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U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito will be the first female Senator representing the Mountain State, and first Republican in 56 years. Just minutes after the polls closed, the Associated Press called the race. Typically, two candidates running for a spot in the U.S. Senate to represent a state don't share so much in common. That was not necessarily the case in the race for retiring U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.'s, spot in Washington. Capito and opponent, Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, ran campaigns on pro-coal, pro-guns and pro-jobs; just some of the platforms each candidate shared. However, West Virginians showed...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Republican Evan Jenkins has defeated 19-term Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall in West Virginia for the District 3 U.S. House race, the AP reports.

The campaign between Democratic incumbent Nick Rahall and Republican challenger Evan Jenkins for U.S. Congress, representing West Virginia's 3rd District seat, was one of the most anticipated and hotly contested races this fall. It was also one of the most highly financed, with an estimated $9 million spent on the campaigns. The Associated Press called a victory for Jenkins with about 80 percent of the votes reported Nov. 4.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former Maryland state lawmaker Alex Mooney had a thin lead over Democrat Nick Casey in the race for West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. Democrat Nick Casey With 12 of 17 counties reporting (about 33 percent of precincts overall), Mooney had received 47 percent of the votes to Casey’s 44 percent. Each candidate was on pace to carry his home territory: Mooney with 54.9 percent in Berkeley County and Casey holding 55.4 percent in Kanawha County. The district was thrown open when seven-term Republican congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito launched a successful U.S. Senate campaign.

Shelley Moore Capito (R) 0 0% WinnerWinner

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and one of the most widely respected political analysts in the country, has come out with his final predictions for the 2014 midterms, and he predicts a good night for Republicans. In his “Crystal Ball” picks, Sabato see an 8-seat pick-up for Republicans in the Senate, which would give them a 2-seat majority.

New Polls Show Republicans Pulling Away In Key Senate Races November 02, 2014 Republican Senate candidates are pulling away in the final days of key races, according to polls released this weekend. Republicans are either leading in Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana or will likely win runoff elections, according to a NBC/Marist poll released Sunday. In addition, the Republican nominee in Iowa, Joni Ernst, now has a 7-point lead over Democratic challenger Rep Bruce Braley, according to a Des Moines Register poll released Saturday. Most polls have shown until now that the four races have essentially been deadlocked in the closing...

TV provider, Dish Network has been ordered by a federal judge to pay $22,500 to a West Virginia man after it made 31 calls to his cell phone to pestering him to pay an overdue bill. It turns out the man, Chester Moore, was never a Dish customer and didn’t owe the Charlie Ergen-controlled satellite-TV outfit a dime. Plus, Moore had alerted a Dish representative on two occasions of the screw-up. On both occasions, Dish’s reps assured Moore the calls would stop. But the calls — made by an automatic telephone dialing system — kept coming.

The frustration from Charleston Daily Mail's editor and publisher Brad McElhinny was clear when TPM reach him by phone on Tuesday afternoon. "I've had better days," he said. His exasperation was understandable. On Saturday, Don Surber, the West Virginia paper's lone editorial columnist, took to his personal blog to offer his thoughts on "police brutality" and the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. "This summer I had an epiphany as I watched packs of racists riot in Ferguson, Missouri, in support of a gigantic thug who was higher than a kite when he attacked Ferguson Police Department Officer Darren...

CHARLESTON, WV – Natalie Tennant got a little help from her friend President Obama today when the White House announced it would delay executive action on immigration until after the midterm elections – a move intended to benefit Democratic candidates like Tennant. The Capito for Senate campaign released the following statement in response: “It’s appalling that President Obama would delay his deeply unpopular plan to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants until after the election as a political trick to help struggling Democrats like Natalie Tennant. (SNIP) Last month Tennant’s campaign chairman was caught on tape saying she agrees with Obama...

After warning in August that hundreds of miners could lose their jobs, Boone County-based Coal River Energy has laid off 130 mine workers. Coal River Energy spokesman James "Skeets" Loving confirmed the layoffs Tuesday. In August, the company warned that 280 mine workers could be out of jobs. Loving said the company laid off 130 employees on Oct. 11, while keeping 94 workers and finding other work for 56 others. The affected mining areas are located near the border of Boone and Kanawha counties. Some are underground and some are surface mines. The company pointed to poor coal markets and...

