West Virginia

Congressional Races:
Districts 1 | 2 | 3

Senatorial Race

Population (1994): 1,822,000 (up 1.6% from 1990); 0.07% of U.S. total

Voting-age population: 1,389,000; 1994 turnout, 30%

Median age: 35.4 years

Median household income: $23,564 ($8,700 below U.S. median)

Unemployment: 8.0% (2.4% more than U.S average, March 1996)

Last presidential election:

Clinton (D): 48%

Bush (R): 35%

Perot (I): 16%

Congressional delegation: Five Democrats, no Republicans

West Virginia is a poor state. At its most prosperous, coal was king. But as machines replaced miners, and the unemployed couldn't find work, families left the state in droves. So many fled that after the 1990 Census, West Virginia lost a congressional district, leaving only three. Though the state economy is slowly rebuilding, the electorate remains solidly Democratic, testament to the strength of the party's lower-class and labor-class roots: its voters haven't elected a Republican Senator since 1956 or a Republican Congressman since 1980.

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