Hamilton

ELKINS – Bill Hamilton gathered the Republican nomination Tuesday night in his bid to be re-elected to a West Virginia State Senate District 11 seat.

Statewide, Hamilton totaled 3,497 votes, 48% of those cast, for the District 11 position, which represents all of Randolph, Upshur, Pocahontas, Pendleton, Nicholas and Webster counties, as well as some of southern Grant County.

He far outpaced his challengers Jack Reger, who received 2,307 votes statewide, or 28.95%, and former state senator Robert Karnes, who garnered 2,166 statewide, or 27.1%.

In Randolph County, Hamilton received 743 votes, while Karnes tallied 570 and Reger received 404.

In November’s General Election, Hamilton will face the Democratic nominee, Kevin Carpenter, who received 4,559 votes statewide and 1,394 in Randolph.

In the House of Delegates District 66 race, incumbent Republican Jonathan Kyle will face off in November with Democratic nominee Danielle Dougherty.

Kyle received 1,055 votes statewide and 668 in Randolph County.

Dougherty tallied 928 votes statewide and 677 in Randolph.

In the race for the House of Delegates District 67 seat, Republican Les Mallow will face Democrat Mandy Weirich in November.

Mallow received 954 votes statewide and 751 in Randolph County Tuesday night.

Weirich garnered 1,149 votes statewide and 983 in Randolph.

Weirich said she was really excited to see how many people came out to vote, as well as how many independent voters asked for a Democratic ballot. The West Virginia Republican Party closed its primary, meaning only voters registered as Republican could receive a Republican ballot. 

“I feel good about (the general election),” Weirich told The Inter-Mountain Tuesday night at the Randolph County Courthouse. “I think people are ready for a change. They want their legislative body working for them. We want to see real change. We don’t want votes for corporations, we want votes for the people of West Virginia.”

Incumbent Republican District 67 Delegate Elias Coop-Gonzalez chose not to run for re-election.