Zoning defeated 77%-23%

Zoning failed by more than 3-to-1 in yesterday’s General Election in Morgan County – a big election day for Republicans.

Every Republican on the ballot won handily in Morgan County.

In a race that was watched nationally, Joe Manchin defeated John Raese for the last two years of the late Robert Byrd’s U.S. Senate seat. In Morgan County, Raese defeated Manchin by 56% to 40%, but statewide Manchin got about 53% of the vote.

The countywide zoning referendum went down in flames, being rejected by voters 3,980-1,187, or 77% to 23%. County Commissioner Tommy Swaim said the zoning defeat was a great end to his career in local politics. Swaim, who is retiring at the end of the year, helped lead the opposition to zoning.

Just over 50% of Morgan County’s 11,260 registered voters cast ballots. Some 1,376, or 12% of them, participated through early voting.
The U.S. Senate race and the County Zoning Referendum drew the most voters here.

Republican winners
Bradley Close won a Morgan County Commission seat, defeating Todd Farris by a 3,709-1,728 count, or 68% to 32%.

Kimberly Jackson was reelected Morgan County Circuit Clerk, defeating challenger Donna Lechliter by 3,768-1,690, or 69% to 31%.

Debra Kesecker garnered 4,666 votes in her unopposed bid for reelection as Morgan County Clerk.

Daryl Cowles defeated Alton Wolfe for the House of Delegates seat from the 51st District by 2,982 to 947, or 75% to 25%. At presstime, Cowles was also leading in the Hampshire County section of the district.

Larry Kump defeated Mike Roberts for the House of Delegates seat from the 51st District by 768-684, or 53% to 47%. Kump defeated Roberts in the Berkeley County part of the district by a slightly higher percentage.

Walt Helmick lost to his Republican challenger Jeremy Bauserman in State Senate polling from Morgan County, but was winning in some of the bigger counties of the multicounty district. Helmick heads the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

Shelley Moore Capito was reelected to the U.S. House of Representatives, gathering 71% of the vote in Morgan County and similar margins across the congressional district.

At presstime, the State Supreme Court contest between John Yoder and Thomas McHugh was too close to call. Yoder, now a circuit judge in the Eastern Panhandle, won in Morgan County with 71% of the vote and received a strong vote from northeast West Virginia.