David Fleming Wins Pocahontas County Commission Race

County voters cross party lines to elect Fleming to commission, Jonese to sheriff's office; Barnes wins senate race

Pamela Pritt
Editor

Pocahontas County voters crossed party lines to elect two political newcomers to offices in the courthouse.

Unofficial totals gave Democrat David Fleming 1,785 votes to Republican Charles Wilfong’s 1,515 in the county commission race. Write-in candidate James Carpenter’s totals will not be available until after the canvass; however, 297 write-in votes were cast.

Republican David Jonese will take over the sheriff’s office come January. His unofficial vote count was 2,286 to Democrat David Walton’s 1,386.

“I thank the people of Pocahontas County for voting for me,” Fleming said. “This victory is in memory of L. D. Sharp and Evva Shelton—two people I never got to meet.”

Jonese said he was “pretty excited.”

“I’m happy the people here had enough faith in me to support me,” he said.

Jonese said he will take the next few weeks to decide what kinds of changes he’ll make in the sheriff’s department. He said his first step would be to develop good relationships within the department and with other departments in the courthouse.

In national races, Pocahontas County chose John McCain with 1,993 votes to Barack Obama’s 1,538 votes. Obama ultimately won the nation’s highest office.

Democrat Senator Jay Rockefeller got 63 percent of the Pocahontas County vote with 2,267 to Republican Jay Wolfe’s 1,308. Rockefeller won the statewide vote, as well.

Congressman Nick Joe Rahall, a Democrat, was similarly returned to office. His Pocahontas County vote was 2,444 to Republican Marty Gearheart’s 1,051.

Pocahontas County picked Joe Manchin for a second term as governor with 2,460 votes to Republican challenger Russ Weeks’ 893 votes and Mountain Party candidate Jesse Johnson’s 261. Manchin won statewide.

The county chose Natalie Tennant for Secretary of State with 2,026 votes. The Democrat defeated Republican Charles Minimah by 798 votes. Tennant was the choice of West Virginia voters, as well.

Gus Douglass, a Democrat, got 1,922 votes to Republican Michael Teets’ 1,533 in Pocahontas County. Douglass got the nod statewide, too.

County voters picked Democrats for the State Supreme Court of Appeals. Margaret Workman got 2,024 votes and Menis Ketchum garnered 1,517 votes. Republican challenger Beth Walker trailed here with 1,491 votes. Workman and Ketchum were elected statewide.

State Senator Clark Barnes will return to Charleston for the next legislative session. The Republican won over Democratic challenger Mike Ross, who got 1,584 votes to Barnes’ 1,924. Unofficial totals elsewhere in the district gave Barnes the nod, as well.

Incumbents won the 11th Judicial Circuit race with Democrat Joseph Pomponio defeating Republican challenger Jesse Guills 1949 to 1429 and Democrat Jim Rowe defeating Barry Bruce 2,026 to 1,483.

The Democratic candidates for magistrate, Kathy Beverage and Janet Kershner-Vanover, will take office in January. Beverage got 2,172 votes and Kershner-Vanover got 2,091 votes. Write-in candidate Cheryl McCullough’s totals will not be available until after the canvass next week. More than 500 write-in votes were cast in the magistrate race.

William Dilley received 1,651 votes for county surveyor. Dilley died in September one week after the deadline to remove a name from the official ballot. Brian Beverage was appointed to fill that position and ran as a write-in candidate. Three hundred eighty-seven write-in votes were cast in that race.

All other races were unopposed. Official precinct-by-precinct results will be printed in next week’s paper.

Pocahontas County had 937 early voters and 141 absentee ballots, according to County Clerk’s Sandra Friel.

Buckeye was the first precinct in the courthouse Tuesday night. Unofficial totals were available around 12:30 a.m.

Most poll workers reported a busy day with steady voting. The Green Bank precinct reported lines and waits of up to one hour during the day.

Voter turnout was 66.28 percent in the county. Out of 5,717 registered votes 3789 ballots were cast.