UPDATE 10/15/14 @ 11:34 p.m. CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Four airline personnel were exposed to an unknown substance at Yeager Airport while handling luggage Wednesday night. Yeager Airport Director Rick Atkinson said the four people were affected after a bag was left in the airport terminal -- not on a plane, as first reported. According to Atkinson, the bag was taken off baggage claim on Tuesday. It is unknown where the bag came from or whose it may be. A lost baggage claim was made on the bag and an employee with Delta Global Services was checking on it. CAMC...

A Supreme Court order legalizing same-sex marriage in five states reverberated further on Thursday, with the attorney general of West Virginia conceding that its ban on same-sex marriage was no longer defensible but South Carolina officials vowing to keep fighting to restrict marriage to a man and a woman. Since the Supreme Court decision on Monday and a ruling from a federal circuit court on Tuesday, new developments have appeared almost hourly as gay-rights advocates press for action in nine other states: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming.

(CNSNews.com) – Power plants generating 72 gigawatts (GW) of electricity in 37 states have either closed or are scheduled to shut their doors to comply with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, according to the Institute for Energy Research (IER). The loss of generating capacity is “over seven times the amount originally predicted by EPA modeling,” IER’s updated report, released October 7, noted. “Originally, EPA calculated that only 9.5 GW of electrical generating capacity would close as a result of its MATS (Mercury and Air Toxics Standard) and CSAPR (Cross State Air Pollution Rule) rules,” the report stated. “Before President Obama’s...

The battle for the House has turned into trench warfare, with Republicans trying to scrape out enough wins to give them a historic majority and Democrats doing everything they can to minimize GOP gains. If the election were held today, strategists from both sides say, Republicans would expand their current majority by between six and eight seats ... Republicans head into the final weeks of the campaign almost exclusively on offense. Of the 31 or so races seriously in contention, 22 — over 70 percent — are in districts held by Democrats. Twenty of the 31 districts were won by...

The rules put in place by the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency have dealt a severe blow to the economy of the Appalachian region. The most recent proposal could be the death knell if they are enacted. More than 500 active and retired coal miners from West Virginia and other parts of Appalachia delivered that message to Washington Tuesday. The protest is the most recent demonstration against the clean power rule which would change the rules for emissions on existing coal fired power plants in the United States. The rally, led by the United Mine Workers Union, called on the...

A patient who was evaluated for Ebola at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., does not have the disease, according to the DC Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Patient had traveled to Nigeria recently. That person was admitted to the hospital in stable condition and was isolated. The hospital continues to treat the patient for other illnesses. In a White House briefing Friday, Sylvia Burwell, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said of the Howard case, "What you see are people taking precautions." There are no confirmed cases of Ebola...

Patient traveling from Nigeria admitted to Howard Univ Hospital in DC with possible Ebola symptoms. From Howard Univ : "we have activated the appropriate infection control protocols, including isolating the patient" Howard Univ: a patient ​has been admitted in stable condition, following travel to Nigeria w/ symptoms that could be associated with Ebola.

For years, three House Democrats — West Virginia’s Nick Rahall, Georgia’s John Barrow and Minnesota’s Collin Peterson — have been survivors, defying political calculus to win term after term in solidly red Republican districts. They paddled through the 2010 GOP wave. They even overcame the flood of Mitt Romney’s double-digit margins of victory in each district in 2012. But 2014 could be their ultimate survival test. In an era of increasing polarization, Rahall, Peterson and Barrow are the three Democrats running for reelection who represent the most Republican districts in Congress. They’ve managed to hang on to their seats, even...

West Virginia natural resources police say they have made 11 arrests and seized 190 pounds of dry ginseng that was illegally harvested according to the Associated Press. The arrests followed a year-long investigation in southern West Virginia. The defendants violated a ginseng digging law because it was harvested out of season. Ginseng digging season begins September 1st in West Virginia.