CHARLESTON – Two incumbent Supreme Court justices are leading their respective races, while the race for the third seat on this year’s election ballot was a tight one.
With 98 percent of the vote in at 11:30 p.m., current Chief Justice Tim Armstead held a nearly 20,000 vote lead over former Justice Richard Neely in the Division 1 race. Northern Panhandle Circuit Judge David Hummel Jr. trailed Neely by 47,000 votes.
In Division 3, incumbent Justice John Hutchison led Mason Circuit Judge Lora Dyer by about 13,000 votes. Charleston attorney Bill Schwartz trailed Dyer by 35,000 votes.
In Division 2, former state legislator Bill Wooton narrowly led Kanawha Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit with 98 percent of the votes counted. Putnam County Assistant Prosecutor Kris Raynes was a distant third, and Kanawha Family Court Judge Jim Douglas narrowly followed her.
In the Democratic primary to see who will face off against incumbent Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Beckley attorney Sam Brown Petsonk led state lawmaker Isaac Sponaugle by 1,000 votes.
In the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Charleston attorney Ben Salango won the right to face off against incumbent Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who won his contested primary easily.
In perhaps the biggest upset in the primaries, state Senate President Mitch Carmichael (R-Jackson) lost to teacher Amy Nichole Grady in the 4th Senatorial District.
All three of the Supreme Court races on this year's primary ballot are non-partisan. The Division 1 and 2 races are for regular 12-year terms on the Supreme Court. The Division 3 race is to fill the seat formerly held by Allen Loughry. Gov. Jim Justice appointed Hutchison to fill that seat in December 2018. The term for the Division 3 seat will end in 2024
Hutchison is seeking re-election for the Division 3 seat. He was appointed after Loughry resigned. The term is to finish the rest of Loughry's term and will end in 2024. Justice Margaret Workman is not seeking re-election. Her current seat is the Division 2 race.
In 2018, Tabit finished third in a special election for two seats on the Supreme Court left by the retirements of Robin Jean Davis and Menis Ketchum. Armstead and Justice Evan Jenkins, both of whom had been appointed by Justice to temporarily fill those seats, won those elections. Douglas, Wooton and Schwartz all ran in the 2018 election as well.
The non-partisan court election was part of West Virginia's primary election, which was rescheduled for June 9 because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
