Staff reports
CHARLESTON – With votes still coming in Tuesday night, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito has a wide lead over her nearest Republican primary opponent.
According to available preliminary vote totals reported by counties to the Secretary of State’s Office, Capito had 20,698 votes, or 64% of the vote cast, with state Sen. Tom Willis coming in second in the six-person race with 6,429 votes, or 19.9% of the vote. The Associated Press called the election in Capito’s favor early Tuesday night.
Capito, R.W.Va., is seeking her third six-year term in the Senate after first being elected to succeed the retiring Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller in 2014. Capito, the daughter of the late three-term Republican governor Arch Moore, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000.
For Willis, R-Berkeley, this is his second unsuccessful U.S. Senate primary attempt after coming in fourth in the 2018 GOP primary to challenge former Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Manchin who retired at the end of 2024. Willis was elected to the state Senate in 2024 after defeating former Senate President Craig Blair in the GOP primary that year.
Other Republican challengers include Parkersburg businessman Alexander Gaaserud (5.2%), David Purkey of Fairmont (4.9%), Bryan McKinney of Inwood (4%) and Janet McNulty of Martinsburg (2%).
In the Democratic primary, Morgantown community organizer Rachel Fetty Anderson had 24,426 votes, or 35.95% of the vote, with former state Senate President Jeffrey Kessler second with 18,944 votes, or 27.88% of the vote with 34 of 55 counties reporting. Mercer County community organizer Zachary Shrewsbury had 12,063 votes (17.75%). Shrewsbury came in second in the 2024 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate to former Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott.
Other Democratic U.S. Senate candidates include South Charleston attorney Thornton Cooper with 6,365 votes (9.37%) and Rio Phillips of Charleston with 6,154 votes (9%).
