Jay Wolfe (born April 5, 1955) is an American business owner and former State Senator, and U.S. Senate candidate.

Early life, education, and business career

Wolfe was born in

Parkersburg, West Virginia Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia, Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Little Kanawha River, Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and ...

to Donald and Emogene Moore Wolfe. He graduated from

Parkersburg South High School Parkersburg South High School (also known as South) in Parkersburg, West Virginia, United States serves grades 9 through 12, and is part of the Wood County School District. The school's colors are navy blue and white (with a touch of scarlet), ...

in 1973. He attended

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

and graduated from Glenville State College in 1977 with a degree in business administration. He owns Wolfe Rentals

LLC A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

and Wolfe-Furner Insurance Inc.

Political career

In the 1980s, Wolfe was elected to one term in the

West Virginia Senate The West Virginia Senate is the upper house of the West Virginia Legislature. There are seventeen senatorial districts. Each district has two senators who serve staggered four-year terms. Although the Democratic Party held a supermajority in the ...

. He was also a member of the Harrison County and State Republican Executive Committees.

1988 U.S. Senate campaign

Wolfe lost to incumbent Democrat but with the highest percentage of any other opponent of

Robert C. 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 ...

. Byrd outspent Wolfe $3 million to $200,000.

2002 U.S. Senate campaign

Wolfe lost to incumbent Democrat

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 ...

. Rockefeller outspent Wolfe $5 million to $150,000.

2008 U.S. Senate campaign

Wolfe lost a rematch to Rockefeller in a nearly identical margin but with Rockefeller spending more than he did in 2002.

Electoral history

, - , , colspan=5 , Democratic hold , -

Personal life

He married his high school girlfriend, Mollie. They have been married for over 40 years. He has four children and ten grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Jay Republican Party West Virginia state senators Living people 1963 births Politicians from Clarksburg, West Virginia Businesspeople from West Virginia Politicians from Parkersburg, West Virginia Glenville State College alumni