2006 West Virginia Senate election

The 2006 West Virginia Senate election took place on Tuesday, November 7, 2006, to elect members to the 78th and 79th Legislature. 17 of the 34 state senate seats were up for election. State senate seats in West Virginia are staggered, with senators serving 4-year terms.^[1] The election took place concurrently with the U.S. House and U.S. Senate elections. The Democratic Party won over 60% of the vote for state senate candidates and picked up 2 seats held by Republicans, retaining their supermajority.^[2] While President George W. Bush won the state in the previous presidential election, Democrats did well across the country and the state in a year described as a blue wave.^[3]

2006 West Virginia Senate elections

← 2004 November 7, 2006 2008 →
← These seats' last election (2002) These seats' next election (2010) →
17 of 34 seats in the West Virginia Senate 18 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Earl Ray Tomblin Vic Sprouse Party Democratic Republican Leader since 1995 1998 Leader's seat SD 7 SD 8 Seats before 21 13 Seats after 23 11 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 301,122 172,007 Percentage 63.6% 36.4% Seats up 11 6 Seats won 13 4
Winner by party Margin of victory Holds and gains      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold Democratic   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   >90% Republican   50–60%   >90%
Senate President before election Earl Ray Tomblin Democratic Elected Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin Democratic

Summary

Summary of the 2006 West Virginia Senate election results^[4]

Party		Candidates	Votes	%	Seats
					Before[2]	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Democratic	16	301,122	63.6%	21	11	13	23	2
	Republican	13	172,007	36.4%	13	6	4	11	2
	Write-in		102	nil	0	0	0	0
Total			473,231	100%	34	17		34

Popular vote Democratic   63.6% Republican   36.4% Write-in   nil%

Seats won Democratic   76.5% Republican   23.5%

Total senate seats Democratic   67.7% Republican   32.3%

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Rothenberg[5]	Safe D	November 4, 2006

SD 1

2006 West Virginia SD 1 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edwin Bowman (incumbent)	17,889	69.9
	Republican	George Village	7,690	30.1
Total votes			25,579	100.0
	Democratic hold

SD 2

2006 West Virginia SD 2 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Larry Edgell (incumbent)	17,009	64.9
	Republican	Wayne Weber	9,184	35.1
Total votes			26,193	100.0
	Democratic hold

SD 3

2006 West Virginia SD 3 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	J. Frank Deem (incumbent)	19,930	99.5
	Write-in		92	0.5
Total votes			20,022	100.0
	Republican hold

SD 4

2006 West Virginia SD 4 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Hall	17,438	51.9
	Democratic	Jim Lees	16,135	48.1
Total votes			33,573	100.0
	Republican hold

SD 5

2006 West Virginia SD 5 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Evan Jenkins (incumbent)	16,502	64.1
	Republican	Thomas Scott	9,257	35.9
Total votes			25,759	100.0
	Democratic hold

SD 6

2006 West Virginia SD 6 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	H. Truman Chafin (incumbent)	14,621	100.0
Total votes			14,621	100.0
	Democratic hold

SD 7

2006 West Virginia SD 7 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ron Stollings	16,437	77.2
	Republican	Larry Lyons	4,865	22.8
Total votes			21,302	100.0
	Democratic hold

SD 8

2006 West Virginia SD 8 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Erik Wells	31,073	58.1
	Republican	Mark Plants	22,408	41.9
Total votes			53,481	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

SD 9

2006 West Virginia SD 9 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mike Green	12,109	55.7
	Republican	Russ Weeks (incumbent)	9,628	44.3
Total votes			21,737	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

SD 10

2006 West Virginia SD 10 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jesse Guills (incumbent)	12,590	51.5
	Democratic	Frederick Parker	11,849	48.5
Total votes			24,439	100.0
	Republican hold

SD 11

2006 West Virginia SD 11 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Randy White (incumbent)	12,991	52.7
	Republican	Pete Sigler	11,679	47.3
Total votes			24,670	100.0
	Democratic hold

SD 12

2006 West Virginia SD 12 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Minard (incumbent)	22,218	100.0
Total votes			22,218	100.0
	Democratic hold

SD 13

2006 West Virginia SD 13 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mike Oliverio (incumbent)	25,060	100.0
Total votes			25,060	100.0
	Democratic hold

SD 14

2006 West Virginia SD 14 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dave Sypolt	16,057	52.8
	Democratic	Craig Rotruck	14,334	47.2
	Write-in		10	nil
Total votes			30,401	100.0
	Republican hold

SD 15

2006 West Virginia SD 15 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Walt Helmick (Incumbent)	21,509	99.6
	Write-in		92	0.4
Total votes			21,601	100.0
	Democratic hold

SD 16

2006 West Virginia SD 16 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Unger (Incumbent)	19,640	64.7
	Republican	Jerry Mays	10,729	35.3
Total votes			30,369	100.0
	Democratic hold

SD 17

2006 West Virginia SD 17 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Brooks McCabe (Incumbent)	31,746	60.7
	Republican	Ann Calvert	20,552	39.3
Total votes			52,298	100.0
	Democratic hold