5 0 62.30% 35.54% | 417,655 238,269 Start date November 6, 2012 | |
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The 2012 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 6, 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated. West Virginia voters chose five electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.
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On election day, Mitt Romney defeated Barack Obama in the state of West Virginia by a landslide 26.76% margin. The Republican ticket took 62.30% of the vote to the Democratic ticket's 35.54%, and also swept every county in the state. This represented a historic loss for the Democrats in West Virginia, which had long been a Democratic stronghold up through the 1990s.
This was the first election since West Virginia's admission to the Union in 1863 in which the Democratic candidate did not win a county in the state.
Democratic primary
Barack Obama defeated Keith Judd, a convicted felon serving a federal prison sentence in Texarkana, TX, by a surprisingly narrow 59% to 41%.
Republican primary
The Republican primary took place on May 8, 2012.