Stephen Smoot
Last time the Town of Franklin’s mayor and council faced elections, 12 citizens voted.
This year 176 voted for the office of mayor and 151 for town recorder. The last United States Census in 2020 indicated 486 citizens living within the municipal limits.
Results from all races are tentative until canvassing. As of now for the Town of Franklin, the mayoral races saw Bob Horan prevail with 87 votes. Tristan Wagoner earned 61, and Gordon Ditch Sr., 28.
Bruce Minor won his unopposed race for town recorder.
In the council race, voters could choose up to five, but only five competed. Kristen Dingess earned 107, Jarred Rawson 104, Andrea Bodine 100, S. “Larry” Thompson 86, and Therese Thompson also 86.
Locally, the Pendleton County Board of Education race saw Katrina Hott receive 539 votes in the central district. Also in the central Marilyn Propst received 504 and Wilma Pitsenbarger 359. The western district race after the canvas had J. D. Wilkins with a narrow 487 to 485 lead over Jeremy Hedrick.
Overall, however, the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office reports that 20.99 percent of Pendleton County’s registered voters turned out for the primary elections. That total may have been bolstered by vibrant campaigns and strong interest in the Town of Franklin races. It also is a shade above the turnout statewide of 20.91 percent.
Many spoke against the uglier than usual tone, especially in legislative races. Though Governor Patrick Morrisey and various political organizations sought to inject statewide primaries with intraparty partisanship via endorsements, few surprises emerged in last week’s primaries.
Primary elections serve as the main way that modern political parties select nominees. Traditionally, primaries are closed to non party members. That said, for a number of election cycles the West Virginia Republican Party had allowed for those registered with no party to vote in its primaries. Last year, the state GOP reversed that decision and created some confusion to Republican-leaning voters not registered with that party.
Morrisey for the 2026 primary rolled out an effort to strengthen his base in the West Virginia State Legislature with those who he felt best supported his economic development and social conservatism goals. He also weighed in against some who traditionally back those ideals, but opposed the governor in other ways.
In the Potomac Highlands, this played out in the Republican primary for the 87th district. Incumbent Gary Howell (R-Mineral) held off Morrisey-endorsed Mineral County Commissioner Charles Staggs to take the nomination 784 to 653. While the governor’s endorsements won between two-thirds and three-fourths of their races, most were incumbents and many had no opponent. In races where the governor worked to oust Republican incumbents, he did not fare as well.
The governor also targeted, among others, incumbent Tom Takubo (R-Kanawha) from the 17th District. He prevailed 3,858 to 3,019 for Chris Pritt.
At the top of the ballot, United States Senator Shelley Moore Capito fended off multiple challengers to win nomination by the Republican Party. She earned twice the number of votes cast for all her challengers combined. State Senator Tom Willis, who had knocked off the former State Senate President Craig Blair in the last cycle, tried to attack Capito from her political right and made controversial accusations against her and her staff.
Statewide, the senator garnered 80,032 votes. Willis had just under 23,000. Pendleton County results put her at 321 to 81 for Willis.
For the Democratic nomination, Rachel Fetty Anderson earned the top count at 30,792. Jeffrey Kessler received 25,085, Zachary Shrewsbury just under 15,000, Thornton Cooper 11,765, and Rio Phillips 10,184. Anderson received 103 votes in Pendleton County with Jeffrey Kessler at 98, and Shrewsbury at 77.
For the First Congressional District in Pendleton County, Vince George narrowly edged out Britta Aguire 152 to 146. On the Republican side, incumbent Representative Carol Miller earned 271 votes to 123 for Larry Jackson.
On the Democratic Party side in the 11th Senate District race, Kevin Carpenter ran unopposed. For the GOP, incumbent Bill Hamilton defeated former State Senator Robert Karnes 3,497 to 2,166 with Jack Reger third with 2,307. In Pendleton County, the results looked much different with Hamilton narrowly edging out Karnes 188 to 173 and Reger garnering 52.
For the West Virginia House of Delegates seat encompassing Hardy and eastern Pendleton, Steven Schetrom, Hardy County Commission president, on the Republican side and Betsy Orndoff-Sayers, Wardensville mayor, for the Democrats both ran without opposition.
Neither Republican Les Mallow nor Democrat Mandy Weirich had opposition in their race for the 67th Delegate District nomination.
Carl Hevener, Pendleton County Commissioner, had no opposition from either party in his race, and Charlotte Hoover ran unopposed for conservation district supervisor.
For the non partisan West Virginia State Supreme Court of Appeals, H. L. Kirkpatrick won in division 1, Bill Flanigan in division 2, and Jim Douglas in division 3. Jim Douglas prevailed over Dan Greear for intermediate court.
