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

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

died in office on June 28, 2010. Democratic Governor

Joe Manchin Joseph Manchin III ( ; born August 24, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia from 2010 to 2025. He was West Virginia's only congressional Democrat until he registered as ...

appointed

Carte Goodwin Carte Patrick Goodwin (born February 27, 1974) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from West Virginia in 2010. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he w ...

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 Southeas ...

and the first in this seat since

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

. Manchin won the open seat and served out the remainder of Byrd's elected term, which ended on January 3, 2013. This was 1 of 3 Democratic-held Senate seats up for election in a state that

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

won in the 2008 presidential election; the others were in Arkansas and North Dakota.

Background

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 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. West Virginia had not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1956, and voted Democratic in each presidential election from 1932 to 1996 (except for 1956, 1972 & 1984). 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 was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. Additionally, the Mountain (Green), Libertarian, and Constitution Parties had 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 an American retired 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 Vir ...

. 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. 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 ...

to pass legislation scheduling the special election for 2010. Without a revision, 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 changed election law for 2010 and will not apply to other future elections. It also allowed a West Virginian who was on the November general election ballot for some other office to also run in the special election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

, incumbent

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

Eliminated in primary

* 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 (United States), Democratic Party, he represented West Virginia's 4th congressional district in the U.S. House of Rep ...

, 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 r ...

and former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Declined

, incumbent U.S. senator (2010)

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. T ...

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

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

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 lost campaigns to represent West Virginia in the United States Senate in 1984, 2006, 2010, ...

, businessman, nominee for the Senate in

and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, and candidate for Governor in

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Eliminated in primary

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

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

veteran and accountant * Albert Howard, candidate in the

2008 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary The 2008 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary took place on January 8, 2008, with 12 national delegates being allocated proportionally to the popular vote. Senator from Arizona John McCain won the contest with 37% of the vote and 7 pl ...

* Frank Kubic,

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

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 Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east, as well as with the Atlantic Ocean to i ...

Mac Warner Andrew McCoy "Mac" Warner (born February 18, 1955) is an American attorney and veteran who is currently serving as Acting United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. Warner previously served as the West Virginia secret ...

, 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, also known as the West Virginia Green Party and the West Virginia Workers’ Party, is a political party in West Virginia affiliated with the Green Party of the United States. It is a progressive and environmentalist party ...

), 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 J ...

(President of

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

), while criticizing Raese for "putting profits before people", supporting the elimination of the minimum wage, and supporting the

FairTax FairTax is a flat tax, fixed rate sales tax proposal introduced as bill H.R. 25 in the United States Congress every year since 2005. The ''Fair Tax Act'' calls for elimination of the Internal Revenue Service and repeal the Sixteenth Amendment ...

. Manchin was endorsed by both the

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Raese was endorsed from numerous

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

PACs and

FreedomWorks FreedomWorks was a conservative and libertarian advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. FreedomWorks trained volunteers and assisted in campaigns. It was widely associated with the Tea Party movement. The Koch brothers were once a source of ...

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

cap and trade Carbon emission trading (also called carbon market, emission trading scheme (ETS) or cap and trade) is a type of emissions trading scheme designed for carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). A form of carbon price, carbon pricing ...

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

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

(largest municipality: Martinsburg) *

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

(largest municipality: Romney) *

Morgan Morgan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment'', also called ''Morgan!'', a 1966 comedy film * ''Morgan'' (2012 film), an American drama * ''Morgan'' (2016 film), an American science fiction thriller * ...

(largest municipality: Berkeley Springs) * Grant (largest municipality: Petersburg) *

Hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, ...

(largest municipality: Moorefield) *

Mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

(largest municipality: Keyser) *

Ritchie Ritchie may refer to: People Surname Given name Fictional characters *Ritchie, a character in the 1986 American science fiction movie ''Howard the Duck'' *Ritchie Tozer, on the TV series ''It's a Sin'' (TV series) * Robert Ritchie (''The Wes ...

(largest municipality: Harrisville) * Pendleton (largest municipality:

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

) * Tyler (largest municipality:

Paden City Paden City is a city in Tyler County, West Virginia, Tyler and Wetzel County, West Virginia, Wetzel counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, along the Ohio River. It was incorporated in 1916. The population was 2,550 at the 2020 United States ...

) * Upshur (largest municipality: Buckhannon) * Preston (largest municipality: Kingwood) * Putnam (largest municipality:

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

)

Notes

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 an American 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 offic ...

West Virginia U.S. Senate – Special Election
from OurCampaigns.com
Campaign contributions
from Open Secrets
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. It was founded in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. It features selected politi ...

2010 West Virginia Senate Race
from

CQ Politics ''Congressional Quarterly'', or ''CQ'', is an American publication that is part of the privately owned publishing company CQ Roll Call, which covers the United States Congress. ''CQ'' was formerly acquired by the U.K.-based The Economist Group, ...

Official candidate sites
Jesse Johnson campaign website

Joe Manchin 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 Joe Manchin