all three counties in his effort to transition from governor to senator. And in 2020, Capito won all three counties.
In the House, Rep. Riley Moore won reelection over his Democratic challenger, Morgantown political activist Ace Parsi, with 59.41% to Parsi’s 40.59%.
But as in the Senate race, Mon went blue, with Parsi taking 60.36% of the vote to Moore’s 39.61%.
Moore won in Marion (53.82% to 46.18%) and Preston (68.16% to 31.84%).
In 2024, Moore won all three.
This year, in both the Senate and House races, the Democrats’ Morgantown connections likely played a role in their local victories.
At the state level, in the 13th District Senate race, Democrat Delegate John Williams unseated Republican Sen. Mike Oliverio, with 55.06% of the vote to Oliverio’s 41.36%.
Typically, though not always in recent years, the Republican would win in Marion while the Democrat took Mon, with the margins making the difference in who won overall.
This year, Oliverio won in Marion, 51.71% to 44.36%, with a margin of 766 votes. But Williams took Mon, 61.34% to 35.28%, and a margin of 4,622 votes. So Oliverio’s Marion edge wasn’t enough to make up the 4,036 vote deficit.
In 2022. Oliverio defeated Democrat Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer, with 50.29% (13,495 votes) to Fleischauer’s 49.71% (13,342 votes). That was a narrow margin of 153 votes.
Marion County made the difference for Oliverio that year, with 59.36% to Fleischauer’s 40.64% and a vote margin of 1,974. Fleischauer took Mon, 55.59% to 44.41%, but her 1,821 margin in Mon wasn’t enough to carry the day.
In the six-county 2nd Senate District - which includes parts of Mon and Marion - Republican Toby Heaney defeated Democrat Chris Claypole. Heaney won in every county but Mon, where Claypole took 51.01% of the vote to Heaney’s 48.99%.
And in the House of Delegates, Mon County saw its even split - three Republicans and three Democrats swing to five Democrats and one Republican. Joe Statler retained his seat while incumbents Geno Chiarelli and David McCormick fell to Democratic challengers.
The House is where Marion saw a slight blue shift. The current composition is two Republicans and one Democrat. It will change to two Democrats and one Republican. Democrat Rick Garcia and Republican Guy Ward retained their seats while incumbent Republican Phil Mallow lost to former Democrat Delegate Linda Longstreth.
And Preston remained all red at the state level, with Delegates Buck Jennings and George Street and Sen. Jay Taylor all retaining their seats.