CHARLESTON, WV (AP) – Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) has become the first West Virginia Republican to be reelected to the U.S. Senate in more than a century.
Capito defeated Democrat Paula Jean Swearengin, a coal miner’s daughter who lacked political experience statewide. Federal campaign finance records showed Capito raised nearly four times as much as Swearengin.
Republicans gained major ground when Capito won the 2014 Senate race, capturing all the state’s U.S. House seats for the first time since 1921.
Shelley Moore Capito is West Virginia’s first female U.S. senator and the first Republican since 1959
