W.Va. candidates dispute outcome of 2020 election

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — When West Virginia Republicans vote in Tuesday’s primary, they will have a hard time finding a major candidate on the ballot in any statewide race who openly acknowledges President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

Embracing or skirting the line on election denialism has become an unspoken checkoff among Republicans running for governor and Congress in one of the states most loyal to former President Donald Trump. What is spoken — almost constantly — is praise for the party’s presumptive White House nominee from a slate of candidates that includes a convicted Jan. 6 insurrectionist and the sons of two GOP members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation.

Glenn Elliott, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for an open Senate seat, said denying the election outcome was a “purity test” for West Virginia Republicans.

“You’re either with the leader of the party on everything, or you’re kicked out. You’re not a Republican anymore, you’re a ‘RINO,’” he said, using the acronym for “Republicans In Name Only.” “That’s not a party — that’s a cult.”

It’s about the worst thing you can call a Republican candidate in West Virginia.

In the crowded governor’s race, Secretary of State Mac Warner has said he “firmly” believes, like Trump, that the election was stolen, even though dozens of courts and audits have determined the race was fairly decided in Biden’s favor.

Other candidates hedge or do not answer directly.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has refused to provide a yes or no answer to questions about whether Biden won the 2020 race but has asserted there were “huge irregularities,” “significant irregularities,” and “very, very severe issues” relating to that vote.