Donald Trump continued his steady march to the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday as he handily won the West Virginia primary, while Democrat Bernie Sanders added his second win in a row, bringing his total to 19 states.
Trump's victory guarantees the businessman-turned-presumptive-Republican-nominee three Republican delegates and he is expected to pick up most, if not all, of the state's 34. The Republican race was called by news organizations just after polls closed at 7:30 p.m.
West Virginians have been drawn to Trump from the beginning of his campaign, largely because of his business experience and pledges to bring back jobs, particularly coal jobs.
“I think West Virginia is looking for a change,” said Jefferson County resident Paula Janis. “Obama has taken away our livelihood.”
Janis was one of about 30 people at the Trump election night party at the Embassy Suites, in Charleston.
Sanders' win, meanwhile, does little to cut into Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's delegate lead, but it is another late victory for the Vermont senator and provides ammo to his position that Clinton is not a strong general election candidate.
“West Virginia is a working-class state, like many other states in this country, including Oregon, and working-class people are hurting,” Sanders said in his victory speech from Salem, Oregon. “We need an economy that works for all of us, not just the one percent.”
Sanders' core message about the economy resonated with West Virginia voters, who largely voted for Clinton in 2008.
“Trump wants to make America great again, but I think his words show he's in the past,” said Amanda Goins, from Charleston. “Bernie wants to move us forward.”
Sanders acknowledged that he still has a lot of ground to make up if he wants to catch Clinton but said he is in the race to win.
“We have an uphill climb ahead of us,” Sanders said, “but we are used to uphill climbs.”
All three presidential candidates spent time in West Virginia leading up to the primary.
Trump held a rally in Charleston last week that drew about 11,600 supporters. He pledged to bring coal mining jobs back to the state and talked about bringing jobs back to America.
Sanders held political rallies in Huntington, South Charleston and Morgantown and held a community discussion in McDowell County about poverty.
Clinton held private discussions in Williamson and Charleston about the opioid epidemic.
While Sanders traveled the state relatively uninterrupted by protesters, Clinton faced boos and protests in Williamson, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had protesters in Logan.
Trump's win in West Virginia is his first since his last two GOP opponents, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, dropped out of the race.
“I don't know why I'm so excited right now,” said Mike Stuart, co-chairman of Trump's West Virginia campaign. “We're the only candidate in the race.”
That didn't stop Trump supporters from campaigning and voting.
In Kanawha County, Trump campaign workers had to be reprimanded by sheriff's deputies for handing out delegate slates for voters to follow while standing too close to the polling places, according to Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper. The Secretary of State's Office also received reports of people wearing Trump shirts into the polling places, which is not allowed.
The 70 delegates at stake between West Virginia and Nebraska, the other Republican primary Tuesday, will not be enough for Trump to surpass the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination.
With seven states still remaining in the Republican contest, Trump is expected to meet that number before the Republican National Convention in July.
With more than 220 at-large delegates on the ballot and new geographic rules implemented for the 2016 primary that have complicated the process of delegate selection, there's a good chance that a few Cruz or Kasich supporters could be elected to go to the Republican National Convention from West Virginia.
Stuart said he hopes that if any of those delegates were elected, they would acknowledge that their candidates have dropped out and instead support Trump, since he won the popular vote.
“Our stance is that there will be 34 delegates from West Virginia supporting Trump,” Stuart said.
In the Democratic presidential race, Clinton holds a commanding lead, nationally, in pledged delegates over Sanders. Since West Virginia's 29 Democratic delegates are awarded proportionally, Sanders only gained a few delegates on Clinton.
With Trump's victory Tuesday, West Virginians' attention will turn to the general election, where Trump is likely to face Clinton. Stuart said the Trump campaign will be consolidating offices across the state as the campaign gears up for that battle.
“When you look at West Virginia, we feel very good going into this fall,” Stuart said. “We really believe that we are going to win this election, come November.”
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.