McGraw upset for attorney general

Official election results for Morgan County and West Virginia won’t be available until later this week, but unofficial results showed a few surprises in state races.

Republican Patrick Morrisey edged by longtime Demo-cratic politician Darryl McGraw for State Attorney General by a 51% to 49% margin. Morgan County voters favored Morrisey over McGraw by 62% to 38%.

Democrat Walt Helmick defeated Republican Ken Leonhardt by a 52% to 48% for State Commissioner of Agriculture.

Helmick had been state senator in a multi-county district that included Morgan County. Local voters favored Leon-hardt over Helmick, 56%-44%.

In the four-way contest for two seats on the West Virginia Supreme Court, the unofficial leaders were incumbent justice Robin Jean Davis, a Demo-crat, and Allen Loughry, a Republican.

Loughry is married to the former Kelly Swaim of Morgan County.

Eastern Panhandle circuit judge John Yoder, a Repub-lican, was in third place but was more than 20,000 votes behind Loughry.

The most popular office holder with voters statewide was Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, who defeated Repub-lican challenger Brian Savilla by a 62% to 38% margin.

The contest for governor was a little closer than preliminary numbers appeared on election night. Earl Ray Tomblin, the Democratic incumbent, defeated challenger Bill Maloney by 50% to 46% unofficially.

Statewide, voters said no by 52% to 48% to allowing sheriffs to serve more than two consecutive terms. The proposed amendment to the State Constitution passed by a handful of votes in Morgan County.

In races for U.S. Congress, Joe Manchin won reelection to U.S. Senate while Shelley Capito easily won reelection to U.S. House of Representatives.

President Barack Obama’s numbers statewide were comparable to the Morgan County results. Republican Mitt Romney beat Obama 62% to 36% statewide.

Nationally, Obama defeated Romney by 51% to 48% in the popular vote and 332-206 in electoral votes. Obama carried 26 states and the District of Columbia.

Official Morgan County vote totals and state updates will be in next week’s Morgan Messenger.