The 2010 United States Senate special election in West Virginia was held on November 2, 2010. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator

Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician and musician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A ...

died in office on June 28, 2010. Democratic Governor

Joe Manchin Joseph Manchin III (born August 24, 1947) is an American politician and businessman serving as the senior United States senator from West Virginia, a seat he has held since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Manchin was the 34th governor of ...

appointed

Carte Goodwin Carte Patrick Goodwin (born February 27, 1974) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia in 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed by Governor Joe Manchin on July 16, 2010 t ...

to temporarily fill the vacancy. Goodwin pledged to not run for election to the seat in exchange for the appointment. This was the first open U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia since

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

and the first in this seat since 1956. Manchin won the open seat and served out the remainder of Byrd's elected term, which ended on January 3, 2013.

Background

Byrd's career

Byrd had held his seat in the U.S. Senate since 1959, after having served in the House of Representatives since 1953, making him the then-longest-serving person in Congress. Byrd led his party in the Senate from 1977 to 1989, as Majority Leader or Minority Leader. Afterwards, as the most senior Democrat in the Senate, he served as

President pro tempore of the Senate A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being". ...

whenever his party was in the majority, including at the time of his death. The Democrats held a 59–41 seat majority in the Senate at the time of Byrd's death.

State politics

West Virginia had not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1956, but voted Republican in presidential elections since 2000. 77% of voters in the state approved of Democratic governor Joe Manchin, but only 35% approved of Democratic President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

. Additionally, the Mountain (Green), Libertarian, and Constitution Parties have been slowly growing forces in the state, hoping to capitalize on discontent from both political parties. All three minor parties fielded ballot-qualified candidates in the 2014 Senate election to fill the open seat of retiring longtime Senator

Jay Rockefeller John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV (born June 18, 1937) is a retired American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia (1985–2015). He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as governor of West Virg ...

Interim appointment

State law allowed Governor

to make a temporary appointment to the vacant seat. Manchin named a former aide, 36-year-old

, an attorney and fellow Democrat. Goodwin was sworn in on July 20, 2010, and chose not to run in the special election. Hours later, Manchin announced his intention to seek Byrd's seat.

Timing of the election

Gov. Manchin urged the

West Virginia Legislature The West Virginia Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of West Virginia. A bicameral legislative body, the legislature is split between the upper Senate and the lower House of Delegates. It was established under Article VI o ...

to pass legislation scheduling the special election for 2010. Without a revision, West Virginia Secretary of State

Natalie Tennant Natalie E. Tennant (born December 25, 1967) is an American politician who served as the Secretary of State of West Virginia from 2009 to 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Tennant was the 2014 Democratic Party nominee for West Virgin ...

believed that state law would not allow an election to be held until 2012. On July 19, legislators hammered out a compromise bill setting an Aug 28 special primary and Nov 2 special election to elect a senator for the roughly two years and five months remaining in Byrd's term. The bill only changes election law for 2010 and will not apply to other future elections. It also allows a West Virginian who is on the November general election ballot for some other office to also run in the special election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

, incumbent

Governor of West Virginia A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

* Sheirl Fletcher, former Republican State Delegate *

Ken Hechler Kenneth William Hechler (September 20, 1914 – December 10, 2016) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented West Virginia's 4th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1959 to 197 ...

, former

West Virginia Secretary of State The Secretary of State of West Virginia is an elected office within the U.S. state of West Virginia state government. The secretary of state is responsible for overseeing the state's election process, including voter registration and election res ...

and former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Campaign

Despite Manchin's very high popularity in the state, he received two politically experienced challengers. Hechler was a former Secretary of State and U.S. Representative, who at the age of 95 campaigned across the state on an anti-

mountaintop removal Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams. Thi ...

platform. Fletcher was a former Republican member of the House of Delegates.

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

John Raese John Reeves Raese ( ; born April 10, 1950) is an American businessman and perennial Republican Party candidate for political office in West Virginia. He has lost campaigns to represent West Virginia in the United States Senate in 1984, 2006, 201 ...

, businessman, nominee for the Senate in

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, and candidate for Governor in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

* Harry C. Bruner Jr., attorney * Kenneth Culp,

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

veteran and accountant * Albert Howard, candidate in the 2008 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary * Frank Kubic,

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

matist author * Lynette Kennedy McQuain, substitute teacher's aide * Daniel Scott Rebich, concrete contracting business owner * Thomas Ressler, retired officer of the

Maryland Department of Corrections The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) is a government agency of the U.S. state, State of Maryland that performs a number of functions, including the operation of state prisons. It has its headquarters in Towson ...

Mac Warner Andrew McCoy "Mac" Warner (born February 18, 1955) is an American attorney, veteran, and the current West Virginia Secretary of State. He announced his candidacy for Governor of West Virginia in 2024 on January 10, 2023. Early life and educatio ...

, businessman * Scott H. Williams, wood products industry supervisor and manager

Campaign

During the Republican primary campaign, only Raese and Warner released television advertisements.

Results

General election

Candidates

* Jeff Becker ( Constitution Party), West Virginia Constitution Party chairman (campaign site, PVS) * Jesse Johnson (

Mountain Party The Mountain Party is a political party in West Virginia, affiliated with the Green Party of the United States. It is a progressive and environmentalist party whose party platform primarily focuses on "Grassroots Democracy", "Social Justice & ...

), lobbyist, freelance writer and lecturer *

(Democratic Party), incumbent

(Republican Party), businessman * John R "Rick" Bartlett (Write In) * Charles G. "Bud" Railey (Write In)

Campaign

Manchin's campaign ads emphasized his support from labor unions and

Cecil Roberts Edric Cecil Mornington Roberts (18 May 1892 – 20 December 1976) was an English journalist, poet, dramatist and novelist. He was born and grew up in Nottingham. Working career Roberts published his first volume of poems, with a preface by Joh ...

(President of

United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing worke ...

), while criticizing Raese for "putting profits before people", supporting the elimination of the minimum wage, and supporting the FairTax. Manchin was endorsed by both the

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...

and the

U.S. Chamber of Commerce The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is the largest lobbying group in the United States, representing over three million businesses and organizations. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urgin ...

. Raese was endorsed from numerous

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

PACs and

FreedomWorks FreedomWorks is a conservative and libertarian advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. FreedomWorks trains volunteers, assists in campaigns, and encourages them to mobilize, interacting with both fellow citizens and their political representat ...

. Raese criticized Manchin for supporting House Bill 103, which is similar to

cap and trade Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. The concept is also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS). Carbon emission t ...

Debates

The first and only debate was held October 18. It featured all four Senate candidates. Raese wanted at least three debates.

Predictions

Polling

Fundraising

Results

References

External links

Elections Division
at the West Virginia Secretary of State *
2010 Candidate on the Ballot

U.S. Congress candidates for West Virginia
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

West Virginia U.S. Senate – Special Election
from OurCampaigns.com
Campaign contributions
from

Open Secrets ''Open Secrets'' () is a book of short stories by Alice Munro published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente buil ...

2010 West Virginia Senate General Election: John Raese (R) vs Joe Manchin (D)
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: West Virginia Senate Special Election
from

Rasmussen Reports Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...

West Virginia Senate Special Election, Raese vs. Manchin
from

Real Clear Politics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political ...

2010 West Virginia Senate Race
from

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combine ...

;Official candidate sites
Jesse Johnson campaign website

Joe Manchin campaign website

John Raese campaign website
{{2010 United States elections West Virginia 2010 West Virginia 2010 2010 Special West Virginia Special United States Senate Special United States Senate 2010